Benfica vs St. Gallen – News and Probable Lineups

Following their defeat to St Gallen a week ago, which marked Marco Silva’s debut as Benfica head coach, the Eagles are keen to turn around a 2-1 deficit in their Europa League second qualifying round matchup at Estadio do SL Benfica.

Even though a one-goal margin is not insurmountable, Silva will be looking to capitalize on the impressive track record that the Portuguese giants hold at Estadio da Luz as they aim to progress to the next round, where Hearts lie in wait.

Match overview

Replacing Jose Mourinho comes with its own set of pressures, and Silva is likely experiencing those challenges already.

In the early days of managing As Aguias, the Portuguese faces a possible drop to the Conference League unless they can overturn last week’s 2-1 loss at Sitterstadion.

A goal from Rafa Silva just before half-time appeared sufficient for the Eagles, who kept the score level until Tom Gaal’s late strike for the Swiss outfit with ten minutes remaining, leaving the Reds facing a narrow defeat.

Benfica must ensure they secure at least a similar victory in order to push the match into extra time, or they will need a more significant win to avoid elimination from Europe’s second-tier tournament on Thursday.

The end of last season, which saw the team regularly score multiple goals, offers some hope to O Glorioso, even though it was under a different manager. The Portuguese heavyweights had at least two goals in each of their final six league games at Estadio da Luz and hit that figure in ten of the twelve matches during Mourinho’s last five months at the helm.

Trying to become only the third team in 2026 capable of stopping the Eagles from finding the net at the Stadium of Light, Enrico Maassen brings his St Gallen side to Lisbon hoping to hold their ground.

Both teams approached last week’s encounter without any competitive games to their names, but it was Espen who ultimately had the upper hand in front of their home crowd.

The defending Swiss Super League runners-up have since followed up their narrow first-leg victory with another tight win to kick off their league season, triumphing 2-1 over Zurich last weekend to retain their perfect record in competitive fixtures for the 2026-27 campaign.

After finishing their pre-season with three straight losses to Lustenau, Lyon, and Norwich, conceding eleven goals and scoring only four, the recent results have reignited some much-needed confidence.

Now, Espen will aim to withstand the pressure from the Benfiquistas on Thursday to set up a third qualifying round tie with Hearts for a place in the playoff stage.

Team News

Benfica comes into this week’s match without any noticeable injuries from the last game, with only Bruma’s absence affecting the lineup. Gianluca Prestianni will be serving the final game of his three-match suspension for homophobic conduct towards Vinicius Junior in February.

While Rafa Silva netted the equalizer last week, with an assist from Vangelis Pavlidis, the latter remains the team’s main offensive threat, and they will look to him for crucial contributions against St Gallen.

New signing Jhon Duran, who scored in a recent 5-1 friendly victory over Belenenses, is included in the squad for Thursday’s fixture, adding to the arsenal of potential match-winners available to Silva.

World Cup stars Andreas Schjelderup, Fredrik Aursnes, and Dodi Lukebakio were absent in the previous match, but all three are available for selection this time, although their participation against Espen is yet to be confirmed.

In contrast to their hosts, the Swiss team is dealing with several injury issues, as Stephan Ambrosius, Behar Neziri, Colin Kleine-Bekel, Malamine Efekele, Cyrill May, Nino Weibel, and Nevio Scherrer will all be sidelined due to various mid- to long-term injuries.

After losing last season’s top scorer Alessandro Vogt to Hoffenheim, the away side will rely on Carlo Boukhalfa and Aliou Balde in attack, with Balde indicating his value by scoring in the first leg last week.

Benfica probable starting XI:

Trubin; Bah, A. Silver, Lenglet, Dahl; Figueiredo, M. Silva; R. Silva, Sudakov, Kaminsky; Pavlidis

St Gallen probable starting XI:

Ati-Zigi; Gaal, Stanic, Okoroji; Vandermersch, Gortler, Daschner, Boukhalfa, Stevanovic; Witzig, Balde

Despite the looming threat of being eliminated from the second tier of European football, Benfica is expected to have enough quality to overcome last week’s narrow loss in Switzerland to advance to the next stage.

The hosts undoubtedly possess a greater array of match-winners, which should give them an advantage over St Gallen.