Benfica vs Lech Poznań – News and Probable Lineups

On Thursday evening, Benfica will aim to continue their flawless performance in the 2026-27 Europa League group stage as they host Lech Poznan at Estadio da Luz.

Currently, Marco Silva’s squad leads the table consisting of 36 teams, boasting nine points from three matches, while the Polish champions occupy the 32nd spot, only managing to secure a single point, putting Niels Frederiksen’s team in a challenging position against one of the competition’s front-runners.

Match overview

Benfica has made a strong impression at the outset of the league phase, achieving victories in their first three Europa League encounters against AC Milan (2-0), Celtic (4-1), and Omonia (4-1) in their latest continental clash.

These outcomes have positioned the Lisbon team at the top of the Europa League rankings, standing as one of just five clubs to have won all their initial fixtures, while their ten goals scored also place them as the highest-scoring team in the tournament.

Silva’s players have excelled in all competitions, winning 14 of their last 15 games, with their sole defeat occurring against Porto in the league Clássico on September 20, before bouncing back with six consecutive wins.

Despite last weekend’s 1-0 victory over Alverca, secured by a penalty from Vangelis Pavlidis in the 51st minute, being the only match in the streak where Benfica did not score multiple goals, it also marked their first clean sheet in five matches, keeping them in the second position in the Primeira Liga, five points behind the leaders.

Now, Benfica will refocus on European competition, where another win could solidify their quest for automatic progression to the knockout phase, and they can draw confidence from an impressive home record of nine wins in ten outings this season (D1).

This success includes victories in all four of their Europa League matches at Da Luz during both qualifying rounds and the league phase, netting at least three goals in each match and scoring a total of 18 times while conceding just three.

On the other hand, Lech arrives in Lisbon with a less than stellar European track record following 4-0 losses to both Crystal Palace and Bayer Leverkusen. However, they did manage to earn their first point of the league phase with a 1-1 home draw against Sunderland, thanks to a 70th-minute equaliser from Leo Bengtsson.

Having allowed nine goals during the group phase, the Kolejorz possess the joint-second-worst defensive record in the tournament, only surpassed in this regard by bottom-placed Ararat-Armênia, while no other team has scored fewer goals than the Polish champions’ solitary strike in this season’s competition.

Frederiksen’s squad has encountered a mixed bag of results lately, winning four of their seven outings since returning from the October international break, which also saw them eliminated from the Polish Cup by lower-division side Siarka Tarnobrzeg.

Domestic performances, however, have been significantly better, as their recent 3-1 triumph over Wisla Krakow marked their fifth straight league win, placing the Kolejorz three points clear at the top of the Ekstraklasa standings after garnering 31 points from a possible 36 this campaign.

Nevertheless, the Poznan-based club faces a considerably tougher challenge on Thursday, having previously been defeated in both meetings with Benfica during the 2020-21 Europa League group stage, losing 4-2 at home and 4-0 at the Estadio da Luz.

Team News