Benfica travel to the French Riviera on Wednesday night to take on Nice in the first leg of their Champions League third round qualifier.
Benfica enter the third round of qualifying after missing out on the Primeira Liga table last season, with their draw away at Braga on the final day of the season meant they finished two points behind their city-rivals Sporting CP.
The Lions also defeated Benfica in the final of the Taca de Portugal, but the record Portuguese champions did get their hands on one piece of silverware last season, as they beat Sporting CP in the final of the Taca da Liga.
Bruno Lage’s men have already added another trophy to their trophy room this campaign, as they defeated, you guessed it, Sporting CP, in the final of the Portuguese Super Cup last Thursday, thanks to a solitary strike from Vangelis Pavlidis.
Nice also enter at this stage of qualifying, as they finished in fourth position in the Ligue 1 table, finishing above fifth-placed Lille only on goal difference.
Despite being regular participants in both the Europa and Conference League in recent years, Les Aiglons have never qualified for the Champions League proper, but did reach the quarter-finals in the European Cup, way back in the 1959/60 season.
How the bookies view it: Benfica favourites
Despite being away from home, Benfica are favourites to win the first leg, with BoyleSports pricing them at 6/5.
The same firm has Nice at 7/4 to take a lead to Lisbon next week, whilst the draw is 12/5.
Head to head: First competitive meeting
This will be the first competitive meeting between these two clubs, but the pair did play in a friendly in 2022, with the Portuguese giants winning 3-0.
Players to watch: Pavlidis to pounce again?
Vangelis Pavlidis had an excellent first season in the Portuguese capital last season personally, firing in 30 goals across all competitions. The Greek international also scored the only goal in Benfica’s victory over Sporting CP in the Portuguese Super Cup last week, and is an appealing 7/5 to net at BoyleSports in France on Wednesday night.
Predicted line-ups:
Nice may start with a similar side to the one that defeated Sheffield United in a friendly last week, with new signing Yehvann Diouf starting in goal for the recently departed Marcin Bulka.
Bruno Lage will be expected to make a similar starting 11 to the one that started their Portuguese Super Cup success over city-rivals Sporting CP last weekend, with ex-Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi captaining the side.
Nice: Diouf, Clauss, Mendy, Bah, Dante, Bard, Boudaoui, Sanson, Bouanani, Moffi, Guessand
Benfica: Trubin, Dedic, Silva, Otamendi, Dahl, Barrenechea, Rios, Barreiro, Arsunes, Akturkoglu, Pavlidis
Anything else catch the eye?
Benfica made it to the last-16 of the Champions League last season, before being eliminated by Barcelona.
The Eagles won four of their six away matches in the competition (W4-D2-L0), claiming wins at Crvena Zvezda, Juventus and Ligue 1 side Monaco (twice), with both defeats coming at Bayern Munich and Barcelona.
Nice, on the other hand, had a nightmare campaign in the Europa League, failing to win any of their eight contests in the league phase (W0-D2-L6), and I fancy the Portuguese giants to take an advantage back to Lisbon.
GambleAware