Barcelona and Benfica will face each other today (Wednesday) in the first leg of the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League. In this match, the Portuguese club will host the Catalans in Lisbon. However, one of the main stars of the home team, Angel Di Maria, will not be in this match. The former Argentine star suffered a left leg muscle injury in Benfica’s previous match against Monaco. Which has ruled Di Maria out of today’s match.
Barcelona-Benfica will face off at 2 am Bangladesh time at the Estadio da Luz. Before this match, however, Benfica is troubled by injuries to several other stars. Renato Sanchez, Manu Silva, and Alexander-Arnold are among them. The Portuguese club will not be able to play in their big match. Di Maria has scored 14 goals for Benfica this season. As a result, his absence is a big loss for the team!
Benfica coach Bruno Lague said that Fideo (Di Maria) and Florentino Luiz suffered muscle injuries in the Monaco match on February 12. After just 20 minutes, Di Maria left the field and his injury was confirmed, from which it may take Di Maria a month to recover (after the injury period). However, Benfica is optimistic about having the Albiceleste midfielder in the second leg match against Barcelona (March 11). The return match will be held at Barcelona’s Olympic Stadium.
Despite the absence of several star footballers, the Benfica coach has given a glimpse of a fiery fight, “I can’t predict how many goals there will be in the match at the moment. But I think it will be a great football match. Because both teams play with an eye on attack. It will be a tough fight and we will play to win. Of course, the result of tomorrow’s (today’s) match will be important, but the result of the second leg will be even more important.”
Benfica and Barcelona have met before in the group stage of this year’s Champions League. In January, the Portuguese team was leading 2-0 at one point but failed to win. Barcelona won 5-4 thanks to a goal from Rafinha in added time.
