On Thursday night, Benfica and Eintracht Frankfurt go head-to-head at the Estadio da Luz, as the two teams look to gain the upper hand in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Benfica head into this clash in good form, as the Eagles are currently top of their domestic league after a strong campaign so far this season. However, the Champions League dropouts do not have a great recent record in its sister competition.
In fact, the Portuguese giants have won just one of their last six matches in the Europa League in 90 minutes. To be fair the home side had not featured in the competition since 2014 prior to this season, so those stats may be slightly misleading.
Benfica have an inconsistent record in their latest Europa League away games. However, the Portuguese side has suffered just one defeat in their last six matches on their travels in the competition. That defeat was in a 1-0 loss against Dinamo Zagreb in their last away game in the Europa League.
Eintracht Frankfurt are enjoying a superb campaign domestically and in Europe. The visitors currently occupy one of the Champions League spots in the Bundesliga. A place in the last eight of the Europa League is also a big achievement.
Frankfurt have a very good recent record in the Europa League, as the German team are unbeaten in 14 games in the competition over two stints, having won eight of their last ten games.
The visitors have eliminated Shakhtar Donetsk and Inter in the last two rounds. Adi Hutter’s team will be confident of adding Benfica to their list of scalps this season.
Frankfurt are unbeaten in seven away games in the Europa League, having recorded five wins in the process.
Forebet predicts that this clash will end in an entertaining high-scoring draw, which would leave the tie open for the second leg in Germany in a week’s time.