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Benfica vs Zenit Prediction & Betting tips
With a furious closing phase RB Leipzig secured on the fifth matchday the premature rise in the first knockout round of the UEFA Champions League. Thanks to a Forsberg double, Nagelsmann-Elf were able to equalize with a 2-0 deficit to Benfica and can no longer beat the first two places.
Benfica’s Lisbon goal is not going to overwhelm them in the Champions League. The maximum of the emotions is third – but it must be on Tuesday evening, a victory ago. In the Estadio da Luz there is a duel between Benfica Lisbon and Zenit St. Petersburg!
With four points Benfica Lisbon are only three points behind Zenit St. Petersburg and Olympique Lyon (seven each), but the Red Eagles have no chance of getting one of the first two places due to direct comparisons!
Third place will not be easy. If Lyon scores against Leipzig, at least one win with two goals difference must succeed! In a Leipzig victory Benfica every victory to progress.
But also the Russians need the slide rule, because if both Zenit St. Petersburg and Lyon win, Zenit would draw with ten points due to the tripartite comparison with Leipzig the short straw.
Benfica Lisbon:
On a national stage, the Red Eagles by Bruno Lage are hard to stop. In the domestic league NOS are after 13 games 36 counters on the credit side. Only the top match against runner-up FC Porto was lost. However, Porto made some other slip-ups, and so Benfica Lisbon has a four-point cushion on the big arch rival just before Christmas.
Especially the way Benfica Lisbon wins the games on a national stage is impressive. At the weekend, Benfica Lisbon celebrated a 4-1 away win at Boavista Porto, making them the first team in the league to score more than once against Boavista. In addition, it was the eighth “handicap victory” of the current season for the Lage-protégés.
International, the two-time winner of the European Cup of Champions (1961 and 1962) can no longer build on the successes of past years. The naked numbers prove that, as Benfica have won just three of the last 18 games in the premier class (two draws, 13 defeats).
In general, this results in no fewer than 15 defeats in the most recent 28 international matches (including qualification and Europa League). Last year, the international adventure ended in third place in the Champions League in the Europa League in a duel with Eintracht Frankfurt.
Above all, the offensive presented last international anything but scoring dangerous. The first-leg win against Eintracht Frankfurt (4-2) and the 2-1 win over Lyon in this group stage are an exception as Benfica have scored more than one goal in just 17 of their last 17 international games.
Zenit St. Petersburg:
Although Zenit Saint Petersburg has already collected seven points in this Champions League season, the international record has not been very positive in recent years. Only three of the last ten Champions League matches has won the club from the Russian metropolis.
Especially in foreign countries, the team of head coach Sergey Semak presented as a welcome guest. In the Europa League season 2017/18 last succeeded at Real Sociedad de San Sebastian an away win.
Since that success in the Basque Country, Zenit St Petersburg has been without success outside the country’s borders eleven times in a row (three draws, eight defeats). In the fight for the fourth round of the last knockout round (in the total of seven participation in the group stage of the premier class), however, the away curse must be dropped. These numbers do not speak for the tip on the guests in the duel between Benfica and Zenit St. Petersburg!
Confidence in the Russian league leaders (14-3-2 balance sheet) should not be lacking after the last five competitive games have been won. In the domestic championship, the team is heading for the title defense and has already after 19 matchdays a comfortable cushion of ten points on the current second-placed FK Krasnodar. The best scorer is the brawny attacker Artem Dzyuba, who not only convinced as an executor (eleven goals), but also as an assistant (nine assists).
Furthermore, not available to the Russians the king transfer Malcom. The Brazilian, who was signed by Barcelona for 40 million euros, will not be available until next year due to hip problems. The same applies to the now dismissed former international Aleksandr Kokorin after his prison sentence. Daler Kuzyaev missing yellow-locked.
Benfica vs Zenit head to head matches
02.10.19 CL Zenit Benfica 3 : 1
09.03.16 CL Zenit Benfica 1 : 2
16.02.16 CL Benfica Zenit 1 : 0
26.11.14 CL Zenit Benfica 1 : 0
16.09.14 CL Benfica Zenit 0 : 2