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

Benfica face another important match in the fight for the 39th national title on Saturday at 8:30 pm, May 3, when they visit Estoril in the 32nd and antepenultimate matchday of the Liga Betclic.

Bruno Lage's side will make the short trip to Estoril with their sights set on picking up three more points to keep them at the top of the league table.

They'll face Ian Cathro's side, the 9th-placed team with 39 points, which on December 23, 2024, in the 15th round, was beaten 3-0 at the Estádio da Luz with goals from Pavlidis (28') and Amdouni (73' and 90'+4').

After thrashing AVS by 6-0, Benfica will go into the game on the back of a 12-game unbeaten run in the competition, with a run of 6 consecutive wins away from home. Estoril, on the other hand, have won just once in their last seven games.

In addition to their different form, the Reds have a very favorable away record, winning 10 of their last 11 games against the "Canarinhos".

The overall tally is 44 wins in 59 matches, with a goal difference of 153 goals scored and 46 conceded.

With 80 goals scored in 31 matches (an average of 2.6 per game), Benfica have one of the best attacks in the Liga Betclic and are superior to their opponents, who have 38 goals to their name, not only in terms of scoring, but also in terms of offensive volume. Looking at the data provided by the Sofascore platform, the Reds take 17.2 shots (7.2 on target) per 90 minutes compared to Estoril's 9.9, one of the teams with the fewest shots on target per match (3.5 on target) out of the 18 in the league.

The slight difference in passing efficiency per game (84.7% against 80.1%) is dissipated in terms of possession (58.5% against 48.3%) and, above all, in the number of chances created per 90 minutes, 4.2 by Benfica, 1.9 by Estoril.

Defensively, Estoril have conceded almost twice as many goals as the Reds (48 against 25) and have only kept clean sheets in 6 games, 4 of them at the Estádio António Coimbra da Mota.

The Eagles, on the other hand, have one of the best defenses in the league and have managed to rack up 15 clean sheets, 6 of them away from the Estádio da Luz. The Reds also have the advantage over their next opponents in duels won (51.7% against 46.6%) and balls recovered per game (53.4 against 50.6).

Individually, Pavlidis heads into matchday 32 as Benfica's top scorer, thanks to his 18 goals in the Liga Betclic, while Alejandro Marqués, with 9, has a similar status with Estoril.

With 10 goals and 10 assists, Aktürkoğlu became the first Eagles' player to reach double figures in both parameters. A pillar of the Reds' defense, captain Otamendi also stands out due to his lead in the number of tackles made throughout the competition: 51.