THE Benfica took, this Thursday, a potentially ‘giant’ step towards qualifying for the next phase of the Europa League, by getting the better of Lech Poznan, at the Estádio da Luz, 3-1, thanks to goals scored by Rafa Silva, Gianluca Prestianni and Georgiy Sudakov (which received a response from Leo Bengtsson, in the final moments).
The team led by Marco Silva, in this way, gained 12 points out of 12 possible, which keeps them at the top of the league stage, equal with Bournemouth (who beat Sparta Prague, 1-3) and Ferencváros (who beat AC Milan, 0-2), and the prospects of Opta’s supercomputer could not be better.
At the moment, this platform gives the Reds a 99.29% chance of finishing among the top eight and consequently qualifying directly for the round of 16, so only a catastrophe in the last four games, against Viktoria Plzen, OFI, NEC and AZ Alkmaar will change this outcome.
In fact, the Eagles are even considered the team with the greatest chances of reserving the first position in the table (44.74%), followed by Bournemouth (39.96%), Ferencváros (4.76%), Union St. Gilloise (3.95%) and Juventus (3.15%), and are expected to finish this phase with between 20 and 21 points in their pocket.
If confirmed, already in the ‘knockout’, the Portuguese team would face the 15th, 16th, 17th or 18th classified (who will all go to the playoff). If the predictions of the company specializing in the processing of sports data are confirmed, these would be, respectively, Dinamo Zagreb, Levski Sofia, AZ Alkmaar or NEC.
Torreense wins ‘battle’, but it may not arrive
Torreense also had reasons to smile, in this fourth round of the Europa League league phase, as they received and beat Ararat-Armenia, 3-2, in a ‘crazy’ match, which was only resolved in the added time, as a result of goals scored by Javi Vázquez and Musa Drammeh, which led to the turnaround.
The team led by João Nuno rose, in this way, to 19th place in the general classification, with the same six points as AZ Alkmaar, Anderlecht, OFI, Rennes and Omonia. However, the popular supercomputer ‘warns’ that this record may not be enough to avoid deletion.
At this moment, the men from Torres Vedras appear ranked in 28th place, with between eight and nine points, which means that they would not even go to the playoffs, as the repechage only covers teams that finish between ninth and 24th place, so they are forced to contradict (once again) expectations.
Torreense continues, however, to depend only on itself to move forward, and will try to do its best again, in the last four rounds, in which they will face Celtic, Real Sociedad, Lech Poznan and Olympiacos.
Sporting de Braga continues in the fight
In the Europa Conference League, Sporting de Braga proved to be incapable of going beyond a goalless draw, when traveling to Cepheus Park Randers, against Aarhus, so they reached four points in three rounds, and are 17th placed, ‘next to’ Red Star, Atalanta and Gent.
Opta’s platform points it, for now, to 12th place, with between ten and 11 points, which means that it would have to go to the playoff, where it would face the team that finished in 21st or 22nd place, which, also based on this prediction, would be Nordsjaelland or Egnatia Rrogozhine. Before that, they will face KuPS, Brann and, precisely, Egnatia Rrogozhine.
