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Assessment: Total number of goals below 2.5
Best odds: 2/1
Bookmaker: Betfair
Liverpool and Benfica are ready to fight again on Wednesday at Anfield, in the second round of their meeting in the quarter-finals of this season’s Champions League.
At Estadio da Luz last week, Ibrahima Konate and Sadio Mane put Liverpool two goals ahead before Darwin Nunez took advantage of Konate’s mistake to pull one back for Benfica. However, former FC Porto winger Luis Diaz, who was bubbled throughout the match by Benfica faithful, scored Liverpool’s third late.
The winner of this draw will continue to face either Villarreal or Bayern Munich in the semi-finals.
liverpool
Following the success of the first match, this match has taken a back seat to the Premier League and the FA Cup against Manchester City, on both sides of it, as far as most of the English press and the red supporters are concerned. It is not too much to wonder about given the rivalry that has arisen between these two sides since Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola took over.
Still with a chance for every trophy out there, Liverpool will seek to get past Benfica as painlessly as possible at this point.
Nevertheless, Klopp has given assurances that he is currently only thinking of Benfica, and warned anyone who took this opponent lightly that only half of the match is over, and that one should have learned from 0 -1 defeat to Inter Milan in the previous round.
In the Premier League, Liverpool are locked in the title fight and sit one point behind City with seven rounds left. In the Champions League, they smashed their way through a group that also included Atletico Madrid, Porto and AC Milan, and got Inter out of the way in the round of 16.
Liverpool’s latest form run is five wins and one draw. The only match they failed to win was the one that ended 2-2 against City at the Etihad on Sunday. Before that they won 0-2 away to Brighton and Hove Albion, 0-2 away to Arsenal, 0-1 away to Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup, 2-0 at home against Watford and the first match against Benfica in Lisbon with 1-3 .
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Klopp has no injury problems to deal with at the moment, but he can rotate his team to some extent for this match. People like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, Andy Robertson and Thiago Alcantara could all make room, with Luis Diaz, Roberto Firmino, Naby Keita, Kostas Tsimikas and Konate all hoping for a start.
Whoever is named on the list, the team will definitely be strong.
Benfica
One aspect of this clash that should definitely be kept in mind is that Benfica will go to the North West of England highly motivated. No one really had them down as favorites against Liverpool, but the fact is that the prospect of reaching as far as possible in the Champions League is their biggest source of energy at this point in the season.
In Primeira, Benfica is firmly planted in third place. They have no chance of competing for the title, sitting 15 points behind Porto at the top, very little chance of closing the nine-point gap to city rivals Sporting in second place, and with a nine-point advantage over Braga in fourth place are as confident as possible, exactly where they are.
It must be said that Nelson Verissimo’s team already drew very big surprises by reaching the knockout stages ahead of Barcelona (and Dynamo Kyiv) in Group E, behind Bayern Munich, as well as by taking Ajax out in the round of 16.
Benfica’s last six races consist of a 1-1 draw at home to Vizela, a 0-1 win away to Ajax, a 2-1 win at home to Estoril Praia, a 3-2 defeat away to Braga, a 1-3 defeat to Liverpool in the first match and a 3-1 victory over Belenense’s SAD at home.
Darwin Nunez, reportedly wanted by Manchester United, Chelsea and Paris Saint-Germain, supplemented his goal against Liverpool with a hat-trick in the latter.
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Verissimo will have no reason to change its lineup in relation to the first match, after resting a number of these players at the weekend.
Defenders Jan Vertonghen, Alex Grimaldo and Gilberto, midfielders Julian Weigl and Goncalo Ramos, as well as winger Rafa Silva, should all be expected back in the starting game.
Conclusion
Liverpool will certainly use their vast experience, and the support from Anfield stands to keep things under control, with no real need to go too hastily forward. There should be no more than a few chances at both ends, and therefore no more than one or two goals.
Assessment: Total number of goals below 2.5
Best odds: 2/1
Bookmaker: Betfair
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