Celtic v Benfica | Champions League Group G | Wednesday

Celtic mark their return to the UEFA Champions League after a four year absence with a home fixture against last season's quarter finalists.

Celtic will be hoping to get the better of Benfica, fellow former European champions, for the third time in the group stage. On the two previous occasions the clubs met at this phase, Celtic qualified in second place with the Lisbon side third.

Past meetings

• The clubs first met in 1969/70 when it took a coin toss to decide their European Champion Clubs Cup second round tie. Goals from Tommy Gemmell, Willie Wallace and Harry Hood gave Celtic a 3-0 first-leg win in Glasgow but Benfica responded with an identical victory in Lisbon thanks to Eusébio, Jaime Graça and Diamantino. Celtic went on to the final where they lost 2-1 to Feyenoord.
  
  
• As in 1969, the two clubs posted identical home results in their UEFA Champions League meetings. In the 2006/07 group stage, Celtic won 3-0 through goals from Kenny Miller and Stephen Pearson, while Benfica reversed the score in Lisbon with Gary Caldwell's own goal and strikes from Nuno Gomes and Andrei Karyaka.
  
  
• In 2007/08, Oscar Cardozo earned Benfica a 1-0 home victory before Aiden McGeady, now playing for Group G rivals FC Spartak Moskva, did the same for Celtic.

Match background

• Celtic are competing in the group stage for the seventh time and have made it to the last 16 twice before on the two occasions they were grouped with Benfica.
  
  
• Celtic have already posted two victories at home in this season's competition, beating HJK Helsinki 2-1 in the third qualifying round and Helsingborgs IF 2-0 in the play offs.
  
  
• Benfica reached the quarter finals last season, their best campaign since 2005/06 and only the third time they have got beyond the group stage in seven attempts.
  
  
• The Lisbon club went five away games unbeaten from the third qualifying round through the group stage last season, but lost their knockout ties at FC Zenit St Petersburg and Chelsea FC.
  
  
• Celtic have recorded nine wins and one draw from ten home matches against Portuguese opponents. Their most recent visitors were SC Braga for a UEFA Champions League qualifier in 2010/11 but a 2-1 victory failed to undo the damage of a 3-0 away defeat in Neil Lennon's first European tie as manager.
  
  
• Benfica's only other trip to Scotland brought a 2-1 success at Heart of Midlothian FC 2-1 in the 1960/61 European Cup preliminary round, the first step on the road to their first continental crown.

Celtic v Benfica
Celtic Park
Kick off 19:45
SKY SPORTS 3

Nakamura will score a freekick, 1-0 win.

We should be able to take at least a point. Then again I'm not sure after losing at the weekend.

1-0 Benfica.

If we weren't ravaged by injury I'd be confident of the three points. Still hopeful.

We'll see a different Celtic to the one we seen on Saturday, but I'm afraid we'll miss Sammy

Only player we can rely on to get the ball, take it a run, keep the ball, give the other players a breather, keep possession

Big loss, but I'm confident of getting at least a point.

mon the benfica

That will most likely be the team.

Gaitan's been dropped has he not?

Perez might start ahead of him but I assume Gaitan would start because he was one of their best players in Europe last season.

The four Benfica danger men who threaten Celtic's Champions League chances

After a 2-2 draw in their opening game with Braga, Benfica have found their rhythm on league business with clinical 5-0 and 3-0 wins over Vitoria Setubal and Nacional.

Jorge Jesus' side, however, haven't played a competitive game in 17 days and have since lost Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel from their midfield in big money moves.

With the duo now absent, and with Maxi Pereira and captain Luisao suspended, who are the key men Celtic will have to be on their guard against in their opening Champions League fixture?


Oscar Cardozo

In Cardozo's case, the stats speak for themselves. The 29-year-old has finished top scorer in the Portuguese top flight in two of the last three seasons, as well as being the leading marksman in the 2009/10 Europa League with nine goals.

Cardozo has netted 131 times in 217 appearances, more than a goal every two games, having signed from Newell’s Old Boys in 2007.

At 6ft 4in, he isn’t a renowned scorer with his head but his physical stature is such that he is a significant threat in the air, especially when Benfica get the ball wide.

Strongest on his left, he has shown on numerous occasions he is equally adept with his right, as displayed with his strike against Manchester United last term.

Lorenzo Melgarejo

A fellow Paraguayan alongside Cardozo, Melgarejo was recruited as a left winger from Independiente FBC in 2011. A year on loan with Pacos Ferreira followed, before Jorge Jesus switched him to left back upon his return to Estadio da Luz.

Melgarejo has been first pick so far this campaign, rampaging up the left flank as Benfica overload their opponents in wide areas going forward.

He likes to play high up park, either getting to the by-line to make crosses or getting by on the overlap. Given Benfica’s tendency to overload, Celtic will need to quickly address a weakness shown against St Johnstone where Kris Commons and James Forrest often failed to track back.

