Benfica know Conference opponents if knocked out of Europa League | OneFootball

The defeat against St. Gallen (2-1), in the first leg of the second Europa League qualifying round, has left Benfica in a delicate position in the battle for a place in the competition’s league phase. Although they still have the second leg ahead of them, scheduled for next Thursday at the Estádio da Luz, the Eagles are obliged to turn the tie around to avoid a far less desirable scenario.

If they fail to eliminate the Swiss side, the Reds will drop into the third qualifying round of the Conference League, while still keeping alive the possibility of reaching European competition.

In that scenario, Marco Silva’s team already knows its possible opponent: the loser of the tie between Sheriff Tiraspol of Moldova and Maccabi Tel-Aviv of Israel. On paper, everything points to the Moldovan side crossing paths with Benfica, after the heavy 5-0 defeat suffered in the first leg.

Even if they come through that tie, the Luz side would still have to play a play-off for a place in the Conference League league phase, meaning they would need to overcome two more obstacles to secure a spot in European competition.

Coach Marco Silva did not hide his dissatisfaction after the defeat: "Regardless of the quality and the favoritism, which, on paper, are there, we have to play much better than we did today. That is the first issue. On the ball, at times, we were careless, we wanted to do everything at speed…”

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