Benfica vs PAOK Thessaloniki Predictions

Benfica are in to the final round of the Champions League qualifiers, and are going up against PAOK. This first leg comes early in the campaign, but it’s a potentially huge night for the Portuguese side. After their monopoly on their domestic title ended, the Eagles are now fighting for a return to the group stage. That’s a huge potential cash boost for the side, but can they do enough across these two matches to make the next round?

The hosts are under huge pressure here. There’s at least £30million up for grabs for the Eagles over the next two meetings with PAOK. Obviously that makes a huge difference to the club, and they can’t afford to miss out. That’s going to put pressure on the players going in to this tie,  but can they follow up on that with a first leg victory?

The visitors have impressed through the last two rounds. They put out Basel in the second qualifying round, and they beat Spartak Moscow in the previous one. Those results have been building towards a clash with Benfica, with so much on the line going to in to their showdown with the Portugal giants, what kind of game can we expect?

The visitors aren’t in league action yet, but they went to Moscow last week and managed to claim a 0-0 draw. They’ll be reliant on their home form taking them through, so grinding out a result in the away leg is obviously vital. They’re likely to head to the Portuguese capital aiming to cause a shut out, and while Benfica lack Jonas, that’s a real possibility going in to Tuesday’s qualifier. The hosts should be worried about getting shut out against the opponents’ back-line, but then again the Eagles have a back-line to be proud of too.

They have defender Ruben Dias, who forced his way in to the Portugal squad for the World Cup. He joins a solid defence, and Dias has emerged as the leader. Despite his links with a move to Lyon, we see him inspiring the side to see off AEK here on Tuesday. They’re going to struggle going forward with their key forward out. However, Benfica are coming off the back of a 2-0 away win in the league, while both of their European ties last time were low scoring. We are backing Benfica to edge this one, but we think both sides are going to be strong in defence. We’re backing a home 1-0 win, while under 2.5 goals is our main tip.