Benfica hit by awful news on eve of Europa League debut | OneFootball

The 2026/2027 UEFA Europa League kicks off this Wednesday, with nine matches, and the same number again on Thursday. Benfica begin straight away with probably the toughest test of the league phase, a trip to Italy to face Ruben Amorim’s Milan.

Last week, the Reds were considered the favourites to win the competition, according to the Opta supercomputer. The mathematical data gave the Clube da Luz a 13.37% chance of winning the European competition.

Although their chances have risen to 13.97%, the Eagles have dropped to second place. The new leaders are Bournemouth, António Silva’s club, with a 14.28% chance of lifting the continental trophy in Frankfurt.

For Torreense, a Segunda Liga side, being in the competition is already a reward, and according to the Opta supercomputer the chances of progressing, to the play-off or even directly to the round of 16, are minimal - 12.07%, the lowest of all 36 clubs in the competition.

Benfica face Milan next Wednesday, 16 September. The match, counting for the first round of the Europa League league phase, against the team managed by Ruben Amorim and seven-time European champions, will be played at 20:00 at San Siro.

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