Champions League and Liga NOS: the kick-off

August is Benfica's starting signal in official competitions in 2018/19. Fenerbahçe (August 7, Tuesday) and V. Guimarães (August 10, Friday) are the first opponents of the Eagles in the Champions League and in the Liga NOS, respectively, both at Estádio da Luz. The tickets are on sale.

The first leg of the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League will be played at the Cathedral at 8 pm on August 7. Three days later the Liga NOS kicks off, with the Benfica-V. Guimarães opening the Championship.

In the opening round of the Portuguese top flight, the Eagles play in front of their fans, being the match scheduled for  8:30 pm on August 10.

The first month of the season is pretty busy: after facing Vitória, Benfica travels to Turkey to face Fenerbahçe again, on August 14, in the second leg of the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League. The clash at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium is scheduled for 9 pm local time (less two hours in mainland Portugal).

Still without date and time, Benfica faces, on the month of August, for the Liga NOS, Boavista (away) on the weekend of 18 and 19 of August and host Sporting on the following weekend.

Beating Fenerbahçe, the reds will dispute the access to the Champions League group stage through a play-off, whose matches are scheduled for 21 and 28 of August.

Text: Marco Rebelo

Pics: João Paulo Trindade and Tânia Paulo / SL Benfica