Bayern Munich vs. Benfica: Match Preview, Odds & Prediction

On Wednesday night, Bayern Munich and Benfica will face off at the Allianz Arena. Both teams are looking to recover from their humiliating Champions League losses on matchday three.

The Portuguese powerhouses lost 3-1 at home to Feyenoord in their most recent match, while Vincent Kompany's side were humiliated 4-1 by Barcelona in their most recent European encounter.

Previous Matches and Head-to-head

On October 23, the La Liga giants tasted belated retribution against Bayern, the team he had orchestrated an 8-2 thrashing of in the 2019–20 Champions League. Hansi Flick, the man responsible for that thrashing, found himself on the opposite bench.

Raphinha, a former winger for Leeds United, put his name in the spotlight with a fantastic hat trick against Vincent Kompany's squad. The visitors' Harry Kane penalty momentarily offset the Brazilian's 54th-second opening before the Bavarian floodgates opened.

Robert Lewandowski added salt to Bayern's wound by scoring in addition to Raphinha's hat trick; this was the German giants' second consecutive European defeat after their defeat at Aston Villa.

In an unimpressive 23rd position in the 36-team Champions League standings, the Wednesday hosts are already looking beyond the 9-2 thrashing of Dinamo Zagreb. However, Kompany's club has responded magnificently to that Barcelona thrashing.

Bayern have won their last three games in a row with a combined score of 12 and 0 goals allowed. They defeated VfL Bochum, Mainz 05 (in the DFB-Pokal), and Union Berlin (3-0), with Bayern extending their lead over RB Leipzig to three points.

Benfica, who will be visiting Estadio da Luz two weeks ago, have also won their last three matches in a row after suffering a defeat on the continent. Bruno Lage's team, however, was unexpectedly outplayed by Eredivisie heavyweights Feyenoord.

Kerem Akturkoglu scored a close-range goal to reduce the lead. Still, Antoni Milambo ended Benfica's pristine Champions League start in injury time with his second goal of the match, sending the Dutch into hysteria. Ayase Ueda and Antoni Milambo had previously calmed the Eagles faithful.

With their present 13th-place rating, Lage's squad would quickly secure a playoff slot in the restructured 2024-25 Champions League, where they had previously defeated Red Star Belgrade and Atletico Madrid (the latter by an astounding score of 4-0).

However, since then, the Eagles have won their last three games, 5-0 against Rio Ave, 3-0 against Santa Clara in the Taca da Liga, and 2-1 against Farense on Saturday. They are now eight points behind Primeira Liga leaders Sporting Lisbon, who have a game in hand, but they have a game in hand.

If Benfica fans feel hopeful about their team's chances of catching up to the runaway leaders, it could be because Ruben Amorim is set to leave for Manchester United. However, the Portuguese giants have never won any of their thirteen Champions League or European Cup games in Germany so that they may be traveling with hope rather than expectation this week.

Additionally, Benfica and Bayern have met ten times, with Bayern coming out in the top seven times and Benfica drawing three times. The most recent meeting between the two teams was in 2021-22, when Bayern humiliated Benfica 9-2 in two group-stage games.

Bayern Munich x Benfica Team News

Sacha Boey (knee), Josip Stanisic (knee), Aleksandar Pavlovic (collarbone), and Hiroki Ito (foot) are the four Bayern players now receiving medical attention, yet Kompany should not have even considered them.

In a remarkable 25 goals in only 14 games this season—17 of his own and five assists across all competitions—Harry Kane has now had a hand in two more goals and an assist from the weekend's win against Union Berlin.

With five goals in Bayern's three Champions League matches this season, the England captain leads the league in scoring, and he will likely start up front for an unaltered squad on Wednesday.

Benfica did not suffer any new injuries in their win against Farense, although Lage will be unable to use Gianluca Prestianni (ankle), Leandro Barreiro (thigh), or Tiago Gouveia (shoulder).

Despite playing the same starting eleven that lost to Feyenoord in the previous Primeira Liga match, Lage seemed to make a tactical change by removing right-back Alexander Bah from the game at halftime in that 2-1 win.

With his consolation goal against Feyenoord, Akturkoglu has now scored in all three of his Champions League matches for Feyenoord. The last player to do this for a Portuguese club was Ze Carlos, who played for Porto in the 1992–93 edition.

Our Predictions

(Handicap 0:1) Bayern Munich to win @ 1.73 on Sky247.ng

Since being humiliated by Barcelona, Bayern Munich has been in a free-scoring mood, and Benfica has conceded two goals or more in each of their last five Champions League matches against them.

Even if Lage's forces won't be safe on defense at the Allianz Arena, Kompany's men will have much more firepower than Lage's. So, we may expect this trend to continue.

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