Barcelona vs. Benfica: UCL Match Preview, Odds & Predictions

On Tuesday, at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys, Barcelona will host Portuguese powerhouse Benfica in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 match. The Catalan club hopes to hold on to a razor-thin advantage from the first leg.

In their Champions League campaigns, Blaugrana has set a goal of reaching the quarterfinals for the last two years running, while the visitors are aiming to make it to the quarterfinals for the third year in a row.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

With the postponement of Saturday's La Liga home encounter due to the terrible death of first-team doctor Carles Minarro Garcia, Barcelona has not played since last week's trip to Lisbon. Club president Joan Laporta said the Blaugrana are in a "state of shock" after the devastating news.

Following Saturday's 3-0 victory against Nacional, Benfica manager Bruno Lage sent his sympathies to Barcelona. Before training at Ciutat Esportiva Joan Gamper on Sunday, the players and coaching staff observed a minute's mourning.

With the hosts leading 1-0 from the first leg despite playing over 70 minutes with a 10-man squad due to Pau Cubarsi's early red card at Estadio da Luz, Barcelona will face harsh conditions as they prepare for Tuesday's Champions League match.

With a goal from Raphinha and eight saves from Wojciech Szczesny, Barcelona earned a vital 1-0 win and extended their undefeated streak to 16 matches since their December loss to Atletico Madrid, when they lost by a score of 2-1.

With five wins in their last seven competitive home games, including a 4-0 thrashing of 10-man Real Sociedad in their most recent home outing, the Blaugrana will be confident in their chances of claiming a win at Estadi Olimpic Lluis Companys. Their only genuine concern will be avoiding defeat in the second leg.

The fact that they have won two of their past four home games against Benfica and kept a clean sheet in three matches should serve as motivation.

Last week's home leg loss to Barcelona was disappointing for Benfica, who had a golden opportunity to capitalize on Cubarsi's red card and win their second match this season at home. They had lost 5-4 in January during the league phase.

With goals from Zeki Amdouni, Orkun Kokcu, and Vangelis Pavlidis, Lage's squad bounced back to winning ways in Saturday's Primeira Liga match against Nacional. The final score was 3-0.

In the race for the Primeira Liga championship, Benfica are now tied with Sporting Lisbon on points after scoring three goals in each of their last four league games.

They will put their championship pursuit on hold to concentrate on Tuesday's crucial European match. They will know they have a challenging task to advance beyond the first round of the Champions League, and they have lost five of their last six such matches.

The Portuguese powerhouses have only won two of their thirteen competitive road games against La Liga opponents. Their most recent triumph came in the 2015–16 group stage when they defeated Atletico Madrid.

Although they know they must win to advance, Benfica may take heart from their recent Champions League away record of 3-0. They have beaten both Juventus and Monaco in the league round and overcame the Ligue 1 team in the playoffs.

Barcelona x Benfica Team News

At the beginning of the month, Barcelona announced that defender Andreas Christensen would be sidelined until April due to a calf injury, which came only days after the defender returned to health.

Both midfielder Marc Bernal and goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen are still attempting to recover from lengthy knee problems; thus, the home team is short-handed.

Robert Lewandowski will be available to start up front for Tuesday's home match against Lecco after being benched for Saturday's rescheduled match against Osasuna owing to a minor ailment.

After overcoming the sickness that sidelined him in the first leg, Gavi is anticipated to be one of Barcelona's replacements.

Due to Cubarsi's one-match suspension after last week's straight red card, Ronald Araujo will start in centre defence.

The away team can't rely on Alexander Bah, Manu Silva, and Tiago Gouveia since they're all injured.

Angel Di Maria, a former Real Madrid player who has been out for the last six matches with an injury, will also not participate.

Tomas Araujo's availability is uncertain since he did not play in Saturday's victory against Nacional, while Alvaro Carreras will miss one match due to accumulating yellow cards.

Since being added in January, Bruma has started all four of Benfica's league games recently. However, he is ineligible to play in Tuesday's match due to his exclusion from the Champions League quarterfinals.

After making some adjustments over the weekend, Lage will probably bring back Pavlidis, Andreas Schjelderup, Leandro Barreiro, and Kerem Akturkoglu.

Our predictions

Barcelona to win & Over 2.5 goals @ 1.55 on Sky247.ng

While Benfica's offence may find openings in Barcelona's high defensive line, we still expect the Blaugrana to show their mettle and cruise to a straightforward win, advancing to the quarterfinals of the Champions League.

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