2 years ago
Liverpool won 3-1 in the principal leg in Lisbon - the Reds have proceeded to win the opposition in the past two events in which they have won the two legs in an European Cup/UEFA Champions League knockout stage tie against Benfica, doing as such in 1977-78 and 1983-84.
Just two groups have at any point won by more than one goal away to Liverpool in the knockout phases of the UEFA Champions League, but one of those cases was by Benfica (2-0 out of 2005-06 in the Round of 16) - the other being Chelsea's 3-1 win there in the 2008-09 quarter-finals.
Liverpool have won every one of their last five games against Portuguese sides in the UEFA Champions League, scoring 16 goals and just yielding multiple times. In general, they're unbeaten in nine games against Portuguese in the opposition since Benfica succeeded at Anfield in March 2006 (W7 D2).
Liverpool have advanced from every one of their last 12 ties in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages subsequent to winning the primary leg, with their last - and just - end in this situation coming in the 2001-02 quarter-finals against Bayer Leverkusen (1-0 in first leg, 2-4 in the subsequent leg).
Benfica have just won one of their last nine away games in the UEFA Champions League (D3 L5), albeit that triumph came in the last round as they wiped out Ajax (1-0 last month). They have just dominated back to back away matches in the opposition once already, doing as such in September-October 2011 under Jorge Jesus.
Liverpool are hoping to arrive at the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the third time under Jürgen Klopp, which is however many times as the Reds had figured out how to do as such in the opposition preceding Klopp assuming responsibility (2004-05, 2006-07 and 2007-08, all under Rafa Benítez).
Mohamed Salah has scored 14 goals in 23 appearances for Liverpool at Anfield in the UEFA Champions League - his next home goal will see him overwhelm Steven Gerrard (14) for the most goals scored by a Liverpool player at Anfield in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League.
Darwin Núñez has scored five goals in nine UEFA Champions League appearances for Benfica this season, while no player has at any point gotten something else for the Portuguese side in a solitary season in the opposition (Nuno Gomes with five out of 1998-99).
Since the beginning of the 2017-18 season - Liverpool's first under Jürgen Klopp in the UEFA Champions League - just Robert Lewandowski (54) has been engaged with more goal-finishing groupings of play than Mohamed Salah (46) in the opposition.
Among players with 500 minutes played in the UEFA Champions League this season, Benfica's Rafa has the most noteworthy normal convey distance of any winger in the opposition. The Portuguese has made 94 conveys (moving 5+ meters with the ball) altogether, covering a normal of 13.9 meters per convey.
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