St Gallen shocked Benfica in the first leg last week and will fancy their chances of hitting the Portuguese club on the break. I can’t take the short odds on the hosts here, a small stake placed on BTTS.
HTH
These clubs met on the first occasion last week. St Gallen beating Benfica 2-1 in Switzerland.
Backs to the Wall for Benfica
Benfica finished third in the Primeira Liga last season despite going undefeated. José Mourinho joined Real Madrid with Marco Silva becoming the new manager.
The Eagles suffered a disappointing 2-1 defeat at St Gallen in the Europa League qualifiers last week. Rafa Silva equalised before half-time but their defence was continually exposed.
Silva spoke after the defeat, saying: “We weren't good enough with the ball to exploit it after overcoming the opponent's initial pressure… We tried to have many touches on the ball, the ball needed to move more, and we needed to run less with it.”
Benfica immediately beat Belenenses 5-1 in a friendly with Silva rotating his squad. Anísio Cabral, Franjo Ivanovic and Jhon Duan found the net with Gianluca Prestianni scoring twice.
St Gallen Spring a Surprise in Switzerland
St Gallen ended the preseason friendlies with two convincing defeats, losing 6-3 against Lyon and 3-0 to Norwich. They put that behind them in a hurry.
Enrico Maassen’s side upset the odds in the Europa League, beating Benfica 2-1 in the second round qualifiers. Aliou Baldé opened the scoring with a solo goal before they were pegged back, Tom Gaal restoring the advantage late on.
The statistics proved that it was a deserved win despite enjoying 39% possession. The Swiss side registered 17-174 shots including 6-4 on target, playing with no fear and being rewarded.
St Gallen began the Swiss League on Sunday, a 2-1 home win against Zurich. They fell behind in the second half but came home strong, Lukas Gortler and Andrin Hunziker scoring in the final 20 minutes.
Predicted Lineups & Team News
Benfica (4-2-3-1) Anatoliy Trubin; Alexander Bah, Tomas Araujo, António Silva, Samuel Dahl; Enzo Barrenechea, Manu Silva; Rafa Silva, Georgiy Sudakov, Jakub Kaminski; Vangelis Pavlidis
Tomas Araujo could come into central defence for Clement Lenglet. Antonio Silva’s future is still uncertain with the defender rumoured to be moving to Bournemouth.
Miguel Figueiredo got the start in Switzerland but Silva could turn to Enzo Barrenechea in midfield. Leandro Barreiro was unavailable last week after picking up a respiratory infection but is expected to be available.
Bruma is injured but Amar Dedic, Richard Rios, Fredrik Aursnes, Dodi Lukebakio and Andreas Schjelderup have all returned from international duty.
Jhon Duran’s participation is doubtful after completing a loan move from Al Nassr. Gianluca Prestianni continues to serve a suspension.
St Gallen (3-5-2) Lawrence Ati Zigi; Tom Gaal, Jozo Stanic, Chima Okoroji; Hugo Vandermersch, Lukas Daschner, Carlo Boukhalfa, Lukas Gortler, Mihailo Stevanovic; Andrin Hunziker, Aliou Balde
Centre-backs Cyrill May, Colin Kleine-Bekel and Stephan Ambrosius are injured alongside Behar Neziri. Nino Weibel, Malamine Efekele and Nevio Scherrer are also on the treatment table.
Christian Witzig, Andrin Hunziker and Diego Besio compete for a spot up front next to Aliou Balde.