BAYERN Munich have had a couple of wobbles at the start of their Champions League campaign, but start as favourites on home turf against Benfica on Matchday 4. Here we preview Bayern Munich vs Benfica from the Allianz Arena on Wednesday, November 6th.
How the bookies view it: Benfica face an uphill task at the Allianz.
Bayern Munich are the 1/3 odds-on favourite to win this Champions League fixture on Wednesday. They have three straight wins in all competitions and appear to be running hot again after a little blip of form. Benfica have suffered some heavy defeats at Bayern before, and the Portuguese side are 13/2 underdogs to upset the apple cart on this latest visit.
Recent head-to-head: Bundesliga giants boss previous clashes
Bayern Munich are on a four-match winning streak against Benfica and have won five of six previous Champions League meetings (D1). The two sides have met ten times before in total, and Bayern have an unbeaten W7 D3 record against the Portuguese outfit. In each of their previous five home fixtures against Benfica, Bayern have scored at least four goals.
Players to watch: King Kane to get among the goals
It’s been another prolific season for Harry Kane in front of goal for Bayern Munich, and he bagged a brace against Union Berlin on the weekend in the Bundesliga. That’s seven goals in his last five club appearances now, and Kane has only failed to hit the target in one home fixture this season, so he's the obvious front-runner in the goalscorer markets for this one.
Kerem Turkoglu is the top scorer for Benfica in this season's Champions League with a good return of three in three. He’s also bang in form in the Portuguese top flight, with five goals in six appearances. They will look for a big performance from him alongside Vangelis Pavlidis.
Predicted Lineups
Bayern Munich have plenty of depth in their side to cover for absentees Aleksandar Pavlivci, Sacha Boey and Hiroki Ito. So they should go into the game somewhat near full strength.
Bayern Munich: Neuer, Upamecano, Kim Min-Jae, Davies, Guerreiro, Kimmich, Coman, Palhinha, Olise, Musiala, Kane
Benfica: Trubin, Carreras, Beste, Otamendi, Araujo, Aursnes, Kokcu, Florentino, Di Maria, Pavlidis, Akturkoglu
Anything else catches the eye?
Benfica made a very good start to this Champions League campaign, opening with a victory at Red Star and destroying Atletico Madrid 4-0. But all that good work was undone in a shock 3-1 home loss against Feyenoord on Matchday 3.
Benfica have only lost twice this season in all competitions and have shown to have plenty of goals in them. They are currently running on a three-match winning streak on the road in all competitions, but Bayern are on a different level from anything they’ve faced so far.
Bayern Munich slipped out of form in October with just a W1 D1 L2 record in all competitions, which included Champions League defeats against Aston Villa and Barcelona. Those were a big come-down for the club after they had hammered Dinamo Zagreb 9-2 on Matchday 1. However, since that Barcelona defeat, Bayern Munich have won three on the spin, scoring at least three goals in each.
At the Allianz this season, Bayern Munich are W4 D1 in all competitions, scoring at least three goals in each of their last three wins there. With their record against Benfica, Bayern will be looking to make a move towards the business end of the Champoins League standings.
This UEFA Champions League match between Bayern Munich and Benfica will be played on Nov 6, 2024 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Bayern Munich vs Benfica prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
