Champions League | League Stage

Nov 6, 2024 at 8pm UK

Allianz Arena

Bayern vs Benfica

Match preview

Hansi Flick, the man behind Bayern's 8-2 thrashing of Barcelona during the 2019-20 Champions League, found himself in the opposing dugout to his former sextuple-winning side on October 23. That's when the La Liga giants got their own back.

Raphinha, who used to play for Leeds United, had a great hat-trick against Vincent Kompany's team. They'd briefly cancelled out the Brazilian's 54-second goal with a Harry Kane penalty, but then the floodgates opened for Bayern.

To make things worse for Bayern, Robert Lewandowski scored a goal against his former team, helping Barcelona beat Bayern for the second time in a row after they lost to Aston Villa.

The 9-2 defeat of Dinamo Zagreb is already a distant memory for Wednesday's hosts, who currently sit in an unremarkable 23rd place in the 36-team Champions League table. However, the response from Kompany's side to that Barcelona defeat has been nothing short of flawless.

Indeed, Bayern have scored 12 goals and conceded zero in three straight wins over VfL Bochum, Mainz 05 (in the DFB-Pokal) and Union Berlin. They beat the latter 3-0 on Saturday, which means they're now three points clear of RB Leipzig at the top of the Bundesliga table.

Similarly, Benfica have also won three matches in a row since they lost in Europe. Two weeks ago, Bruno Lage's team were beaten by Feyenoord in the Europa League.

Ayase Ueda and Antoni Milambo put the Eagles fans out of their misery before Kerem Akturkoglu narrowed the gap to half in the dying seconds, only for Milambo to send the Dutch into raptures with his second of the match in injury time, ending Benfica's perfect Champions League start.

Low's team had already beaten Red Star Belgrade and Atlético Madrid – in an amazing 4-0 win against the latter – in the revamped 2024-25 Champions League. Their current 13th-place ranking would easily get them into the playoffs.

As we said before, the Eagles have had a pretty good run since then, winning three games in a row. They beat Rio Ave 5-0, Santa Clara 3-0 in the Taca da Liga and Farense 2-1 on Saturday. That puts them eight points behind the Primeira Liga leaders, Sporting Lisbon, but they have a game in hand.

The imminent exit of Ruben Amorim to Manchester United may have Benfica fans feeling more optimistic about their side's chances of closing the gap to the runaway leaders. However, the visitors may travel in hope rather than expectation this week, as the Portuguese giants have never won any of their previous 13 Champions League/European Cup games in Germany.

Benfica have also played Bayern 10 times without ever winning, losing seven times and drawing three times. They most recently lost 9-2 to Bayern in the group stage in 2021-22.

Recent Performance

Bayern Munich Champions League form:WLL

Bayern Munich form (all competitions):DWLWWW

Benfica Champions League form:WWL

Benfica form (all competitions):WWLWWW

Team News

Four Bayern players are currently out with injuries, so Sacha Boey (knee), Josip Stanisic (knee), Aleksandar Pavlovic (collarbone) and Hiroki Ito (foot) are all out of contention. However, none of them should have been on Kompany's radar for a start here.

Harry Kane has now had a hand in 25 goals in just 14 appearances this season, with 17 of them being his own and five assists across all competitions. This is from two goals and an assist from the weekend's victory over Union Berlin.

Five of those goals have come in Bayern's three Champions League matches so far, making the England captain the top scorer in the current edition. He should spearhead an unchanged lineup on Wednesday.

Benfica will be without Gianluca Prestianni (ankle), Leandro Barreiro (thigh) and Tiago Gouveia (shoulder) due to injury, but the visitors didn't pick up any new concerns in their win against Farense.

Right-back Alexander Bah was taken off at half-time in that 2-1 win, but that seemed to be a tactical change from Lage, who went with the same starting XI that lost to Feyenoord for the weekend's Primeira Liga win.

Aktaş's goal against Feyenoord means that the Turkish winger has scored in each of his first three Champions League appearances for Feyenoord. The only other player to score in each of their first four UCL/European Cup matches for a Portuguese club was Ze Carlos, who played for Porto in the 1992-93 edition.

Possible starting lineups

Bayern Munich possible starting lineup:

Neuer; Guerreiro, Kim, Upamecano, Davies; Kimmich, Palhinha; Olise, Musiala, Coman; Kane

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Bah, Otamendi, Araujo, Carreras; Kokcu, Florentino, Aursnes; Di Maria, Pavlidis, Akturkoglu