Probable Lineups
4-4-2
4-1-4-1
Probable Lineups Statistical Comparison
* Values in brackets (x) are overall player statistics in Champions League Final Stage.
Missing Players
Benfica
Borussia Dortmund
Player | Reason | Status | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Álex Grimaldo | Out | 7.35 | |
André Horta | Out | 6.18 | |
Andrija Zivkovic | Out | 5.82 | |
Eduardo Salvio | Doubtful | 7.04 |
Player | Reason | Status | Rating |
---|---|---|---|
Mario Götze | Out | 7.21 | |
Sven Bender | Out | 5.57 | |
Nuri Sahin | Out | 7.34 | |
Sebastian Rode | Out | 6.35 | |
Marcel Schmelzer | Doubtful | 6.94 | |
Lukasz Piszczek | Doubtful | 6.6 |
Team News
Benfica
Borussia Dortmund
- Ederson was sent off on Friday night but his league suspension does not carry over into European competition.
- Eduardo Salvio failed to shake off an injury to feature last time out and he will start on the right of midfield should he recover in time to face Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday night.
- Pizzi and Andreas Samaris are a booking away from a ban, while Andrija Zivkovic is ruled out through suspension.
- With Marcel Schmelzer and Lukasz Piszczek still doubts for Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel has some big decisions to make on the formation and players used against Benfica on Tuesday night.
- Mario Gotze has not recovered from injury in time to make the trip and joins Sven Bender, Nuri Sahin and Sebastian Rode on the sidelines.
- Raphael Guerreiro is one booking away from a one-game suspension in the competition.
This is far from a guaranteed Benfica progression. The cacophony and general intimidating atmosphere of the Westfalenstadion has made better teams than this Benfica one crumble. I only saw the highlights of this game, but it seemed like Aubameyang had a royal stinker. It's highly unlikely he'll play that bad in the return leg (or that he'll be allowed to take any penalties :-p ) and in any case, Dortmund seemed to make the running in this game despite being away from home. That will be magnified at home (they will spend 60%+ of the match with the ball, not 55% as they did tonight) so a 1-0 first leg deficit is hardly irretrievable. Ultimately it depends on who scores first. If it is Benfica, then it starts to look dodgy for Dortmund because playing open enough to score 3 will (in theory) also present opportunities on the counter for the Reds. If Dortmund score first however (and are up for it) then I can see them getting a few. I would say Dortmund slight favourites as it stands.
@SteveHyland Dortmund aren't at their best level so far this season.Maybe they went there with the mentality of a draw and it ended up like this.I wouldn't be surprised if Bendica would be able to pull a draw of 1-1 on the away trip.There is high chance for BVB to crumble.Benfica ain't a walk in the park.
@0708915762 Did you watch the game? Of course they came with the mentality to win and did everything for that. It was a good game of them too, the best in weeks. The only reason they didn't win was Aubameyang. They had 5 really good scoring chances, Benfica one.
@0708915762 *Benfica
Dortmund is out
@NuchalLine I still think Dortmund are favorites to progress but will not be easy, specially because Benfica this season scores in almost every match even in the ones they lose.
No chance for Dortmund. Completely destroyed by Benfica.
@Biblis Not really. Dortmund was the much,much better team. Actually it was a 4-1 win disguised as a 0-1 ...
@neumi17 I know you won't agree with me...but only Benfica built attacks, Dortmund's attacks appeared due to childish ball loses in dangerous areas and unnecessary free kicks.
@hellreaper Benfica built attacks ? When ? They had one shot on target which went in and anothershot went wide. Thats it . Take a look at the heat map, there is no Benfica behind the center line ...Despite their childish ball losses and technical errors they should have won 3-1 easily with a " normal " striker upfront, don`t you agree ? And Dortmund also didn`t get a penalty when Dembele was almost knocked out by Moraes, not even a free kick ! That was a clear foul on the penalty line. I can`t remember having seen such a one sided match where one team has chance after chance and the other team wins 1-0 with their only offensive action ( after a corner !) ...
