Who: Benfica vs Barcelona
What: UEFA Champions League round of 16 first leg
Where: Estadio de Luz, Lisbon, Portugal
When: Wednesday, March 5 at 8pm (20:00 GMT)
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Five-time winners Barcelona visit Lisbon to face Benfica on Wednesday in the first leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie.
Barca have not won the competition since 2015 but finished second in the group stage and are among the favourites to lift the trophy.
Benfica have reached the final on seven occasions but have only lifted the trophy twice – in 1961 and 1962.
What is Barca’s response to favourable Champions League draw?
Barcelona coach Hansi Flick dismissed claims that his team have an “easy” path to the Champions League final, ahead of their last 16 clash against Benfica.
Should the Spanish giants progress from the tie, they will face either Borussia Dortmund or Lille in the quarterfinals.
Real Madrid, the record 15-time winners, as well as Atletico Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal and Paris Saint-Germain are in the other half of the draw. Barcelona, who top the Spanish league by a point, could only meet those sides in a potential final.
“In this phase, there’s no easy game – every team deserves to be here at this stage, and I think Benfica too,” Flick told reporters on Tuesday. “Benfica is a fantastic team [and] we play in a great stadium and it’s really a special atmosphere there.
“Their [fans] push the team on a lot, supporting them, and it will be really tough tomorrow – hard work for us.”
The road to Munich 🏆#UCL pic.twitter.com/XxOXoJwUAD
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) March 4, 2025
Flick would not be drawn on who the tournament favourites are and which side would pose the most threat to Barca’s hopes.
“Always the next match. Benfica is for us the next difficult opponent,” the German coach said.
“It’s not good to [talk about] these things. We focus on the next match and the next match, and that’s a good way to do this.
“It always starts at 0-0, and you have to give everything… the other teams are doing really well and they always want to win against us.”
What happened the last time Barca met Benfica?
Barcelona beat Benfica 5-4 in Lisbon in a thrilling group-stage comeback.
Defender Pau Cubarsi said his team had to focus more to stop the Portuguese side, for whom Vangelis Pavlidis scored a 30-minute hat-trick.
“It was complicated… we gave up a lot of chances. We have to try not to concede goals,” said Cubarsi, who made his Barcelona debut in January 2024 and has rapidly become a key figure.
“We have to know how to manage games… this is a two-legged tie and we have to give everything from the start,” continued the 18-year-old.
“Each year, Barca should be competing for everything. For me, we are the best club in the world. This year, people say we have the best pathway in the tournament, but I don’t see it like that.”
What is Benfica take on the Barca test?
Benfica manager Bruno Lage, whose side are second in the Portuguese league, told fans to brace for more excitement on Wednesday following the nine-goal thriller in the league phase.
Lage said Benfica, who lost the last meeting to a stoppage time Raphinha strike, will stay true to their identity of attacking football when they host Barca, and that he expects the Spanish giants to do the same.
“I can’t predict how many goals will be scored in the game, but I can predict a great game of football because they’re two teams with an eye for attack,” Lage told a news conference on Tuesday.
“I think it’s going to be a tough match and we will go out for the win. Sure, tomorrow’s result will be important, but the result of the second leg will be more decisive.
“We’re going up against a great team who score a lot of goals but we’re also looking at the positive things we’ve done against this opponent: the number of chances we’ve had, the number of times we’ve been in front of the goalkeeper… we believe we can get through this tie.”
Benfica supporters want a different outcome to that late-January rip-roaring encounter at Lisbon’s Estadio da Luz in which Barcelona fought back from two goals down to win.
“We will try to find the spaces our rivals offer us because they often do,” Lage added. We have to know how to take advantage of the spaces that Barcelona will give us – that should be the key.”
👥 𝗦𝗤𝗨𝗔𝗗 𝗟𝗜𝗦𝗧! #BenficaBarça pic.twitter.com/RaK1e0Xe8y
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) March 4, 2025
Barcelona team news
Barcelona midfielder Gavi is a doubt for Wednesday’s Champions League clash.
Gavi, who featured in Barcelona’s thrilling 5-4 win at Benfica, was on the bench in their last two league games and missed a training session due to illness.
“We will see. Yesterday, he did not train as he did not feel so good. He will visit the doctor again, we have to wait,” Flick said.
The 20-year-old has played 24 games this season, registering two goals and three assists since returning from an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury.
Benfica team news
Lage confirmed that attacking midfielder Angel Di Maria and midfielder Florentino will miss Wednesday’s game as they recover but sounded optimistic that winger Renato Sanches should be ready.
“The most important thing is for the team to function as a team, as a whole, regardless of who plays,” Lage said.
Head-to-head
The two European giants have surprisingly only met on 10 occasions.
Barca have won four of those, including the victory this season, while Benfica have only won twice.
The last of those victories was a 3-0 home win in the old group stage in 2021. The return leg that season was a goalless draw at Neu Camp – the last time the clubs met until this season.
The other Benfica win was the first meeting between the two clubs and came in the final in 1961 with the Portuguese club lifting the trophy after a 3-2 win in Bern, Switzerland.
As 📸 da preparação para o #SLBFCB! 🌡#UCL pic.twitter.com/DZ3orNLNZI
— SL Benfica (@SLBenfica) March 4, 2025