Nacional vs Benfica Prediction and Betting Tips | December 19th 2024
Nacional will host Benfica at the Estádio da Madeira on Thursday evening in the eighth round of the 2024-25 Portuguese Liga Betclic campaign. The match was originally scheduled to be held on October 6 but was postponed due to heavy fog at the host stadium.
Nacional picked up only their third win of the league campaign in a narrow 1-0 victory over Moreirense last weekend. The newly-promoted side have struggled to pick up points with seven losses in their opening 13 league fixtures.
The hosts are currently one point off the relegation zone and will be hoping to cause an unlikely surprise when they host last season's runners-up on Thursday.
Benfica go into this midweek fixture after a disappointing 1-1 draw against AVS in the last round which snapped their remarkable winning streak in the league at eight games. Before that draw, the visitors had only dropped points twice in the league with their only loss coming in the opening matchday against Famalicao.
Bruno Lage’s side are only four points behind league leaders Sporting and will be keen to narrow that gap against the newly-promoted hosts.
Nacional vs Benfica Head-to-Head and Key Numbers
- The two teams have met on 48 previous occasions. Nacional have only won four of those matches, while seven have ended in draws and Benfica have won the remaining 37.
- The hosts have lost 18 of their last 20 competitive meetings with Benfica.
- The visitors have an outstanding goalscoring record in this fixture with 36 goals scored in the last 10 editions of this match while they have conceded just six goals.
- Only bottom-placed Farense (7) have scored fewer goals than Nacional (8) in the Portuguese top flight this season.
- Benfica have the best defensive record in the league with only eight goals conceded in 13 league matches. They also have the third-best offensive record with 32 goals scored across those games.
Nacional vs Benfica Prediction
Nacional are unlikely to get a result against the record Champions. They have, however, lost just one of their last five home matches and will be looking to give a good account of themselves this week.
Benfica are undefeated in their last seven matches, picking up five wins in that period. They should cruise to an easy victory when they make the trip to Madeira due to their superior quality and consistent form.
Prediction: Nacional 0-2 Benfica
Nacional vs Benfica Betting Tips
Tip 1 - Result: Benfica to win
Tip 2 - Goals - Over/under 2.5 - Under 2.5 goals (Four of the visitors' last five matches have produced fewer than 2.5 goals)
Tip 3 - Both teams to score: NO (Both sides have found the back of the net in just two of the hosts' last seven matches)