@neumi17 That was not a penalty...If it were considered fault, it would be a freekick and yeah that goalkeaper is amazing, that's why aubameyang missed the shots on target, because he needed to make the ball pass over him. Other thing, I don't think I can share links here but please check Benfica vs Sporting stats and compare with today's match. In case you are lazy, I will type them here POSSESSION: Benfica 42% vs 58% Sporting; SHOTS: 7 vs 13; RESULT: Benfica 2-1 Sporting. ...........today's match: POSSESSION: Benfica 36% vs 64% Dortmund; SHOTS: 4 vs 14; RESULT: Benfica 1-0 Dortmund. As I said 8 weeks a go, Benfica is very pragmatic, take charge of the game it's not their thing.
@hellreaper I don't want to argue about the foul but it was ON the line, which belongs to the penalty area. All british and german commentators were wondering why there were no penalty. And yes, I see that Benficas approach to the game is very pragmatic but that doesn't change the fact that the scoring chances were 5-1 in favor of Dortmund despite their many ball losses. Anything can happen in Dortmund but don't make the mistake to see Benficas victory as a result of their strenght. They won because Dortmund really sucked in converting chances, not because they played well.
Well atleast Dortmund played football,unlike Barca ;)
Moraes come to Real
worst day ever.
Aubameyang!?
@TSN Worst performance I have seen from a striker in a long time. Don't understand why Tuchel didn't prevent Aubameyang from shooting the penalty! EVERYBODY who watched the game knew he would gonna miss, everybody!
Is that really where Dembele is playing? Huh
Is whoscored serious, Guerreiro as a left back? Ha, ha, that is quite something to come up with that. Shows that the person who did the preview has no clue about Dortmund and Guerreiro and just looked up the " orginal " position online... He will play as a 8/10 hybrid player.
@neumi17 ..What do you say now, you dortmund expert?
@aaltoo ? What do you mean ?
@neumi17 I thought that Guerreiro actually started as a left back, but then just saw you were right. Sorry for that.
Pulistic
@ZcodeSportSystem.com What about him?
@ZcodeSportSystem.com What about him?
I find funny how in big games Benfica always loses their best players...last year same thing happened against Bayern...no Jonas again and no Grimaldo and Lindelof...But I still hope for a great match and hope Benfica wins :P
Dortmund to win, for sure, Aubameyand and Dembele will make difference.
@AndreyNosatii You're right, Aubameyang made the difference.
win dortmund
100% 1-2 win dortmund
2-1 Benfica. They're usually strong in these big home games, but Dortmund to go through in Germany.
BVB has conceded in every away games in Bundesliga League. But what makes them soo strong is thier home matches. Benfica on thier other side is very strong but sometimes defenders get drunk before the match begins nd they're trailing 0-3 at Ht I witnessed Benfica getting torn at home 1-2 by Napoli but that was a game where it was a very hard game. Neck and neck.Both teams fighting for points in a game Besiktas did blow up! Haha. But BVB isn't that strong to cause Benfica any real threat. Benfica are world class at home. Should win this one comfortably 2-1. Germany teams have no good record against Portuguese teams. This is nearly certain. Benfica win. But the Away fixture might end 3-2.. Benfica Prevails. In Champions League Home teams hardly loose. Unless it's a neck a neck affair which happens in the 2nd Leg
Jonas is such a big loss for this match...
Jonas is out. I guess will be a over 2.5 match
I don't watch the Portugese league or Bundesliga but the consensus has always been Bundesliga is one of the top leagues in the world. Dortmund wins 3-1
@elementasrat unlikely
2_1
benficain quarters
@NuchalLine How?
Götze is not injured ! They just say that to prevent the media from going wild since Götze hasn't played in 5 consecutive games because of poor physical condition. If Tuchel keeps ignoring him the out cry of the public would be strong. So they made up the injury to keep everything calm. But they could have made it a bit less obvious since it is just strange that he was in training during the week but than got scratched because of an "injury" each game day... ;-)
@neumi17 Umm have you watched Dortmund's games at all this season? Since returning to the Signal Iduna Park Goetze's performance cannot justify his pricetag and having the highest payroll in the team AT ALL! Why does Kagawa have to be benched when he performed better than Goetze during the first half of the season? Also why does Dortmund need to give a crap about the media anyway? They would make up news just to get more subscribers.
