Benfica vs St Gallen Predictions

• Benfica beat Real Madrid and Napoli at home in the Champions League last season
• St Gallen have struggled against established clubs in Europe in the past
• The Swiss side have not kept a clean sheet in their last eight league games

Eagles out to rectify Swiss mistake

Benfica will have to deliver a much better performance if they are to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit and advance in Europa League qualifying against St Gallen on Thursday. The Eagles were poor in Switzerland last week in Marco Silva’s first official match in charge.

They were undone by the pace and trickery of Aliou Balde for the opening goal as he cut in and fired past Anatoliy Trubin from a tight angle and then, after steadying themselves through Rafa Silva’s effort, they conceded again to an unmarked Tom Gaal at the back post.

Silva can point to a long list of absentees (Andreas Schjelderup, Fredrik Aursnes, Richard Rios, Dodi Lukebakio, Tomas Araujo, Amar Dedic, Leandro Barreiro, Gianluca Prestianni and Jhon Duran) as a mitigating factor for the display, but almost all of them will also miss this return leg at Estadio da Luz.

More to come from Duran 

However, Duran has done well enough since joining to perhaps force his way onto the pitch on Thursday. The Colombian striker grabbed a goal and an assist in Benfica’s 5-1 friendly victory against Belenenses at the weekend after coming on at half-time.

The ex-Aston Villa striker has failed to catch fire since leaving the Midlands club but certainly has the attributes that could concern a St Gallen defence that didn’t keep a clean sheet in their final nine league games last season.

The Swiss outfit came from behind to beat FC Zurich at home last weekend and look capable of scoring in Lisbon, but Benfica should be a different proposition at home and look good to claim a victory with both teams on the scoresheet.