Primeira Liga | Gameweek 12

Dec 1, 2024 at 6pm UK

Estadio Municipal de Arouca

Aroucavs.Benfica

Match preview

Arouca's Taca de Portugal journey came to an end in the fourth round, with a 2-1 defeat at the hands of Farense when the two sides met last Saturday.

In an exciting opening 32 minutes at the Estadio Municipal de Arouca, Dario Poveda and Elves Balde scored either side of Alfonso Trezza's 16th-minute equaliser to send Farense through to the fifth round.

This was in line with their struggles in the Primeira Liga, where Arouca have not won any of their last five matches, losing three and drawing two. They have only won one of their last eight matches since the start of September.

Vasco Seabra's team finished seventh last season, but they've had a rough start to the 2024-25 campaign. They're currently at the bottom of the table with just eight points from 11 matches.

Arouca's poor start to the season has been down to a lack of cutting edge at the attacking end of the pitch. They've scored the joint-fewest number of goals so far (6) while allowing 19 at the back.

While the Arouquenses will be looking to find their feet this weekend, next up is a tough match against an opposing side that has won their last 11 meetings, going back to a 1-0 victory in August 2015.

On the other hand, Benfica had a late comeback against Monaco in their midweek Champions League match. They fought back from behind twice to snatch a 3-2 victory over the Ligue 1 side.

Eliesse Ben Seghir and Soungoutou Magassa scored either side of Vangelis Pavlidis's 48th-minute strike to put Monaco in front heading into the final 10 minutes. But Arthur Cabral and Zeki Amdouni scored in a late four-minute spell to turn the tie on its head.

Before that, they had a great win in the fourth round of the Taca de Portugal last Saturday. Ángel Di María scored three goals, helping As Águias beat Estrela da Amadora 7-0 at the Estádio da Luz.

Benfica are now turning their attention to the Primeira Liga, where they've won six games in a row and haven't lost any of their last nine. They've won eight of those games and drawn one since losing 2-0 to Famalicao on 11 August.

Bruno Lage's team have picked up 25 points from their 10 league matches so far, putting them in third place in the standings, two points behind second-placed Porto and eight points behind leaders Sporting Lisbon.

Recent Performance

Arouca Primeira Liga form:WLDLLD

Arouca form (all competitions):DWLLDL

Benfica Primeira Liga form:WWWWWW

Benfica form (all competitions):WWLWWW

Team News

Arouca are still without several key players as Kouassi Eboue (muscle), Nino Galovic (knee) and Pedro Moreira (muscle) remain sidelined.

Uruguayan defender Matías Rochas has been out of action for the past eight games since he was injured in September. The 23-year-old won't be playing this weekend.

Oriol Busquets is still out with a bad injury from May, while fellow midfielder Vitinho hasn't played this season because of another injury.

Benfica's 23-year-old forward Tiago Gouveia has been out of action since coming off with a shoulder injury in August, so he'll miss this weekend's clash.

He's joined on As Aguias' injury list by German defender Jan-Niklas Beste, who's set for a long spell on the sidelines after coming off with an ACL injury against Estrela in November. Renato Sanchez is a doubt, having missed the last two matches.

Possible starting lineup

Arouca possible starting lineup:

Mantl, Esgaio, Popvic, Fontan; Dante; Simao, Sylla; Santos, Jason, Rodrigues, Alfonso; Trezza

Benfica possible starting lineup:

Trubin; Araujo, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras; Aursnes, Luis; Di Maria, Kokcu, Akturkoglu; Pavlidis