AS Monaco – Benfica

Monegasques fail to continue their winning ways in the Champions League

Monaco, after the opening four rounds of the Champions League, can be considered one of the teams that have taken a liking to the new format of the tournament. The Monegasques really shone in only one of the four meetings, but at the end of the halfway point, they have gained ten points and are now trailing Liverpool. Hutter's team are also comfortable in the French league, as evidenced by their current second place. Benfica had a great start to the general stage of the Champions League, but after two initial victories, they lost twice. In the championship, this club is trying to keep up with the phenomenal playing form of Sporting, which succeeds relatively effectively. Bookmakers have identified the hosts as favourites for the upcoming meeting, offering odds of 2.17 on their victory. Monaco started the season well and for a long time went in close proximity to the leader of the championship - PSG. In the Champions League, the first round of the general stage brought the Monegasques a victory over Barcelona, which from the eleventh minute had to play with ten men. In October, the team's fortunes deteriorated considerably. There were defeats in the league, and on the European stage Monaco almost lost in Zagreb to a modest Dinamo 2-2. Nevertheless, the club will go into the match against Benfica with a three-game winning streak. On Saturday, Golovin and company defeated Benfica 3-2, also representing France in the Champions League. Benfica played in Munich in the last round of the general stage, where they almost achieved success. The Lisbon club is quite skillful in playing the "second number", but in the "den" of Bayern failed to realise one of the main tasks of this strategy - counterattacking attacks. In general, Benfica did well in Munich in terms of defensive organisation, conceding only Musiala's goal, but the Portuguese failed to score in attack. Benfica's good form was confirmed by the result of the meeting that took place at the Estadio da Luz before the players left for their national teams. "Reds" with a score of 4:1 defeated the principal rival - Porto. Taking into account that Benfica have experience of good wins in the current Champions League (Atletico Madrid were defeated in Lisbon in the second round), we will bet that the guests will take away at least one point to Portugal.