Monaco vs Benfica

High-flying Benfica head to the Stade Louis II to take on Monaco in the first leg of their Champions League knockout playoff tie.

Monaco progressed from the newly formatted league stage as the highest-ranked unseeded side after a dismal 3-0 defeat at Inter Milan on matchday eight. That loss forms part of Monaco’s disappointing record across their last nine competitive outings (W3, D1, L5), including a 4-1 demolition to Paris Saint-Germain at the weekend. Therefore, manager Adi Hutter starts to feel the heat as he bids to avenge a 3-2 H2H defeat when the two sides locked horns in November. Monaco wasted the lead twice in that fixture to worsen their humiliating Champions League record against the Portuguese opposition (W1, D1, L6). However, ‘Les Monégasques’ can draw heart from a three-game winning streak on home turf, including a narrow 1-0 victory against Aston Villa in their last home match in this competition. 

Meanwhile, Benfica pulled off a remarkable 2-0 win at Juventus on matchday eight to lock down a knockout berth as a seeded team. The visitors have since registered identical back-to-back 3-2 victories against domestic rivals Estrela and Moreirense to set themselves up perfectly for this trip. Furthermore, the Portuguese heavyweights enjoyed a stellar away campaign in the Champions League. Except for a narrow 1-0 loss at Bayern Munich, they had won all three remaining league-phase fixtures on the road, netting multiple goals on each occasion. Another memorable evening could be on the cards, considering Benfica have only lost three of their 13 previous clashes against French opponents.