Champions League line-ups: Benfica vs. Bologna
BOLOGNA, ITALY - FEBRUARY 23: Giovanni Fabbian of Bologna FC celebrates during the Serie A TIM match between Bologna FC and Hellas Verona FC - Serie A TIM at Stadio Renato Dall'Ara on February 23, 2024 in Bologna, Italy. (Photo by Alessandro Sabattini/Getty Images)
Bologna start Samuel Iling-Junior, Giovanni Fabbian and Thijs Dallinga in their Champions League trip to Angel Di Maria’s Benfica.
It kicks off at the Estadio da Luz at 20.00 GMT.
You can follow all the build-up and action as it happens from this game, Milan-Crvena Zvezda and Juventus-Manchester City on the Liveblog.
Bologna are practically out of the Champions League already after scraping an opening draw and then four consecutive defeats.
Riccardo Orsolini is out for at least three weeks, joined on the treatment table by Charalampos Lykogiannis, Juan Miranda, Michel Aebischer, Oussama El Azzouzi and Niccolò Cambiaghi.
Iling-Junior therefore steps in with Fabbian in a more advanced role supporting Dallinga, but curiously Kacper Urbanski is preferred to Dan Ndoye.
LISBON, PORTUGAL – OCTOBER 2: Angel Di Maria of SL Benfica in action during the UEFA Champions League 2024/25 League Phase MD2 match between SL Benfica and Atletico de Madrid at Estadio da Luz on October 2, 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. (Photo by Gualter Fatia/Getty Images)Benfica have nine points from five Champions League fixtures, but Renato Sanches and Tiago Gouveia are out of action.
Former Juventus star Angel Di Maria is still providing goals and assists at the age of 36, while ex-Fiorentina striker Arthur Cabral is also in the squad.
Vangelis Pavlidis is their danger man upfront and Benfica already earned a 4-0 win over Atletico Madrid and 3-2 victory away to AS Monaco in Europe this term.
This is a must-win fixture for them, because in January they face Barcelona and Juventus to close out this phase.
Benfica: Trubin; Bah, Otamendi, Araujo., Carreras; Kokcu, Florentino, Aursnes; Di Maria, Pavlidis, Kerem Akturkoglu
Bologna: Skorupski; Posch, Beukema, Casale, Holm; Ferguson, Moro; Urbanski, Fabbian, Iling-Junior; Dallinga
Ref: Petrescu (ROU)
1
6
3
30
44
61
8
10
80'
11
17
72'
14
72'
1
2
15
73'
31
3
89'
80
73'
82
72'
19
6
73'
14
24
24
18
28
4
81
21
75
25
32
7
72'
37
72'
9
80'
23
5
34
21
9
11
72'
18
73'
8
73'
26
73'
16
89'
