Champions League: Benfica vs Barcelona – Betting preview

Ace Football previews the Champions League round 7 match between Benfica and Barcelona and offers team stats, betting tips and the latest odds.

Benfica welcome Barcelona at Estadio da Luz on Tuesday for a match in the penultimate round of the current Champions League season.

While Barcelona are chasing the lead in the Champions League after collecting 15 points in six rounds, Benfica trail by ten points after six rounds, leaving them as number 15 in the table.

Team form: Benfica vs Barcelona

Benfica Form

Benfica suffered a couple of disappointments in their last three matches, as they were run over by Sporting CP in a 1-0 defeat. Braga also proved too hard to handle, as they won 1-2, before Benfica were able to strike back last time out in a 4-0 win against Famalicao. Benfica just have a single home win to show from their efforts in the past six Champions League matches at the Estadio da Luz. They also drew two and lost three of these six encounters, in which they scored eight and conceded nine goals.

Barcelona Form

In their three most recent outings, Barcelona won 0-4 and 5-1 against Barbastro and Real Betis, before drawing 1-1 against Getafe. Barcelona managed a decent return of three wins in their last six Champions League away matches, in which they scored 15 while also conceding 12 times. They also experienced one draw and two defeats.

Betting facts for Benfica and Barcelona

Let’s have a look at some of the most interesting betting-relevant facts based on the stats from the last couple of matches that Benfica and Barcelona played across all tournaments.

In-form players: Benfica vs Barcelona

It has been an excellent season for Robert Lewandowski who managed to score an impressive 16 goals in total during the current campaign. He also seems on a good run currently, hitting the target seven times in his last six outings. Barcelona are looking to him against Benfica, hoping he keeps his momentum going.

Betting markets: Benfica vs Barcelona

Full-time result

Benfica won eight of the previous 10 home matches across all tournaments, while drawing one and losing one as well. Barcelona won six from a possible 10 away from home, as they also drew three and lost one in this run. Benfica won their last 4 matches. Barcelona didn’t lose any of their 5 most recent games. Barcelona are on a great streak of 8 away matches without losing.

Both teams to score

Benfica scored the first goal in seven out of their last ten games. Impressively, Barcelona scored the first goal in eight out of previous ten games. Benfica probably enjoy the prospect of scoring on Tuesday, as Barcelona managed only two clean sheets in the previous 10 matches. The former claimed five clean sheets in their last 10 matches.

Total goals

Over 2.5 goals happened in five of Benfica’s last ten matches across all tournaments. They pulled off an average of 1.8 goals during this run. In the last ten games for Barcelona, seven of them had more than 2.5 goals, and they scored an average of 2.8 times goals per game themselves. Benfica’s last 5 matches had more than three goals.