Two games, two defeats. This is the balance of Benfica in Group D of the Champions League, where they occupy the last place, and that is why tonight’s challenge in Luz with Real Sociedad (8 p.m., TVI) is extremely important, as another defeat practically means goodbye to the League of Champions means.
An early bye into the group stage (there are still three rounds to go, but qualifying would be virtually impossible, especially as Benfica have never before been able to make up for two defeats at the start of the group stage and even win in the third round) will be a failure on a sporting level and a huge hole in the SAD coffers. Compared to last season, for example, it would be a loss of around 35 million euros, and compared to 2020-2021, more than 25 million. However, this accounting would always depend on the stage the eagles reached in the race.
The calculations are simple. This season, the Luz club has already raised around 39.5 million (fixed price for participation in the group stage and the prize for the ranking of European clubs for 10 years). Last season, reaching the quarter-finals, it achieved the best ever turnover in the competition, 74.299 million euros, as detailed in the report and accounts. And in 2021-2022 he had pocketed 65.4 million.
In the group stage, a win is worth 2.8 million and a draw 930 thousand euros. Progressing to the round of 16 earns 9.6 ME, the quarter-finals 10.6 ME, reaching the semi-finals earns 12.5 ME and participation in the final means another 15.5 ME. The winner will take home another 4.5 ME.
The last time Benfica were eliminated in the Champions League group stage was in 2019/20 (in 2020/21 they failed to get past the play-off stage and went straight to the Europa League), when they suffered three defeats. Still, the turnover generated this season amounted to 47,936 million. Benfica’s worst run came in 2017/18, when they finished the group stage with six defeats in as many games against Manchester United, Basel and CSKA Moscow.
“It’s in our hands”
Coach Roger Schmidt is aware of the importance of tonight’s match, but does not consider it the most important challenge of the season so far. “Benfica’s most important games are always against FC Porto. We have already won twice [Supertaça e Liga]it’s tomorrow [hoje] there is no final decision in the Champions League. We want to stay in the Champions League. It is the biggest club competition and it is our great motivation to continue playing at this level. Our goal is to move on to the next phase. We can achieve this without having to do any math. If we are focused, we can pass. At this point it is still in our hands,” he said.
The Benfica coach considered Real Sociedad “one of the best teams in Spain”, which plays “high-intensity football”. “It will be very difficult, but we have the advantage of playing at home and we know we have the opportunity to win. It was not the ideal start in the Champions League, it is always difficult to start with two penalties and a red one. in the Champions League, but we have to know how to deal with difficult situations. There are now four games to go and if we want to go to the next stage, we have to turn this around. We count on the support of the fans , on our unity and our quality,” he said.
Roger Schmidt did not open the match with regard to the players who were in doubt, but who already trained yesterday, which suggests that they can be immediately deployed in the eleven: ‘I am very happy that we had all the players in training, Di María, Bah, Kökçü… Now let’s see how we deal with the situation. We don’t want to take any risks, but it is a very important match. We want to try to have them with us, maybe on the field, maybe on the bench.”
Source: DN
