Benfica v Liverpool predictions: Relentless Reds should be a cut above

Free football tips, best bets and analysis for Benfica v Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Tuesday.

Where to watch

BT Sport 3, 8pm Tuesday

Best bet

Liverpool to win & over 2.5 goals
1pt 19-20 Coral, Ladbrokes

Team news

Benfica
Adel Taarabt, Lucas Verissimo and Rodrigo Pinho are all missing through injury.

Liverpool
Naby Keita (knee) is a major doubt, as are Curtis Jones and Joel Matip who picked up knocks in Saturday’s win over Watford.

Match preview

There is enough evidence this season to suggest the gulf between the Premier League and the Primeira Liga is a big one and Liverpool should waste no time stamping their authority in their Champions League quarter-final tie with Benfica.

Liverpool won home and away to Portuguese league leaders Porto in the group stages, running riot 5-1 at the Estadio do Dragao before recording a more routine 2-0 success at Anfield.

Manchester City have also subsequently made light work of Sporting, the team who find themselves second in Portugal’s top-flight, with a 5-0 victory in Lisbon which helped them ease towards the Champions League’s last eight.

Benfica are third in the Primeira Liga, nine points behind their city rivals in second, and have been beaten by both Porto and Sporting this season so have every reason to fear the worst.

The Eagles did well to overcome Ajax 3-2 on aggregate in the last 16 but rode their luck and progressed despite losing the shots-on-target count over the two legs 10-5.

Allowing Liverpool’s high-quality attack that many chances could prove fatal, just as Benfica found out when they squared up against Bayern in the group stages.

Nelson Verissimo’s side were thrashed 4-0 by the Bavarians at home in October while they fared little better a month later at the Allianz Arena, where they suffered a 5-2 humbling.

Bayern racked up 45 shots in those two games and Liverpool’s pacey frontline are also expected to cause plenty of problems for the hosts’ ageing defence.

Former Premier League pair Nicolas Otamendi and Jan Vertonghen, who are now both 34, are at the heart of Benfica’s defence and that combination should be music to Liverpool’s ears.

The hosts have managed just four clean sheets in their last 18 matches in all competitions and this game comes only four days after they suffered a 3-2 defeat at Sporting Braga.

Liverpool have won seven of their eight matches in this season’s competition, scoring at least twice in each of those victories, and are likely to get plenty of opportunities to bolster that trend.

With Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz now fighting for places alongside Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, Liverpool arguably have the best attacking options in Europe and should showcase their talents at the Estadio da Luz.

Victory isn’t vital for Liverpool with the return at their Anfield fortress to come, but it would be disappointing if they failed to win and it promises to be quite a spectacle.

Benfica carry an attacking threat of their own, most notably through highly-touted Uruguayan striker Darwin Nunez, suggesting the best bet could be backing Liverpool to prevail in a thriller.

Key stat

Liverpool have won all four of their away games in Europe this season, with those matches featuring 16 goals.

Inside info

Benfica

Penalty taker Darwin Nunez
Free-kick wizard Alejandro Grimaldo
Set-piece aerial threat Darwin Nunez
Card magnet Nicolas Otamendi

Liverpool

Penalty taker Mohamed Salah
Free-kick wizard Trent Alexander-Arnold
Set-piece aerial threat Virgil van Dijk
Card magnet Andrew Robertson

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