Marco Silva lines up late surprise for Benfica - St. Gallen | OneFootball

Benfica are preparing for the decisive clash with St. Gallen with an important new development for Marco Silva. After the 2-1 defeat in the first leg, played in Switzerland, the Eagles need to turn the tie around at the Estádio da Luz to progress in the Europa League and avoid an early drop into the Conference League. In that context, Jhon Durán emerges as one of the coach’s biggest assets.

The Colombian international, signed on loan from Al Nassr in a deal that cost €6.1 million, with a purchase option set at €30 million, is already registered for European competitions and is now in better physical condition. In the first leg, Marco Silva chose not to call him up due to the limited number of training sessions he had completed since arriving at Seixal.

In the meantime, the situation has changed. With more than a week of full training with the squad, Durán has gained rhythm and could be included in the squad against St. Gallen, with a strong chance of starting on the bench. If Benfica need a game-changing factor during the match, the Colombian could make his official debut in the Eagles shirt on one of the most important nights of this start to the season.

Marco Silva knows the striker’s qualities well from their Premier League days, where he closely followed Durán’s development at Aston Villa. The coach believes the Colombian’s pace, explosiveness, mobility and finishing ability can offer a different dimension to Benfica’s attack, led by Vangelis Pavlidis, who is expected to keep his place in the starting XI.

Durán arrived at the Luz highly motivated and has already shown excellent signs in the friendly against Belenenses, a match in which he produced a goal and an assist. Now, with Benfica needing to win, expectations are growing to see the most high-profile signing of this transfer window get his first official minutes and begin to justify the major investment made by the structure led by Rui Costa.

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