David Flower
Dailysports's expert
Gil Vicente
Benfica
The 24th round of the Portuguese Championship kicks off with a clash between Gil Vicente and Lisbon's Benfica at the Cidade de Barcelos stadium. I suggest betting on the outcome of this encounter with favorable chances of success.
Match preview
Recent results for Gil Vicente have left much to be desired – the team has sunk into a string of failures, losing four out of their last five matches. Moreover, in these games, the attacking line looked toothless, failing to score even once. Currently, the team is in 14th place, but only goal difference separates them from the 16th position.
Home performances do not inspire optimism either. Their last three home matches ended in defeats: first, the team stumbled against Estoril (1:2), then failed to handle Famalicão (0:2). After that, they lost 0:1 to Santa Clara. And ahead is a much more formidable opponent.
The Lisbon Eagles were knocked out of the Champions League, losing twice to Barcelona – 0:1 at home and 1:3 away. Now it's time to fully focus on the Portuguese Championship, where the team is in second place, trailing Sporting by three points. However, Benfica has a game in hand and a potential chance to catch up with the leader.
Overtaking, however, won't be possible, as Sporting's goal difference is better – 47 compared to 39. Because of this, not only victories in each round come to the fore, but also winning by as large a margin as possible. In the last round, Benfica defeated Rio Ave away with a score of 3:2. This victory marked their sixth consecutive win in the championship.
Probable lineups
- Gil Vicente: Da Silva - Cruz, Garcia, Sa, Ze Carlos – Caceres, Gbane, Fujimoto – Correa, Aguirre, Mbula
- Benfica: Trubin — Araujo, A. Silva, Otamendi, Dal — Kokcu, Aursnes, Barreiro — Schjelderup, Pavlidis, Akturkoglu
Match facts and head-to-head
- In the first round, Benfica defeated the opponent with a score of 5:1
- Benfica's winning streak against this opponent stands at five matches
- In 4 out of the last 5 matches, the "Over 2.5 goals" bet was successful
Prediction
Bookmakers are confident in Benfica's victory and offer odds of 1.40 on the visitors' win. Who better than an underdog to improve the goal difference for one of the title contenders? We suggest taking "Benfica to win with a handicap (-1.0)" at odds of 1.65.
