Benfica vs Dynamo Kiev

Benfica will be looking to finish what they started in Lodz last week and see off Ukrainian powerhouse Dynamo Kiev in this mouth-watering Champions League playoff tie.

Last season’s Champions League quarter-finalists Benfica notched up two unanswered first-half goals in the first leg to take firm control of this tie going into the return leg. Led by new manager Roger Schmidt, the ‘Eagles’ have won all five competitive matches this season by an aggregate scoreline of 14-2, including all three Champions League qualifying fixtures by multi-goal margins. Having taken their unbeaten streak in the Champions League qualifying to seven matches (W6, D1), the Portuguese giants must feel unbreakable now. On top of that, Benfica have only lost one Champions League qualifier on home soil (W10, D1), with that solitary defeat dating back to 2003!

On the other hand, travelling Dynamo Kiev have a mountain to climb in Lisbon after collapsing in the first leg. Desperate to give the devastated Ukrainian nation something to cheer about, Mircea Lucescu may eventually have to settle for plying their trade in the Europa League group phase this season. Only twice have the Ukrainians won a UCL qualifier after losing the first leg at home. Yet, both those comebacks followed up a single-goal defeat, most recently against Turkish side Trabzon, almost 18 years ago. Kiev’s bid to overturn this tie seems unrealistic, especially considering they lost all three Champions League group stage matches on the road last season by an aggregate score of 8-0, including a 2-0 reverse at Benfica.