Confirmed Ángel Di María's absence, Benfica arrives at Montjuïc with the intention of turning around the tie that starts unfavorably in their return leg (0-1).
Bruno Lage, the Lisbon coach, arrives in Barcelona to spring a surprise in the Champions League round of 16. He has already warned that in the last two clashes between Catalans and Lisbonites, Benfica was very close to winning both. He doesn't rule out causing an upset.
"We Were Close to Victory in the Two Previous Matches"
"The game plan for today is similar to the two previous matches against Barça, perhaps with some different nuances in the strategy. Barça likes to have the ball, play in depth, seek one-on-one, press...
For us, the most important thing is to create opportunities, it's crucial, but we must have the quality to take advantage of them. Coming back would give us a lot of prestige"
He added: "we have the feeling that we could have won the two previous matches because we created many chances. We believe we can do it now...
"Barça Is the Only One That Hasn't Lost in 2025"
We focus on the good, we want to continue those two previous matches against a Barça that is a great team. With players of great quality, it's the only team that hasn't lost in 2025".
About the mistakes made in the two previous matches, he specified: "I don't think we lacked anything in those two matches, just the goals. If we create as many chances again, we'll have options. We have to play our game...
Is Barça's high defense an opportunity or a problem? A bit of both because they defend spaces very well".
Lage referred to the star of the moment in European soccer. "I knew Raphinha from Sporting de Portugal and Leeds, he's doing a great job in Barcelona. Who knows if he can be Ballon d'Or".
He also referred to Lamine Yamal: "Lamine is one of the best in the world, but our strategy is not to focus on one player. There's Lewandowski, Pedri, I really like midfielders, Szczęsny who was the best in the first leg..."
Florentino Worries Flick
Bruno Lage has the line-up decided. He only has one doubt: Florentino's presence in the starting eleven.
Florentino is the Benfica footballer who worries Flick the most. From his pivot position, he provides balance to the whole team and considers that he can do a lot of damage to Barça.
A muscle injury prevented him from playing in the first leg held in Lisbon last week. Lage hopes to recover him for today, despite him not having played for a month.
Lage will have to cover the absence of the Spaniard Carreras, suspended for one match. But the great threat will be the Greek Vangelis Pavlidis, who scored a hat trick in the electric 4-5 in January in the preliminary group stage.