Barcelona vs Benfica: Tips, Odds, and Match Preview

Even though they were made to suffer for much of the first leg, 10-man Barcelona made an important step towards the Champions League quarter-finals with a 1-0 triumph at Estadio da Luz.

Benfica appear to have missed their chance for an upset on home turf, and the Eagles will have to be much more ruthless in the return leg to stand any chance of advancing to the next stage.

The Hansi Flick Effect

Similar to their next opponents, Barcelona have enjoyed a tremendous season under their new head coach. Former Bayern Munich and Germany boss Hansi Flick has brought a fresh air of confidence to Catalunya, and his team has been firing on all cylinders for quite some time.

The run of six straight La Liga wins saw the Catalans reclaim the league summit, while they seem unstoppable in the Champions League as well.

With six wins in last seven League Stage games, Barcelona made it straight to the Last 16 stage, where they suffered for much of the first leg in Lisbon, but eventually earned a valuable triumph thanks to yet another match winner of the brilliant Raphinha.

Flying high on confidence and winning games left, right and center, I don’t see how Barcelona could miss such a good opportunity to reach the Champions League final stages.

Barcelona Injury & Suspension News

Pau Cubarsi is suspended after he was sent off in the first leg, meaning Araujo and Inigo Martinez will form the centre-back pairing.

Dani Olmo is expected to be preferred to Pedri in the attacking midfield position, whereas Marc ter Stegen, Marc Bernal and Andreas Christensen remain sidelined through injury.

Close but no cigar

SL Benfica was always going to face some challenges following the hectic summer window, but head coach Bruno Lage has done a tremendous job since returning to Estadio da Luz in September 2024.

Under his guidance, the Eagles enjoyed a strong start to both their Primeira Liga and Champions League campaigns and they have never looked back. Benfica defeated Juventus away in the final League Stage game to secure their place in the play-offs before recording a 4-3 aggregate win over Monaco to set up a second clash of the season against in-form Barcelona.

Benfica had succumbed to a 5-4 league stage defeat to Barcelona back in January after twice squandering a two-goal lead, and little did they know that the history was going to repeat itself.

Even with Angel di Maria, Florentino Luis and Alexander Bah sidelined, the Eagles produced a really good attacking performance in the first leg, aided by Pau Cubarsi’s early sending off, but were unable to turn their dominance into goals and eventually saw Brazilian Raphinha score the winning goal against the run of play.

Benfica has since bounced back with a 3-0 league win over Nacional, but still face an uphill task at Estadi Olimpic in Barcelona.

Benfica Injury & Suspension News

Key player Angel Di Maria remains sidelined through injury, while left-back Alvaro Carreras is suspended for the return leg. Youngsters Nuno Felix and Goncalo Oliveira have made the squad, whereas Tomas Araujo is back in contention.

Barcelona vs Benfica Prediction

Having been in stunning form of late and carrying a 1-0 lead into the second leg, Barcelona is 1.38 with BC Game to secure their last in the quarter-finals with another triumph.

At the same time, Benfica have nothing to lose and are also very dangerous when going forward, so I see a good value in both teams to score bet.

If you are looking for high potential payouts, then backing Barcelona to win 2-1 at 9.0 could make sense.

CryptoGamba tip: Both teams to score – 1.55 @Stake