Benfica vs. Bayer Leverkusen Champions League preview: Team news and predicted lineups
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After a painful 2-7 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in their last Champions League outing, Bayer Leverkusen remain on two points and are still searching for their first win in this year’s edition of Europe’s premier club tournament.
Kasper Hjulmand’s side will be hoping to change that when they visit Benfica on Wednesday evening, though a long list of absentees could make the task more difficult.
Leverkusen responded to the heavy loss against PSG with a 2-0 Bundesliga win over Freiburg and a 4-2 extra-time victory over Paderborn in the DFB-Pokal before slipping to a 3-0 defeat to Bayern Munich at the weekend in a match where they were clearly second best.
Like Leverkusen, Benfica are also chasing their first Champions League win this season, having lost all three of their league phase games so far.
Domestically, however, José Mourinho’s side have been in strong form of late, beating Arouca 5-0, Tondela 3-0 in the cup, and most recently Vitória de Guimarães 3-0.
The two sides last met in the group stage of the 2014/15 Champions League. Leverkusen won the home game 3-1, while the return fixture ended in a 0-0 draw.
Team news and predicted lineups:
Bruma (Achilles) and Amar Dedic (muscular) are out for Benfica.
Meanwhile, Leverkusen will have to manage without captain Robert Andrich (suspended), Ezequiel Fernández (knee), Exequiel Palacios (groin), Axel Tape (thigh), Nathan Tella (knee) and Lucas Vázquez (muscular), while Malik Tillman (thigh) is a doubt.
Click here to see our predicted Benfica vs. Leverkusen lineups.
