Benfica, with Ángel Di María and Nicolás Otamendi in their ranks, faces Barcelona this Tuesday as part of the seventh round of the Champions League, which introduces a new format. The match will take place at Estádio da Luz at 5 PM Argentina time and will be broadcast live on ESPN and Disney+.
The Argentine team is in the final stage zone, while Barcelona is in a position for direct qualification to the round of 16, being second in their group. The likely lineups are as follows:
Benfica: Anatoliy Trubin; Alexander Bah, Tomás Araújo, Nicolás Otamendi, and Álvaro Carreras; Fredrik Aursnes, Florentino Luís, and Orkun Kökçü; Ángel Di María, Vangelis Pavlidis, and Kerem Aktürkoğlu. Coach: Hansi Flick.
Barcelona: Iñaki Peña, Jules Koundé, Pau Cubarsí, Iñigo Martínez, Alejandro Balde, Marc Casadó, Pedri, Dani Olmo, Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, and Robert Lewandowski.
The new format of the Champions League for this edition includes the participation of 36 teams that will compete in a league phase. During this stage, eight different matches will be played in a system where all face each other, half of the matches at home and the other half as visitors.
At the end of this phase, all teams will be positioned in an overall table, where the top eight will qualify directly for the round of 16. Teams ranked ninth to twenty-fourth will compete in a play-off round (home and away) to determine the last eight that will advance to the next stage. Teams finishing in 25th place or lower will be eliminated without the chance to play in the Europa League.
