Benfica hit by bad news ahead of Fenerbahçe clash, Bruno Lage in disbelief | OneFootball

Slavko Vincic is the referee chosen by UEFA to officiate the Benfica – Fenerbahçe match, the second leg of the play-off for access to the Champions League group stage. Tomaz Klancnik and Andraz Kovacic will be the assistants, David Smajc the fourth official, and Alen Borosak and Dragoslav Peric will be in the VAR. This is bad news for the Reds, as Bruno Lage's team - who have a tough challenge ahead - has never won a match with the Slovenian referee in charge.

Slavko Vincic has already officiated four Benfica matches, one of them quite recently, in the Club World Cup round of 16 in the United States, against Chelsea, where the Reds ended up losing 4-1 in extra time, after Di María equalized the match at 90+6’ of regular time.

Before that, Slavko Vincic officiated three other matches for the Club of Light: Fenerbahçe – Benfica (1-1, in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, in 2018/19); PSV – Benfica (0-0, Champions League play-off in 2021/22) and Ajax – Benfica (2-2, Champions League round of 16, in 2021/22).

Despite never having won any match with Slavko Vincic as referee, the matches against PSV and Ajax were memorable, as on both occasions, it meant that Benfica continued in the competition, which could be a good indicator for the upcoming match in the prestigious tournament.

Benfica will be back in action next Wednesday at 8:00 PM, hosting José Mourinho's Fenerbahçe at Estádio da Luz, after a goalless draw in Turkey. The match concerns the second leg of the play-off for access to the Champions League group stage and is of utmost importance for the Reds.

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