Liga Betclic: X-ray of the Vizela-Benfica match

On matchday 5 of the Liga Betclic, Benfica play away at Vizela, this Saturday at 8:30 pm, in what will be the 9th official match between the two teams.

With a run of three consecutive wins (Estrela da Amadora, Gil Vicente and Vitória SC), Roger Schmidt's men face an opponent who won their first match in the competition on matchday 4 against Gil Vicente (1-0).

The number of matches between Benfica and Vizela is small, with eight so far, including all competitions. The Reds have a high percentage of success, having won seven of the eight games (88%) played, and drawn the other. As visitors, Benfica have played four matches and won them all. Three of them were for the National Championship, and in the last season, in 2022/23, the Eagles won by 0-2.

Facing each other will be two teams with their sights set on attack, as reflected in the figures collected on the Wyscout platform. Going into matchday 5, Benfica have the best attack (11 goals compared to Vizela's 5) and the highest number of shots, 74, of which 40.5% were on goal, 26 of them from outside the penalty box, an average of 15.89 shots per game.

In this respect, Vizela are the 5th team to take the most shots in the competition, with 50 shots, 46% on target, and 21 of them from outside the area, giving a total average of 10.77 shots per match. Benfica are the team with the most one-on-ones and dribbles (151 against 101) and the second with the most touches in the box (124 against 79), although in this last item Vizela are the 5th best team.

These offensive indicators are an extension of the teams' offensive production capacity, particularly Benfica, the team that has made the most passes so far (2180 with 85.5% success rate). Vizela, on the other hand, are in 12th place (1,429 passes with an 81.9% success rate).

Defensively, Benfica and Vizela allow very few shots, 36 in the case of the eagles (7.73 per game) and 41 (8.83 per game) for the Minho side, who, it should be noted, are the 4th team to have lost the most ball so far (437). Benfica are the team that commits the fewest fouls in the competition (45 fouls), while Vizela are on the opposite side, coming in 3rd with the most offenses (64 fouls).

In the match that preceded the international break, Benfica beat Vitória SC by 4-0, and played with Samuel Soares, Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Aursnes, João Neves, Kökcü, Di María, Rafa, João Mário and Musa.

In the match that saw Vizela win 1-0 against Gil Vicente, coach Pablo Villar set up his team in a 4x2x3x1 formation, fielding the following players: Buntic, Tomás Silva, Bruno Wilson, Anderson Jesus, Matheus Pereira, Rafael Bustamante, Diogo Nascimento, Nuno Moreira, Samu, Matías Lacava and Samuel Essende.