FC Barcelona will head to Benfica on Tuesday night feeling a lot better about their Champions League campaign than they are about their La Liga season. Or at least they should feel that way.
Most certainly their supporter base would echo that sentiment!
UEFA Champions League Matchday 7 of 8
FC Barcelona at Benfica
Kickoff: Tue. Jan. 21, 8pm, Estadio da Luz, Lisbon, Portugal
Barca Preview Content for Both Sides: Starting XI Prediction Team News
UCL Standing, Form: FC Barcelona, 15 pts, 2nd, WWWWW Benfica 15th, 10 pts, WLLWD
Only Liverpool has had a more successful continental competition campaign, up to this point, and Hansi Flick will look to keep it going in this all-Iberian peninsula showdown.
The Blaugranes are strongly favored here, and it’s easy to understand why.
They’ll also have some extra motivation, as they have to feel very disappointed in what happened on the weekend. A draw, instead of a win, against Getafe has to feel like a major opportunity squandered.
FC Barcelona Starting XI Prediction at Benfica
Inaki Pena; Hector Fort, Pau Cubarsi, Ronald Araujo, Alejandro Balde; Eric Garcia, Frenkie De Jong; Pau Victor, Lamine Yamal, Ferran Torres; Robert Lewandowski
Paul M. Banks is the Founding Editor of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He currently contributes to USA Today’s NFL Wires Network, the Internet Baseball Writers Association of America and RG. His past bylines include the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. His work has been featured in numerous outlets, including the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the Washington Post and ESPN. You can follow him on Linked In and Twitter.