After the meeting between Sporting and Vitória SC, in the last round, here comes another of the direct duels from the last decisions. Most of the eyes will be on this clash between Benfica and SC Braga, this Saturday. The reasons? There are still some.
If the previous round pitted first and fifth place, this one brings a head-to-head between second and fourth place. This is the first reason why this duel deserves attention. With the lions paying attention to the result achieved by Benfica, FC Porto (on election day) will certainly keep an eye on what SC Braga will do – given that they are in punctual equality and in the fight for third place.
Liga Portugal Betclic 2023/24
On the embodied side, emotions are running high at all levels. After being eliminated from the Europa League in Marseille, the victory in Faro did not ease the atmosphere. Roger Schmidt found himself wrapped in contestation and this was a dominant theme in the preview of the duel against the gverreiros.
Regarding the match and all the others until the end, the eagles’ motivation is just one, according to the German coach. «We also want to be champions. It’s not likely, but we have a small chance.”
With all the players available – although there are some doubts about João Neves’ condition -, Roger Schmidt’s choices for this match should be slightly different from those for the game in front of Farensewith David Neres and Rafa Silva able to return to the starting eleven.
SC Braga has different ambitions. On equal terms with FC Porto, there is more than enough desire to do better than what was achieved on the first lap home.
Rui Duarte is unlikely to make any major changes to the starting eleven chosen to face the FC Vizelaeven bearing in mind that Abel Ruiz cannot be an option due to the accumulation of yellow cards.
History of superiority of eagles
They count 157 duels between Benfica and SC Braga throughout history. In 102, the eagles got the better of the gverreiros. Luck only smiled on the Minho team on 24 occasions.
If we compare only the results achieved at Estádio da Luz, the difference is even greater and the strength shines through. In 77 duels, the Minho team only won four times, while the Reds have already achieved 60 victories.
In the last five matches at the Lisbon club’s home ground, Benfica won three and SC Braga managed to reach three points in two of them. Is it time to leverage?
