Benfica look to snap a two game winless streak as they get set to host Braga at the Estadio da Luz later today. Benfica who drew at Famalicao in Taca de Portugal action after losing to FC Porto in the Classico in Week 20 are hoping to get back to their winning ways and avoid Bruno Lage's first ever three game winless streak since he took over at the club. Benfica play Braga
today at 6pm WEST and
they will dress 18 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Alex Grimaldo, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Nuno Tavares
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Taarabt, Franco Cervi, Rafa Silva, Samaris, Florentino, Julian Weigl
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Seferovic, Jota, Dyego Sousa
Benfica are ready to reward striker Carlos Vinicius for his superb season with the club with a new contract, the new contract would increase Vinicius salary and more importantly increase his current buy out clause from €100M to €120M as they look to protect their investment from some of Europe's bigger clubs. Vinicius who joined the club in the summer from Napoli for €17M was an after though with the club, opening the season as the clubs third option in the striker position but poor form by last seasons leading scorer Haris Seferovic and highly regarded new acquisition and recently departed Raul de Tomas gave Vinicius the opportunity to more playing time and the striker did not disappoint. Vinicius has scored 19 goals in 30 games across all competitions while setting up another 12 goals in his debut season with Benfica.
Vincius is currently the leading scorer in the Portuguese League with 14 goals and Benfica know that some of Europe's bigger clubs have taken notice of the season that the 24 year old is having. One of the clubs that has been most linked with an acquisition of Vinicius in the summer is current defending Champions League winners Liverpool, the Reds are said to be looking at Vinicius as a potential replacement for current striker Roberto Firmino who could be on his way out after the season. Benfica are aware that it will be difficult to hang onto Vinicius if he continues his fine form but the club would be ready to cash in on another potential €100M+ sale for the second summer in a row.
Benfica announced yesterday that midfielder Gabriel will miss an indefinite amount of time and possibly the rest of the season due to a vision related issue as Gabriel has been diagnosed with sixth nerve palsy which
is a disorder associated with the dysfunction of the cranial nerve which
is responsible for causing contraction of the lateral rectus muscle to
abduct (movement of the eye causing double vision). Gabriel informed the club the day after the Famalicao first leg Taca de Portugal encounter that he was having problems with the vision of his left eye. The club immediately began to run tests which are now complete and have ruled out more serious concerns but the players timeline to return to action is unknown as the club looks to avoid any additional risks by rushing Gabriel back into regular game action. Gabriel continues to attend club practices and do the physical work that he deems appropriate. This is the third time that the midfielder has been on the injured list since joining the club last summer having already suffered a knee injury last season and a ligament rupture earlier this season. Benfica will lean to Julian Weigl, Florentino, Samaris and Taarabt in the middle of the field with Gabriel's absence.
