Benfica-Marítimo: 32 victories in 37 matches

After a month of February made of victories – four wins in four matches –, March starts with the home match against Marítimo. And looking at the head-to-head record, one can see that Benfica has been very competent in the Islanders’ visits to Estádio da Luz.

Benfica's dominance is overwhelming. Of the 37 encounters played at the Cathedral, 32 of them (86%) finished with a victory from the reds. In fact, to find the Marítimo's last moment of glory, we must go back more than 30 years (1987/88 season).

On September 12th, 1987, in a match of Gameweek 4 of National Championship, a goal from the Brazilian forward Paulo Ricardo, at 59’, dictated the triumph of the Islanders (0-1), against a Benfica coached by the Danish Ebbe Skovdahl and had names such as Mozer, Shéu or Diamantino in the Starting XI.

After that day, Marítimo never won again at Estádio da Luz. There have been also four draws: 1996/97 (0-0), 2001/02 (1-1), 2005/06 (2-2) and 2009/10 (1-1). Benfica did not score on only two occasions in the 37 matches at home, having a total of 114 goals scored against 25 conceded.

Saturday's match, at Estádio da Luz, against the Islanders is one of the 10 battles Benfica still has until the end of the 2017/18 edition of Liga NOS. There are still 30 points to play for and the goal is (always!) to amass them all.

Playing at home, Rui Vitória's team wants to reach the 35th consecutive unbeaten match (the last defeat was against FC Porto on February 12th, 2016) and the 41st consecutive encounter scoring in (the last scoreless match was against Sporting on October 25th, 2015).

It is expected a strong support from the fans for the match of Gameweek 25, like it has been usual in the Championship. In total, 589.642 spectators have been at Cathedral in the 11 encounters (an average of more than 53 thousand per match) that the eagles have played at home in the competition.