@Javk5pakfa Don't understand your reply quite frankly. I am saying the same thing, Götze is not worth the price tag nor is still good enough to play for ANY team in the Bundesliga. I have never seen or heard of a player that turned so bad from 20-24. His skills are still great but his body and physical abilities are that of a 40 year old. Something real strange happened to him...
@neumi17 U r fakenews ;-)
@nazihunter69- It's true, Goetze's physical (and I would argue mental too) decline has been rapid. The only other person in the world who went that downhill from age 20 to 24 is me!
@SteveHyland :-))
I think 2-2
@Homayoon Me too
It is like Tuchel said last week before the game in Darmstadt. The team can't handle real pressure, and so they lost. I think this time the pressure is even a bit higher on this young team. No way Dortmund is going to win here. The lack of confidence will make sure that benfica will win, or at least draw this game.
@meycon @meycon That is not true, he said the team can't handle "no pressure", that is why they are successful in the cl and against Bayern. Dortmund wins by two goals imo.
What is for sure is, that Dortmund will concede at least 1-2 goals. Their defense is very weak lately. Last 13 away games they got at least 1 goal against. Tuchel really struggles at the moment, he always makes the wrong line up. Nevertheless Dortmund will score a goal to keep a chance of qualifying for the next round. PREDICTION: 2-1 (75 %) or 3-1 (25 %)
on asian handicap +0.25 @ 0.90 will be good bet!
Draw or benfica to win Benfica very strong at home ground. and yet Dortmund very unstable this season.
I hate that goat mitroglou, hope his compatriot Sokratis will annihilate him...
@pyt55 wow you guessed the goal scorer's name!
@hellreaper hehe yeah, me & my fortunes... guess I should've gone betting
Dortmund has been very inconsistent since December last year, at least away from home! On the other hand, Benfica at home is very strong and scores everytime! Benfica 2 - 1 Dortmund is my guess.
@masteroftitties yet since December last year, CL has been on break :) hopefully, this will be the game that kickstarts Dortmund's season, especially after the weekend's shame...
Lisandro is also out for benfica due to injury and Toto Salvio is 100% available for this match - News from portuguese sports journal. All in all, and taking into consideration Borussia Dortmund's bad form away from home, Benfica has a good chance to win this game!!
@F.Mota Grimaldo is also injuried
@hellreaper Yes he is, i just didn't mention it because they have already said that :p
benfica 2-2 dortmund
Benfica 3-1 Dortmund
I guess I commented on this game too early when I posted my first comment lol. To be honest I feel like Benfica is getting tired recently. Since the match against Boavista that they don't play good football. In that match they were already losing by 0-3 at home around the 20th minute. They also lost against Moreirense by 3-1 in the league cup and failed to reach the final and lost right after that match against V. Setúbal. Also they seem to always be able to concede goals even in the matches they didn't with some luck. I still think Benfica is favorite to win this match but they will probably concede with their current form unless they play totally different like: "this is champions league, let's focus", and by conceding goals at home makes things hard to solve in the 2nd leg. Maybe a 2-1 result is going to happen
1-1 in first league and Dortmund to go through
Dortmund won both matches against Sporting by a goal margim, that's true but it could have ended as draw or defeat in both of the matches. The problem is that Sporting needs to creat 20 chances to score a single goal. Benfica is more pragmatic, so I guess Dortmund will have a hard time. I expect nothing but Benfica to win.
@hellreaper Lets be honest. The only reason you see Benfica to win is that you are portugese and just want it to happen... ;-) Fair enough but not a very good reason for a prediction...
@neumi17 No. It's because Benfica plays at home and Dortmund away from home. But when I posted this comment Benfica was way stronger than what it is now, their form drop and some key players have been missing. I think Dortmund is favorite to progress but not to win this match.
@hellreaper Dortmund also dropped in their form drastically. So they are on equal terms again ;-) Anyway, a draw is quite likely, especially without Jonas.
@hellreaper Football doesn't work that way, you should know that already.
@taktiko lol I know it doesn't. but there is not a sure way how it works either...Just saying it is going to be harder than Sporting for sure.