Benfica will be looking to finally get off the mark in this season’s Champions League when they welcome Bayer Leverkusen to the Estadio da Luz on Wednesday night.
Having come away empty-handed from each of their opening three continental contests of the campaign, the Portuguese giants are one of only two teams without a point on the board at this juncture.
That being said, the Eagles' last two matches have been away at Chelsea and Newcastle, so a home game with Bayer Leverkusen represents a more realistic opportunity to get up and running.
Jose Mourinho’s men made it two wins from two in the Primeira Liga on Saturday with a comfortable 3-0 success away at Vitoria SC.
Bayer Leverkusen, on the other hand, were on the wrong end of a 3-0 reverse away at Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga last time out.
As far as the Champions League is concerned, Kasper Hjulmand's side are also still searching for their first win of the season, with the visitors drawing with both Copenhagen and PSV before being hammered 7-2 when hosting PSG.
How the bookies view it: Eagles to emerge victorious
Despite losing each of their opening three Champions League games of the season, BOYLE Sports make Benfica 21/20 favourites on Wednesday night.
Bayer Leverkusen are as big as 12/5 with BOYLE Sports to take top honours in the Portuguese capital while the draw has been priced up at 5/2 with the same firm.
Head to head: History against the hosts
Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen will lock horns for the first time since season 2014/15 on Wednesday night. The German outfit claimed a 3-1 win at the BayArena before playing out a goalless draw at this venue in the return match.
Players to watch: Vangelis offers value
Vangelis Pavlidis boasts an impressive return of 13 goals and two assists across his 20 appearances for Benfica in all competitions this season, making the Greek attacker an attractive option to register another goal involvement here at 4/5 with Bet365.
Alex Grimaldo offers plenty of attacking threat for Bayer Leverkusen down the left-hand side. The Brazilian has hit the target in two of his three appearances in this season’s Champions League, making a repeat here worthy of support at even-money (1/1) on Bet365.
Predicted line-ups
The home team will be unable to call upon the services of injured trio Amar Dedic, Bruma and Manu Silva.
Robert Andrich will serve a suspension for Bayer Leverkusen after receiving a red card against PSG on matchday three, while Axel Tape, Equi Fernandez, Exequiel Palacios, Lucas Vazquez and Nathan Tella will all miss out through injury.
Benfica: Trubin; Aursnes, Otamendi, T Araujo, Dahl; Barrenechea, Rios; Schjelderup, Sudakov, Lukebakio; Pavlidis
Bayer Leverkusen: Flekken; Tapsoba, Balde, Quansah; Grimaldo, Garcia, Echeverri, Arthur; Poku, Kofane; Schick
Anything else catch the eye?
Given how leaky Bayer Leverkusen have been of late, Benfica look well placed to score two or more goals on Wednesday night at 10/11 with BOYLE Sports.
The visitors have conceded two goals or more in four of their last five matches across all competitions.
It's also worth noting that Leverkusen shipped two goals away at Copenhagen on matchday one, further suggesting that Benfica can follow suit.
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