Benfica will host Casa Pia at Estadio da Luz on Saturday in an attempt to get over their defeat to Famalicao on the first day of the Primeira Liga.
Roger Schmidt's team is eager to get as many points as possible in order to prevent slipping further behind Sporting Lisbon and Porto. The gameweek two matchup pits two winless teams from the league's opening games against each other.
Benfica has lost 50% of its last four games between the end of the previous season and the start of 2024–25 after Fama handed the Eagles their final defeat of 2023–24, a 2-0 loss in early May, and defeated Schmidt's team in the match this season. Fama conceded in each half of the match.
After finishing eight points ahead of Porto and 10 points behind eventual winners Sporting, a sluggish start puts Ruben Amorim's team in danger of slipping behind and maybe losing to Porto this season.
While Schmidt's team still has 33 games to make up for their poor start, the Eagles must win on Saturday against a local rival because they lost to rivals last season. on makes victory much more crucial.
Notwithstanding the unsatisfactory beginning, the home crowd will be expecting a performance this weekend, eager to continue an amazing run of wins at home as the Eagles attempt to win 12 straight games on their field.
Since Porto defeated Benfica 2-1 in April 2023, only two teams have kept Schmidt's team from earning all possible points at Estadio da Luz: Casa Pia in October 2023 and Farense six weeks later. This weekend, the away team will aim for a result along those lines.
After an 83-year exile from the first division that ended in the 2022–2023 season, the Geese are entering their third season. In their first two seasons, the Lisbon team performed well.
Before Goncalo Santos helped Os Gansos finish ninth last season, former head coach Filipe Martins led the team to 10th place.
Now that Joao Pereira is in place, Casapianos' miserable run of results in front of their supporters—they were only able to secure three victories in 17 games during the previous season—continued last week when they were defeated at home by Boavista.
Against local rivals Benfica, one of the team's five away draws from the previous season would be very commendable for the current manager.
Gianluca Prestianni, who was replaced early in Benfica's game against Famalicao, is still not sure what his condition is.
After making an impressive cameo against Fama the previous time out, Angel Di Maria may get the start for the Eagles on Saturday.
Schmidt wants other players step up to take on greater responsibility in the absence of the league's top assist leader (12) and top goalscorer Rafa Silva (14 goals) from the previous year.
The leading goal scorer for Casa Pia Clayton in the previous season, Felippe Cardoso (six goals), and Yuki Soma (five goals), are no longer with the team. This leaves the Casapianos lineup with huge openings that might win games.
A starting lineup from last weekend might be used on Saturday at Benfica if there are no injuries to report.
