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Benfica and Monaco meet again in the UEFA Champions League knockout round playoffs on Tuesday with the home side 1-0 up from the first leg at Stade Louis II last week. The winner at Estadio da Luz will meet either Barcelona or Liverpool in the round of 16 and the Portuguese giants will be the favorites thanks to their success in the principality. Vangelis Pavlidis scored the only goal for Bruno Lage’s men for a fourth win from five games across all competitions, which was extended over the weekend with a Primeira Liga win over Santa Clara although Sporting CP remain top. The Eagles are chasing six consecutive wins for the first time since January 2024 and have been scoring goals with prolific regularity at home of late. Benfica have scored at least three goals in each of their last four games on home turf although they did concede five to Barca meaning that they have won just once in eight home UCL games.
Monaco’s away form does not exactly suggest that thy are ready to exploit that as Adi Hutter’s men have endured a tough winter with four straight losses on the road with just one win from 10 across all competitions when not at home. Les Monegasques risk going three straight away Champions League games without scoring — a first since 2014. A 7-1 thrashing of 10-man Nantes at Stade Louis II over the weekend suggests that ASM could be dangerous in front of goal here. Mika Biereth notched his second hat-trick since his January arrival but it will take more than that to turn things around in Portugal with this a fifth meeting between these two in Europe with Monaco failing to win any of them so far.
Here’s our storylines, how you can watch the match and more:
How to watch and odds
- Date: Tuesday, February 18 | Time: 3 p.m. ET
- Location: Estadio da Luz – Lisbon, Portugal
- Watch: Paramount+
- Odds: Benfica -125; Draw +300; Monaco +290
Last time out
Pavlidis scored his sixth Champions League goal last time out to seal a narrow win in Monaco, although Al-Musrati’s red card helped that majorly. Hutter and his players must now go to Lisbon and beat Benfica who are enjoying strong continental and domestic form while Lage and his troops will know that avoiding defeat will see them through to the round of 16.
Team news
Benfica: Al-Musrati might be suspended, but so too is Florentino while Angel Di Maria and Tomas Araujo are injured and expected to miss out. Alexander Bah, Fredrik Aursnes, Manu Silva and Renato Sanches are all injured, while Bruma is suspended from his time with Braga in Europe.
Possible Benfica XI: Trubin; Santos, Otamendi, Silva, Carreras; Amdouni, Kokcu, Barreiro, Akturkoglu; Pavlidis, Cabral.
Monaco: Al-Musrati is joined by Denis Zakaria and Vanderson in being suspended although Christian Mawissa is back from his ban. Aleksandr Golovin is now injured alongside Jordan Teze and Folarin Balogun and we could see Thilo Kehrer at right-back while Takumi Minamino may could also start.
Possible Monaco XI: Majecki; Kehrer, Salisu, Mawissa, Henrique; Camara, Coulibaly; Akliouche, Ben Seghir, Minamino; Biereth.
Prediction
This one will be tight and is quite unpredictable due to the absences on both sides, but Monaco’s fluctuating form could benefit them here as long as Biereth keeps his hot form going. A win over 90 minutes before a penalty shootout success sounds like a realistic scenario. Pick: Benfica 0, Monaco 1 (ASM win on penalties).
