Benfica vs Barcelona prediction: EUROPE: Champions League – Play Offs betting tips on match 2025-03-04 20:00.
[p]Having met in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League (UCL), Benfica and Barcelona now lock horns over two legs in the last 16. It was on Portuguese turf where these two met on matchday seven in the league phase, where Barcelona ran out 5-4 winners, and Benfica’s UCL home games don’t typically lack entertainment, given five of the last six saw at least four match goals. [/p]
[p]Benfica would certainly swap entertainment for results, as they’ve only won one of their last nine UCL home games (D3, L5). That doesn’t make great reading, nor does a run of just two wins from their last 12 European home games against Spanish opposition (D4, L6), but negative historical omens shouldn’t detract from the fact that Benfica have won seven of their last eight competitive games (D1). [/p]
[p]That eight-match unbeaten run is impressive, but Barcelona dwarf it with their 15-match streak without defeat spanning the whole of 2025 (W12, D3). That took a boost on Sunday when they beat Real Sociedad 4-0 in La Liga to strengthen their title bid, but they’ll have to quickly shift their focus to Europe here where they’re bidding to reach successive UCL quarter-finals for the first time since 2018/19 and 2019/20. [/p]
[p]One defeat from their last ten away games against Portuguese sides in European competition (W7, D2) suggests they’re good value to take the first step on the road to the last eight here. That sole defeat coming against Benfica offers a note of caution, as does the fact Barça have conceded 2+ goals in each of their last five UCL away games, but netting 17 themselves in that time shows just how dangerous they are in this competition. [/p]
[p]Players to watch: Vangelis Pavlidis has contributed to nine goals in ten appearances in the UCL this season (G7, A2) – only one other player in history has ever been involved in 10+ goals in a single edition of this competition for a Portuguese club. Pavlidis scored a first-half hat-trick when these two sides met in the league phase, a game in which Robert Lewandowski netted a brace – four of his five scoring UCL appearances this term saw him score two goals. [/p]
[p]Hot stat: Nine of Barcelona’s last 11 UCL games saw over 3.5 goals. [/p]
[p][i]Written by Chris Wilson[/i][/p]