Benfica lose key duo, Santa Clara and Bruno Lage in disbelief | OneFootball

Benfica might start the match against Santa Clara with a weakened lineup. Nicolás Otamendi and Richard Ríos, who have been regular choices for Bruno Lage, are currently with their respective national teams and may not return in time and in full form for the Liga Portugal Betclic clash.

Nicolás Otamendi's Argentina will play against Ecuador at 00:00 on September 10th. As for Richard Ríos's Colombia, they will face Venezuela at 00:30, also on September 10th. In this scenario, the participation of the Benfica duo against Santa Clara is quite complicated.

Besides having less than 72 hours to recover, Nicolás Otamendi and Richard Ríos will also have to make a long journey back to Lisbon. Therefore, it is quite likely that Bruno Lage will choose to rest the duo, possibly bringing in Tomás Araújo and Leandro Barreiro to replace them.

The Benfica – Santa Clara match is scheduled for September 12th at 20:15 at Estádio da Luz, and a sold-out crowd is expected for the return of the team to their home ground, following the victory at Alverca's ground. The match corresponds to the fifth round of the Liga Portugal Betclic and will be broadcast on BTV.

After the first three rounds of the Liga Portugal Betclic – noting that the Clube da Luz agreed to postpone the first round – Benfica has nine points from three matches: Estrela da Amadora (1-0, away), Tondela (3-0, home), and Alverca (2-1, away). The team is in fourth place with nine points. Porto leads (12 points in four games), Famalicão is second (10 points in four matches), and Sporting is third (nine points in four games).

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.