Two European champions meet on a new day of the Champions League. History says that Benfica won the first duel between the two in European competition (3-2 in the final of the European Cup in 1961), but since then they have not been able to win any of their last six official matches against the culé team. By contrast, Barcelona are unbeaten in their previous three away games against Benfica in the European Cup, leaving a clean sheet in all three games. His last visit was in October 2012, when he won 0-2 with Tito Vilanova, in full golden age at the Camp Nou.
The curiosity is given that Benfica have lost their first Champions League game at home in each of their last three seasons, against CSKA Moscow in 2017-18, Bayern Munich in 2018-19 and RB Leipzig in 2019-20. Barcelona seek to avoid losing their first two games in a UEFA European campaign for the second time in their history, after losing both matches of the first round of the UEFA Cup against Porto in the 1972-73 season and which cost them elimination when played in the qualifying rounds.
Barcelona wants to forget their first game
In their 3-0 loss to Bayern Munich on Matchday 1, Barcelona did not make a single shot on goal in a Champions League game for the first time since 2003-04, playing more than 180 games since then.. However, according to Betfair forecasts, Barça is the clear favorite to beat Benfica and is paid with a fee of € 2.4 per euro wagered. The victory of Jorge Jesús’ team is installed at € 2.9 per euro bet.
The data for Barcelona are not good if you look back, in this recent past in Europe. They have lost their last two UEFA Champions League group stage matches, one more than in their previous 39. In the case of Ronald Koeman, he made their Champions League debut for three U-20s on matchday 1: Gavi, Álex Balde and Yusuf Demir. It was the 21st, 22nd and 23rd U-20s that Koeman gave the first chance to; only Arsene Wenger (43) and Sir Alex Ferguson (25) have lined up more in their first appearance in the competition.
Depay and the recent past in European competition
One of the strengths of this Barcelona may be in one of its new players and his past scorer against the Portuguese. Memphis Depay have scored in their last two UEFA Champions League games against Benfica, both with Lyon in the 2019-20 group stage (two goals). However, he did not attempt a single shot on Matchday 1 against Bayern Munich.
That Depay scores at any time during the match is paid with the lowest fee, € 2.4 per euro bet and reaches an implicit probability of 41.7%, the highest of all players. According to Betfair forecasts, Barcelona starts as favorites, although the scoreboard with the lowest odds is 1-1, a clear sign that bettors are not yet very clear if the culé team will surpass the image given against Bayern. It seems clear that after the good feelings of the weekend and the rival, lower level than Bayern, can change the negative trend of Barcelona in Europe.