SL Benfica vs FC Midtjylland Preview 02/08/2022

SL Benfica vs FC Midtjylland – 02/08/2022

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Benfica will be aiming to get back into the Champions League for next season when they meet with FC Midtjylland at the Estádio do Sport Lisboa with the two-time winners of the competition having to battle it out over two legs once more.

Three seasons have passed now since Benfica last one the league which means the club have had to head for the qualification route into the Champions League instead.

Now, after finishing third for two seasons in a row, Midtjylland are the side aiming to stop them from qualification, as the winner of these two legs head straight in with Europe’s elite for next season.

The serial winners of the Primera Liga with a record 37 titles under their belt haven’t had it easy these past two seasons with them finishing nine points adrift in 2020/21 and then even further away last season with a 17-point gap to deal with on champions Porto and even 11 points away from second-placed Sporting Lisbon.

Benfica won 23 games in the season last time out just as they did the campaign prior, but the difference was how they netted 78 goals last season and also lost six times in the league.

A further five draws did make for another mediocre season by their standards and things don’t look better with them now losing Darwin Nunez.

The Uruguayan netted 28 league goals last season and has now headed for Liverpool, which only makes Roger Schmidt’s job even harder this campaign. Benfica will, however, enter this new season with this game against Midtjylland in solid form after a fantastic preseason.

The club managed to beat everyone in their way in summer fixtures with them kicking things off by beating Reading 2-0, before beating Nice 3-0 and then registering their performance of the preseason in a 5-1 thrashing over Premier League side Fulham.

The Portuguese giants then played out a 4-2 win over Girona too, before concluding their preparations for the new season with a victory over Newcastle United.

Midtjylland finished second in their league and only did so to the giants of Danish football, Copenhagen. The club scored more goals than any other side with an impressive 59 goals and winning 20 games in the process.

They’ll remain one of the favourites to win the Danish Superliga, but it’s unlikely they’ll manage to beat Benfica over two legs. Forebet predicts a win for Benfica and for the game to see over 2.5 goals.