Benfica will welcome Inter Milan to the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday for the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League.
Benfica thrashed Club Brugge while Inter Milan eliminated FC Port to reach the UCL last eight after 12 years.
Match Preview
Benfica has been outstanding in the Champions League this season, topping a heavyweight group that had Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
Roger Schmidt’s players are unbeaten in this year’s competition — a feat they share with Bayern Munich and Manchester City — and this form means they are also favorites to play in Lisbon Final.
And also, only Napoli (25) has more goals scored than Benfica (23) in this year’s competition but Napoli have hard time in keeping clean sheets.
Joao Mario has scored six times for the Portuguese team with Rafa Silva and the talented Goncalo Ramos finding the back of the net five and three times respectively.
Their concentration on their encounter with Inter Milan made them lose to title rivals FC Porto in the weekend.
Simone Inzaghi’s team have also been having a hard time in the Serie A, especially in February, they were beaten by Bologna after a commendable 1-0 win over Porto in Europe.
Goalscoring has been an issue for the Italian giants, with Inzaghi’s team not scoring more than one goal in three of those seven fixtures, and also failing to even find the back of the net.
Benfica v Inter Milan Team News
Goncalo Guedes is sidelined for Benfica on Tuesday with a knee injury, while Julian Draxler’s ankle surgery rules out the Paris Saint-Germain loanee for the visit of Inter, and Nicolas Otamendi is still suspended.
Mihailo Ristic has not been in action since February because of a Hamstring injury and the left-back may not feature in this encounter.
Alex Grimaldo could have another top show after he already scored twice and assisted in three Champions League matches this season.
Alexander Bah was substituted 26 minutes into the match between Porto and Benfica and will be replaced by Gilberto if he is sidelined.
Inter Milan on the other hand, is expected to have goalie Andre Onana keep his place between the sticks despite conceding from Candreva’s cross against Salernitana.
Milan Skriniar and Hakan Calhanoglu may not play in the game after the midfielder got injured on Turkey duty during the recent international hiatus.
Federico Dimarco could return as left wing-back in place of Robin Gosens, who scored in Salerno.
Probable Lineup
Benfica’s probable starting lineup:
Vlachodimos; Gilberto, Silva, Verissimo, Grimaldo; Luis, Chiquinho; Mario, Silva, Aursnes; Ramos
Inter Milan’s probable starting lineup:
Onana; D’Ambrosio, De Vrij, Bastoni; Darmian, Barella, Brozovic, Mkhitaryan, Dimarco; Martinez, Dzeko
Benfica v Inter Milan Prediction
Benfica have proven to be too potent and this might cause a problem for Inzaghi despite his adeptness at navigating cup competitions.
Benfica’s attacks are always threatening and could overpower an Inter side that has conceded in 6 of their last eight matches in all competition.
From here at Futballnews, we are going with Benfica overpowering Inter Milan and winning the match with a 3-1 scoreline.
