Newcastle United are hoping to make it two successive wins in the Champions League as they take on Benfica this week.
- Date: 21/10/2025
- Kick-off: 8:00pm
- Location: St James' Park, Newcastle
Newcastle are currently 11th in the Champions League table with three points from two games. The Magpies have started the Champions League group phase decently, losing 1-2 to Barcelona before beating Union Saint-Gilloise 4-0 away from home in their most recent game.
Newcastle's league form is more patchy, with Eddie Howe's men winning two, drawing one and losing two of their last five, with their most recent game a 2-1 defeat to Brighton away from home. Their form at St James' Park has been mixed, winning three and drawing three of their six home games in all competitions, although their three defeats were at the hands of Liverpool, Barcelona and Arsenal.
Over 2.5 goals have been scored in four of their last five games, while BTTS has occurred in three of their last five.
Benfica, meanwhile, sit 33rd in the Champions League table with no points. The Portuguese outfit were beaten 2-3 at home by Qarabag in their first game, a result that saw their manager sacked, before losing 1-0 to Chelsea under new boss Jose Mourinho.
Their form of late has been underwhelming, with two wins, two draws and one loss from their last five games. Their latest outing was a 2-0 win over Chaves in the Portuguese Cup.
Games under Mourinho have been fairly cagey and low scoring, with only two of his six games in charge seeing over 2.5 goals scored and only two of those six seeing BTTS occur.
They'll likely try to sit back and frustrate Newcastle, but we think the Magpies will come out on top in a tight game, given their recent win over Union Saint-Gilloise was the best performance either side has delivered in recent weeks. Nick Woltemade is in excellent form with four goals in his last four games, so we fancy him to make his mark on this one too.
Newcastle 2-0 Benfica
