The Primeira Liga leaders, Benfica are set to host Inter Milan in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday evening. The two-legged affair will decide who goes on to face a semi-final showdown with either AC Milan or Napoli.
The Portuguese side come into this weekend on the back of a highly impressive run of form in the league, which has seen them win ten of their last eleven games, creating a seven-point lead at the top of the table.
With only seven games left in their campaign, Benfica look to be heading towards a 38th domestic title. However, Roger Schmidt’s side suffered a confidence-knocking defeat on Friday evening as they were narrowly beaten by their bitter rivals Porto.
Benfica topped Group H on 14 points, ahead of PSG, Juventus, and Maccabi Haifa. The Portuguese side remained unbeaten, winning four and drawing twice, before thrashing Club Brugge over two legs, recording a 2-0 away victory and a 5-1 victory at home.
In total, Benfica have scored 23 goals and conceded eight, with two players in the squad among the competition's leading scorers: Joao Mario with six, and Rafa Silva with 5. After their impressive Champions League campaign so far, Roger Schmidt’s side are currently the 5th favourite to lift the trophy, priced @ 12/1.
In contrast to Benfica, Inter Milan come into this tie on the back of a poor run of form which has seen the side fall out of the Champions League places in Sire A. Inter are without a win in their last four league outings, having recorded defeats against the likes of Spezia and Fiorentina.
Simone Inzaghi’s side managed to secure second place in Group C, finishing ahead of Barcelona and Viktoria Plzen despite the fact that they lost two and drew one of their six group stage games.
In the first leg of their Round of 16 clash against Porto, Inter recorded a 1-0 victory thanks to an 86th-minute winner from Romelu Lukaku. In the second leg, Inter managed to survive a late barrage of pressure to escape with a 0-0 draw, taking them through 1-0 on aggregate.
These sides have met on three prior occasions, with one being the historic 1965 European Cup final, where Inter recorded a 1-0 victory thanks to a winning goal by Jair. The last meeting of these teams came in the 2003/04 UEFA Cup, where Inter recorded a dramatic 4-3 victory.
Benfica are home favourites heading into this clash and are currently priced @ 6/5, whilst an away win for Inter Milan is priced @ 12/5 and a draw is @ 11/5. Benfica attackers Goncalo Ramos and Joao Mario are the favourites to score in the game @ 15/8, whilst Lautaro Martinez is the favourite Inter player to score @ 11/4.
We are backing Goncalo Ramos to have 2+ shots on target which has been boosted to 3/1 on Skybet. Ramos already has 25 goals across all competitions this season, including 7 in the Champions League including a brace in his last game of the competition.