Bayern Munich will travel to Portugal this Wednesday to face Benfica in the third game of the 2021/22 UEFA Champions League group stage.
Venue: Estádio da Luz (Lisbon)
Key Statistics
Benfica have lost just one of their last 16 competitive games
The hosts have failed to score only once in their last 17 home games.
Bayern Munich are the joint-top scorers after two rounds of fixtures, level with Liverpool, on eight goals.
The Bundesliga side have won their last six away games in all competitions.
Manuel Neuer is yet to concede in this season’s UCL. The Bayern captain is fifth in the all-time clean sheets table (49), 10 behind the record-setting Iker Casillas.
Bayern are unbeaten in 10 UEFA matches against Benfica, winning three and drawing one of the last four.
They have not lost away in the Champions League in a tournament-record 19 matches, dating back to a 3-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2017/18 groups.
Head to head
Bayern are unbeaten in 10 UEFA matches against Benfica, winning three and drawing one of the last four.
Latest Performances in all competitions
Benfica: W-L-W-W-W
Bayern Munich: W-L-W-W-W
Benfica
Benfica will look to continue their unbeaten start to the 2021/22 Champions League season when they welcome German heavyweights Bayern Munich to the iconic Estádio da Luz in Lisbon.
The Portuguese side are sitting second in Group E with four points, thanks to their 3-0 win over Barcelona in their last UCL outing. That result made it three UCL clean sheets in a row for the hosts (W2, D1), the first time they’ve achieved that feat since March 2006.
They head into this game full of confidence and will fancy their chances of recording another remarkable win.
However, they have a poor record against German sides having lost 21 out of the 50 games they’ve played with Bundesliga oppositions (D15, L21).
Jorge Jesus is likely to be without Swiss striker Haris Seferovic for this tie, while there are doubts over the availability of Austrian midfielder Valentino Lazaro.
Possible Benfica starting line-ups
Odysseas Vlachodimos, Lucas Verissimo, Nicolas Otamendi, Jan Vertonghen, André Almeida, Joao Mario, Julian Weigl, Alex Grimaldo, Everton Cebolinha, Roman Yaremchuk, Darwin Nunez.
Bayern Munich
After brushing away Barcelona and Dynamo Kyiv by an aggregate scoreline of 8-0, Bayern Munich head into this game as the team to fear in this year’s UEFA Champions League.
The Bavarians are completely dominating their group and will look to extend their dominance with a win here.
They travel to Portugal on the back of a 5-1 drubbing of Bayer Leverkusen in the Bundesliga, a game that saw Robert Lewandowski and Serge Gnabry score two apiece.
Julian Nagelsmann’s side are currently on a run of 19 away UCL matches without a loss (W15, D4) – a competition record that also saw them score a staggering 54 goals. They have also scored three or more goals in nine of their 11 matches this season, making them highly dangerous to defend against.
Meanwhile, the visitors will be without goalkeeper Sven Ulreich, who is out injured, while there are doubts over the availability of Canadian left-back Alphonso Davies.
Possible Bayern Munich starting line-ups
Manuel Neuer, Josip Stanisic, Dayot Upamecano, Niklas Sule, Lucas Hernandez, Joshua Kimmich, Leon Goretzka, Serge Gnabry, Thomas Muller, Leroy Sane, Robert Lewandowski
Prediction
Benfica showed their quality with a 3-0 win over Barcelona last time out. But they will have to be in their best shape if they want to get anything from this game against Bayern Munich.