The 22-year-old’s impact has been such that he was signed up on a new contract until June 2018 earlier this week. Thankfully though, Celtic will be all too aware of Melgarejo's threat, having scouted him last season with a view to a possible loan move.

Carlos Martins

The departure of regular midfield starters Javi Garcia and Axel Witsel in recent weeks has left Benfica to reconsider their configuration in the middle of the pitch.

Typically starting games with a 4-1-3-2 formation but finishing with two screening midfielders, the versatility of the Portuguese international will be vital as coach Jesus looks to find a settled selection.

He is more likely to start in the middle of the advanced three, directing traffic to the wings before making himself available for the second ball in and around the area.

The onus will fall on Victor Wanyama and Scott Brown to nullify his threat and also prevent Martins from winning turnovers high up the pitch and swamping Celtic’s defence.

Pablo Aimar

The Argentine lynchpin never has lived up to his billing as the “new Maradona” but is undoubtedly one of the main creative forces going forward for Benfica.

The 32-year-old stated ahead of his trip to Glasgow that he was convinced his side had superior technical ability to Celtic and would be looking to return home with the win.

Given time and space with the ball at feet, Aimar has the craft and the vision to pick apart any defence. Celtic will have to work hard to press him throughout the match, knowing just one lapse in concentration could lead to their downfall.

Benefica 3-1

wellz wrote:Benefica 3-1

No chance.

2-1 Celtic with Gary Hooper scoring both.

Forster; Matthews, Lustig, Wilson, Izaguirre; Forrest, Brown, Wanyama, Mulgrew; Commons, Miku

#Celtic subs: Zaluska, Rogne, Watt, Lassad, Ambrose, Slane, Hooper

0-0 final score. Good game, end-to-end stuff. Brown was magnificent. Not too disappointed with the scoreline considering the absurd number of injuries we had.

lol, no chance of getting out now.

Good result.

Larry Beale wrote:lol, no chance of getting out now.

What the hell is your problem? If you're going to troll at least come up with something a bit better than that.

ConorCelticFC wrote:

Larry Beale wrote:lol, no chance of getting out now.

What the hell is your problem? If you're going to troll at least come up with something a bit better than that.

it's not a troll comment just stating that you won't pick up any away points and barca will beat you at home so max points you'll get is 4 (which you wont even get) which is not enough, celtic are the whipping boys of this group.

We just more than held our own against last year's quarter-finalists and kept our fourth European clean sheet in a row without five key players. Whipping boys my arse.

ConorCelticFC wrote:We just more than held our own against last year's quarter-finalists and kept our fourth European clean sheet in a row without five key players. Whipping boys my arse.

keep telling yourself that, barca will kill you, spartak proved today they are a good side away from home and playing in russia is a guaranteed no pointer for most decent teams so celtic have no chance and benfica will play much better at home.

whipping boys.

Gegilworld93 wrote:

ConorCelticFC wrote:0-0 final score. Good game, end-to-end stuff. Brown was magnificent. Not too disappointed with the scoreline considering the absurd number of injuries we had.

Yeah, any time I turned over to the game it was pretty dull, glad I chose to watch the majority of the Juve game instead.

Gegilworld93 wrote:

ConorCelticFC wrote:0-0 final score. Good game, end-to-end stuff. Brown was magnificent. Not too disappointed with the scoreline considering the absurd number of injuries we had.

Most people have said it was boring but for some reason I thought it was pretty edge-of-the-seat. Why were you watching it anyway?

good result for the celik

Good result for Benfica having lost:

Axel Witsel
Javi Garcia
Javier Saviola
Yannick Djalo
Joan Capdevila
Nelson Olivera
Franco Jara
Emerson
Michel
Joao Amorim
Hugo Viera
Nuno Coelho
Rodrigo Mora
Helio Vaz
Jose Luis Fernandez
Roderick Miranda
David Simao
Leo Kanu
Ishmael Yartey
Daniel Wass
Eder Luis
Felipe Bastos
Felipe Menezes
Jan Oblak
Luis Martins
Andre Almeida
Lionel Carole
Ruben Pinto
Elvis
Eduardo
and a few more since last season.

Dafuq Jela? The vast majority of them were not good enough or loaned out. We've let go of a similar amount of players.

Only about 4 of them were actually any good, no idea what Jela is implying.

They should have won with the team they had out, it's good result for Celtic. I thought would at least concede.

Marvin wrote:Only about 4 of them were actually any good, no idea what Jela is implying.

They should have won with the team they had out, it's good result for Celtic. I thought would at least concede.

Axel Witsel
Javi Garcia
Javier Saviola
Yannick Djalo
Joan Capdevila
Nelson Olivera
Franco Jara

+

Daniel Wass is a decent enough player.

I was just referring to the size of their squad, they've lost big players + squad players.

I wasn't talking about this game, just their squad as a whole.