Portuguese champions Benfica travel to Barcelos on Saturday to face Gil Vicente in the Primeira Liga.
After a shock opening day defeat, Benfica responded with a win in their first home game of the season last weekend, albeit in unconvincing circumstances.
Match preview
© Reuters
When defeating Porto in the Super Cup prior to the start of the new Primeira Liga season, Benfica looked like the team to beat again.
While that may still be the case, Benfica have made a very messy start to the campaign.
After leading 1-0 and 2-1 at Boavista on the opening day, a Petar Musa red card ultimately resulted in Roger Schmidt's side falling to a 3-2 defeat.
Benfica were able to recover from their first competitive loss since early April when Estrela Amadora travelled to the capital last weekend.
Schmidt's men were unconvincing again though, despite dominating from start to finish, taking 80 minutes before finally opening the scoring and eventually winning 2-0.
There was a glorious moment for Casper Tengstedt, who got the all-important opening goal, netting just a minute after coming off the bench.
That was the Dane's first goal for the club, and it allowed the Estadio da Luz to breathe a huge collective sigh of relief last Saturday.
With Gil Vicente next up and a tricky encounter against Vitoria Guimaraes just before the international break, Benfica will hope to build momentum before the start of the Champions League group stages in mid-September.
© Reuters
Barcelos has been a happy hunting ground for Benfica though, as they have won on their last five trips without conceding, scoring 12.
Gil Vicente have enjoyed a couple of memorable trips to Lisbon in the past few years though, as they beat Benfica in the capital in 2021 and 2022.
They return to home soil here after a 5-0 thrashing of Portimonense on the opening day.
A narrow defeat at Guimaraes last week has halted some of the momentum they may have picked up there, and they will need to rediscover it with a daunting run upcoming.
In the next seven matches, Vitor Campelos's men will face Benfica, Porto and Braga, so the odds will be stacked against them often in the coming weeks.
- W
- L
- L
- W
- L
- L
- W
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Ali Alipour will be absent for Gil Vicente, as the Iranian has not featured since February.
Goalkeeper Stanislav Kritsyuk went off injured in the first half of the same game against Famalicao and has also not featured since.
That has given Brazilian stopper Andrew the opportunity to come in and impress, and he is attracting attention from some bigger clubs across Europe.
Felix Correia could make his debut after he arrived on loan from Juventus earlier this week.
An ankle injury is set to keep Benfica left-back David Jurasek out until after the international break.
Schmidt went very offensive last week against Estrela, starting Fredrik Aursnes in Jurasek's place at left-back, but away from home he may opt to go with Mihailo Ristic to provide more balance.
Musa will be available for selection again after serving his one-match suspension for the red card picked up at Boavista.
Odysseas Vlachodimos was left out of the Benfica squad last week as the club expect him to leave before the closing of the transfer window.
Samuel Soares started in the Greek goalkeeper's place, getting the nod over new signing Anatolii Trubin.
Gil Vicente possible starting lineup:
Andrew; Ze Carlos, Gabriel Pereira, Ruben Fernandes, Buta; Pedro Tiba, Gbane, Fujimoto; Dominguez, Baturina, Marlon
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Samuel Soares; Bah, Antonio Silva, Otamendi, Ristic; Joao Neves, Kokcu, Joao Mario; Di Maria, Arthur Cabral, Rafa Silva
We say: Gil Vicente 0-2 Benfica
Benfica have not been wholly convincing in the league yet, but with the quality in their ranks, they should come out on top here.
Gil Vicente have enjoyed a relatively strong start and should not be discouraged if Benfica get the better of them here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
