Benfica vs Borussia Dortmund Predictions, Betting Tips and Match Previews

Benfica managed to navigate their way through a tricky but wide open Champions League group in the first half of this season, finishing second in their group behind winners Napoli but ahead of fellow contenders Besiktas and Dynamo Kiev with eight points from their six matches.

Things have been going rather well for them since that qualification. They followed their final group game defeat to Napoli with a run of eight straight victories and eventually went 11 games unbeaten in all competitions. They did then lose back to back games in the Taca da Liga and the Portuguese Primeira Liga back at the end of January, but they have managed to bounce back with consecutive 3-0 wins at home to Nacional and Arouca in the past couple of weekends.

Benfica’s home form has been almost impeccable this season though. They have lost just once there all season in that final Champions League match against Napoli. Apart from that they have won 14 times and drawn three to take them to the top of their domestic table with a point advantage over Porto in 2nd and a huge 13 point gap between them and Sporting CP.

Borussia Dortmund will be no pushovers here though. They surprisingly managed to top their Champions League group ahead of Real Madrid and went unbeaten through the group stages. Domestically things haven’t gone to plan for them, with RB Leipzig and Eintracht Frankfurt upsetting the apple cart and leaving them 4th in the Bundesliga. However, this will only serve to place even more emphasis on a successful Champions League campaign.

They do come into this game on the back of a 2-1 defeat to Darmstadt at the weekend though, with that ending their 12 match unbeaten streak. They have only won six of their last 13 games though, so they are by no means invincible.

Away from home just three of their last nine outings have ended in victory, with two defeats and four draws making up the rest of their results. They haven’t kept a clean sheet on the road since their 6-0 thrashing of Legia Warsaw in their Champions League group stage opener, conceding in all 14 of their games since then. They have scored in all but one of those matches as well though.

Benfica have a fairly solid defence on home soil, but keeping a Borussia Dortmund side who have scored in all but two of their away days this season at bay for the entire game looks unlikely. They should have plenty of chances to score past the visitors though, with them keeping just one clean sheet on the road all season. This makes odds of 7/10 for Both Teams to Score look very good value, so I’m backing that alongside a 2-2 correct score predictions at 12/1.

Benfica striker Jonas missed the group stages through injury, but he’s back in the starting line up now. He has scored four goals in his five home appearances this season and looks the highest value choice for our anytime goalscorer predictions at 8/5.