Dinamo Zagreb will face Benfica at Stadion Maksimir, in Zagreb, in the Europa League 1/8-Finals. Dinamo Zagreb against Benfica is always the match with big interest, especially during this season. Review our thoughts on this match here below.
Dinamo Zagreb
Dinamo Zagreb is playing a great season with big chances to be winners of the national league. They will play in the semi-final of Croatian Cup and face Benfica in the 1/8 Final of UEFA Europa League. Croatians are unstoppable at home ground as they lost only once in Group stage of qualification to Champions League. Since July of the year 2018, they have drawn only 3 times and won 21 matches in all competitions. After the season break, they won 5 matches in a row, by scoring 17 goals and conceding only 2. At home, they play extremely confident football, so every opponent will face very strong and well-prepared hosts.
In Europa League group stage they took first place without any loses. They scored 11 and conceded only 3 goals. On average Croatians scores 1.9 goals per game, pass with 72.7% accuracy and shoots 13.8 times per game. They collected 19 yellow and 1 red card. Dinamo Zagreb is undefeated in 12 of 13 their last matches in UEFA Europa League.
Now the team is fully prepared, as all main squad players are ready for the match and fight for the next round in the Europes second biggest tournament.
Benfica
Benfica this season is showing best-attacking skills in Primeira Liga, as they stand at the first place and have already scored 66 goals in 24 games. In the last match, they won against the strongest rivals in Portugal and now have 2 points difference with them. However, against the same opponent, they lost in League Cup semi-final. In Europa League, they were promoted from the first place of Champions League’s group stage. In National Portuguese league they lost 2 away matches and have drawn only once in 13 games. Since season start they already lost 7 points, however, the level of their opponents is much higher than Zagreb’s.
In the total of Europe’s competitions, in 8 matches, they score 8 goals, shoots 14 times per match and pass with 78.5% accuracy. They collected 17 yellow and 1 red cards. In Europa League, Benfica are undefeated in 11 last matches in a row. Benfica failed to score in 1 of 13 away matches in all competitions.
Several of the main squad players will miss this important clash due to injuries. E. Salvio will miss the match for sure, however, T. Ebuehi, L. Fejsa, Jardel and G. Conti still under the question.
H2H
These teams met only once in far 2004 year. That time in Europa League Benfica were stronger at home ground and won the match with 2:0 result.
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