Benfica will host Dynamo Kiev in the second leg of the Champions League Play-off, the first leg left a 2-0 result in favor of the Lusitanians, two old acquaintances who faced each other in the last group stage, where they shared sector with Bayern and Barcelona, this time only one can reach that stage, facing Roger Schmidt against Mircea Lucescu in a match where a lot is at stake.
The Portuguese are looking to reach the group stage again, thanks to the result in the first leg and playing the second leg in their stadium the chances of advancing are very high, in the last two matches against Dinamo Kiev in Portugal the scores were 2-0 and 1-0 in favor of Benfica, so it can be expected that with the advantage they already have it will be something more of a formality to reach the group stage of the Champions League, it should be noted that they have the difficult mission to overcome the round of 16 as they did in the last edition.
Benfica is living a good moment despite the shortness of the campaign, they have not yet lost playing at home and have achieved only victories in this situation, the coach expects Ramos to be the goal scorer to finish the series, since, 4 goals and 1 assist in two series counting the present speak very well of him and his ability to score goals for the benefit of the team, On the other hand, being a team that traditionally sells in the Champions League, it is the perfect showcase for its players to develop at the highest level and for the big teams to pay a good amount of money for them, hence the importance of reaching and transcending in the Champions League.
The Ukrainian team had a bit of bad luck in the draw, of all the teams that could have been drawn they were paired with the one that has more tradition of being in the Champions League year after year, Dynamo Kiev to reach the final play-off had to overcome two previous phases against Fenerbahçe and Sturm in that order, in the first leg they did not play a bad game, the same shots at goal than Benfica, but with the difference that the Portuguese could score, The team coached by Mircea Lucescu does not have a good winning record visiting this season in Europe, in their two visits they drew in both, but with the addition that they won in extra time, this time a draw would not be enough to overcome the deficit of 2 goals they have against, for the unexpected to happen the team's stars such as Tsygankov, Karavayev and Shaparenko have to appear, without these three names the mission of the return in Portugal is very unlikely.
Dynamo Kiev has to look for the opponent's goal from the beginning of the match, while Benfica can afford to wait and play on the counter to finish the series, regardless of the final result, it will most likely be a very entertaining match that will leave only one of these teams with a place in the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Cover image made in Photoshop.
