St. Gallen v Benfica (2025/26): How to watch, likely XI, times and... | OneFootball

Benfica begin their official 2026/27 campaign this Thursday with a trip to St. Gallen for the first leg of the Europa League second qualifying round. The match will also mark Marco Silva’s official debut in charge of the Eagles, in an important game for the start of the new season.

After finishing last season’s league campaign in third place, the club from Luz missed out on the Champions League. In addition, Torreense’s Portuguese Cup triumph forced the Reds to go through the qualifying stages of the European competition.

Anatoliy Trubin; Alexander Bah, António Silva, Clément Lenglet and Samuel Dahl; Manu Silva, Enzo Barrenechea; Rafa Silva, Georgiy Sudakov, Jakub Kaminski; and Vangelis Pavlidis. This is expected, at first glance, to be Benfica’s starting eleven for the match against the Swiss side.

The Reds are still very much a work in progress, at a time when the transfer market remains open. Rui Costa recently confirmed that the squad is likely to undergo changes in the coming weeks, with new signings arriving and some players departing.

To secure a place in the league phase of the competition, Glorioso will have to come through three consecutive qualifying rounds: the second and third qualifying rounds, as well as the play-off. Marco Silva succeeded José Mourinho and takes on the responsibility of putting the Eagles back among Europe’s top competitions.

Broadcast: SportTV 5

Unavailable: Leandro Barreiro, Bruma, Joshua Wynder and Jaden Umeh (injuries); Gianluca Prestianni (suspension); Andreas Schjelderup, Fredrik Aursnes, Richard Ríos and Dodi Lukebakio (holiday)

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