Two Iberian powerhouses butt heads in Wednesday’s Champions League last-16 first leg, as Benfica welcome Barcelona to the Estadio da Luz.
Bruno Lage‘s men fought their way past Monaco 4-3 on aggregate in the knockout round playoffs, while La Blaugrana finished second in the league phase, and here Sports Mole rounds up the team news for both clubs.
BENFICA
Out: Florentino (thigh), Angel Di Maria (muscle), Alexander Bah (ACL), Manu Silva (ACL), Tiago Gouveia (knee), Renato Sanches (muscle)
Doubtful: None
Sports Mole’s predicted XI: Trubin; Araujo, Otamendi, Silva, Carreras; Kokcu, Barreiro, Aursnes; Akturkoglu, Pavlidis, Bruma
BARCELONA
Out: Marc Bernal (knee), Marc-Andre ter Stegen (knee), Andreas Christensen (calf)
Doubtful: Gavi (illness)
Sports Mole’s predicted XI: Szczesny; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsi, Balde; Pedri, De Jong; Yamal, Gavi, Raphinha; Lewandowski
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
