Rafa and Pavlidis key to Benfica’s recent Dragão wins | OneFootball

Benfica head to Estádio do Dragão on Sunday with first place in sight, and their only three league wins there in the past decade have carried the marks of Rafa and Pavlidis. According to O Jogo, Marco Silva is expected to restore both forwards for the trip.

In 2018/19 Porto struck first through Adrián López. João Félix equalised, then Rafa completed the turnaround, and Benfica went on to win the title under Bruno Lage.

In 2022/23 Rafa again decided it with a single strike, and Benfica marched to the title with Roger Schmidt in charge.

In 2024/25, with Sporting champions, Pavlidis took centre stage with a hat-trick in a 4-1 away win. Otamendi added the fourth and Samu scored for the hosts.

Both were rested for the trip to Milan, where Benfica’s second string beat AC Milan.

Lenglet, Dahl, Prestianni and Schjelderup are also in line to return, while the involvement of Trubin, Aursnes and Daniel Banjaqui remains uncertain.

Source: O Jogo

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