Benfica will try to maintain this Tuesday the full set of victories in the 2022/23 football season by hosting the Israelis from Maccabi Haifa, in the first match of Group H of the Champions League.
The team led by the German Roger Schmidt has won all nine games so far, including the four qualifying for the ‘Champions’ and the five in the I League, which give them the isolated lead.
The ‘incarnates’ should present an ‘eleven’ similar to that of the reception to Vizela, with António Silva together with the veteran Otamendi, given the injuries among the central defenders, and, probably, the debut of the German Julian Draxler, as a substitute.
In its 17th presence among the ‘elite’ of European football, Benfica aspires to qualify for the round of 16, in a group with the ‘stars’ of Paris Saint-Germain and the renowned Juventus, with the two-time Israeli champion as the most accessible opponent .
Even so, Maccabi Haifa should emerge moralized from their third appearance in the group stage of the ‘Champions’, after having defeated, also in the final moments, rival Hapoel Be’er Sheva, who had defeated them in the first game of the season, snatching the Israel Super Cup from him.
The team led by Bachar Bakhar reached this stage after eliminating Olympiacos, then Pedro Martins, Apollon and Estrela Vermelha, highlighting the win achieved in Piraeus (4-0) and the tie (2-2) in the Serbian venue.
The match between Benfica and Maccabi Haifa is scheduled for 8:00 p.m., at Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, under the arbitration of the Swedish Andreas Ekberg, at the same time that Paris Saint-Germain hosts Juventus.
On today’s day of the main continental club competition, the visit of Real Madrid, current European champion, to Celtic’s field, for Group F, and the visit of Manchester City to Sevilla, in G.
Source: TSF
