Sports Mole previews Thursday’s friendly clash between Benfica and Brentford, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.
Both aiming to avoid their first defeats of the pre-season period, Benfica and Brentford cross paths at the Portuguese side’s Estadio da Luz headquarters on Thursday evening.
Roger Schmidt‘s crop welcome their English foes on the back of a 3-1 beating of Almeria, while the Bees put AFC Wimbledon to the sword 5-2 over the weekend.
Match preview
Continuing their theme of scoring for fun in pre-season, Benfica had already put five unanswered goals past Farense and struck twice in a four-goal stalemate with Celta Vigo before an affair with Almeria on Sunday, where Schmidt’s men surprisingly found themselves a goal down inside 23 minutes.
However, Nicolas Melamed‘s opener would not be a sign of things to come for the Spanish side, as Vangelis Pavlidis, Arthur Cabral and Joao Mario responded emphatically for Benfica, ensuring that the Portuguese giants would retain their unbeaten pre-season record.
Across all matches competitive and non-competitive, the Eagles have now strung together a respectable five-match unbeaten sequence after a mixed end to the 2023-24 Primeira Liga campaign, in which they ceded the title to Ruben Amorim‘s Sporting Lisbon.
Now coming towards the end of their pre-season preparations, Benfica host Feyenoord in the latest edition of the friendly Eusebio Cup – in which they are the defending champions – three days after welcoming Brentford to the Estadio da Luz.
The Bees are one of two Premier League-based opponents that Schmidt’s men will take on in their exhibition period, as Fulham will attempt to deny them a 10th Algarve Cup title on August 2, eight days before their Primeira Liga opener away to Famalicao.
Ahead of this avian battle between the Eagles and the Bees, the Wombles of Wimbledon felt the full force of Brentford’s sting at Plough Lane on July 20, where Frank’s men convincingly won a seven-goal spectacular thanks in no small part to one of their new recruits.
As was the case with Benfica against Almeria, Brentford also conceded first – letting Joe Lewis break the deadlock with just three minutes gone – but a debut brace from recently-signed striker Igor Thiago triggered an emphatic fightback.
Yoane Wissa, Kevin Schade and Bryan Mbeumo also made the net bulge for the Bees before Wimbledon’s Archie Stevens made the scoreline slightly less humiliating, and Frank was particularly pleased with seeing four different attackers get on the friendly scoresheet.
Now gearing up for their first of two contests in a Portuguese double-header, Brentford face a less daunting fixture against Estrela da Amadora five days after battling Benfica, which precedes two final friendlies on British soil.
Watford (August 3) and Wolfsburg (August 9) will provide the final tests of Brentford’s exhibition mettle, before the Bees once again begin a new Premier League season with a London derby, hosting Crystal Palace in the middle of next month.
Benfica friendly form:
Brentford friendly form:
Team News
Benfica remain without a surfeit of players owing to summer international commitments, including Argentina’s Nicolas Otamendi and Japanese goalkeeper Leo Kokubo, both of whom are competing at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Veteran winger Angel Di Maria is also recuperating from his run to Copa America glory alongside Otamendi, while the much-coveted Antonio Silva and Joao Neves are yet to return from their post-Euro 2024 break; the same goes for Orkun Kokcu and Alexander Bah.
However, Ukrainian goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin completed 45 minutes of the win over Almeria, ceding his place to Samuel Soares for the second 45 as Schmidt made a full 11 changes.
Similarly, Brentford are still coping without Euro 2024 finalist Ivan Toney – although Thiago has filled the void effectively so far – as well as Danish contingent Christian Norgaard, Mathias Jensen, Mikkel Damsgaard and Zanka.
Dutch goalkeeper Mark Flekken is still on a break too, while Rico Henry is not being risked just yet after his serious injury, but Jamaica’s Ethan Pinnock started the win over Wimbledon after returning from the Copa America.
Flekken’s absence and Thomas Strakosha‘s exit for Greek outfit AEK Athens meant that Matthew Cox was given the nod in goal at the weekend, but Hakon Valdimarsson came on for the final half-hour and is now pining for his first start.
Benfica possible starting lineup:
Trubin; Aursnes, Araujo, Morato, Fernandez; Luis, Barreiro; Neres, Mario, Gouveia; Pavlidis
Brentford possible starting lineup:
Valdimarsson; Roerslev, Pinnock, Collins, Stevens; Onyeka, Janelt, Peart-Harris; Mbeumo, Thiago, Wissa
We say: Benfica 2-1 Brentford
While both sides remain weakened by international call-ups and summer holidays, Brentford may feel that the depleted Benfica defence is there for the taking, especially after the weekend’s five-goal showing.
The Portuguese side have also been on the attacking warpath this summer, though, and we still expect Schmidt’s men to edge a closely-fought battle, albeit without a clean sheet to show for their efforts.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.