The main news concerning Benfica is that they will be without their main striker, as Oscar Cardozo has failed to recover from injury in time to face the Catalan giants.
Rodrigo and Lima are the Portuguese side's joint second top scorers after Cardozo in Liga Sagres, with 3 goals apiece, and they will lead the line for this game.
Luisao remains absent due to the lengthy suspension he is serving for pushing a referee.
Youngster Thiago Alcantara joins Pique, Abidal, Muniesa and Cuenca on the sidelines for Barcelona, having picked up a nasty knee injury at the weekend.
Andres Iniesta returns after missing Saturday's dramatic comeback win at Sevilla, and will go straight back into the starting XI.
Pedro will hope to retain his place in the starting XI but with Iniesta coming in he could drop to the bench.
Prediction
Both Benfica and Barcelona sit at the top of their respective domestic leagues after unbeaten starts to the current campaign. However, while the Portuguese side have slipped up twice, drawing both times (as well as against Celtic a fortnight ago), Barcelona have won all 6 of their league games and beat Spartak Moscow after a bit of a scare at the Nou Camp in their opening Champions League fixture.
Benfica usually do well at home, and have become a force in European football in recent years. They held Manchester United to draws at home and away last season, and while United were below par on both occasions, Benfica should certainly not be taken lightly by the Spanish side.
Barcelona are always expected to win these days, and will be clear favourites to take all three points here. They have managed an incredible start to the season in spite of a fair few injury worries. While it will be a tough game in which Benfica will carve out chances of their own, the away side should dominate and sneak a narrow victory.
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footballgod
37 weeks ago
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Ventilan
37 weeks ago
+1
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spuds
37 weeks ago
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Dave
37 weeks ago
+1
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zebe1989
37 weeks ago
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yaaphize
37 weeks ago
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See all 6 commentsLol agree with Ventilan
"Benfica (...) have become a force in European football in recent years".
In recent years? Actually, considering what Benfica has achieved, this is the lowest they've ever performed in Europe.
this could be a really high scoring game. 3-2 barca
Barca should win but there will be plenty of goals in my opinion
trap match!! draw!!!
bar 4 : 2 ben