Game 1- September 14 - at Dynamo Kiev
Game 2- September 29 - vs Barcelona
Game 3- October 20 - vs Bayern Munich
Game 4- November 2 - at Bayern Munich
Game 5- November 23 - at Barcelona
Game 6- December 8 - vs Dynamo Kiev
Game 1- September 14 - at Dynamo Kiev
Game 2- September 29 - vs Barcelona
Game 3- October 20 - vs Bayern Munich
Game 4- November 2 - at Bayern Munich
Game 5- November 23 - at Barcelona
Game 6- December 8 - vs Dynamo Kiev
Benfica will join Sporting and FC Porto in the Champions League group stage this season after holding off a persistent PSV to a scoreless draw in their second leg encounter. Benfica went down to ten men at the 32nd minute mark of the game after Lucas Verissimo received his second yellow card in what was a bit of a questionable decision but it turned the game on it's head with Benfica providing little to no attack the rest of the way, but the club put on a superb defensive clinic with a little luck on the side.
Benfica will now receive around €37M from UEFA for qualifying for the group stage and are guaranteed six games in the Champions League to add more to that total. UEFA will pay out €3.28M for every group stage win and €1.09M for each draw in the competition. The qualification will also keep the club away from selling important pieces, unlike last season when their failure to make the group stage saw defender Ruben Dias depart before the summer transfer window closed.
Benfica will be placed in pot 3 for Thursday's group stage draw along with FC Porto, Ajax, RB Leipzig, Atalanta, Zenit and two of Shakhtar Donetsk, RB Salzburg, Besiktas or Dynamo Kiev depending on the results of tomorrow's final playoff games. A group of death featuring previous champions is very likely this season with the potential of a Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and AC Milan joining Benfica when the draw takes hold.
It is said that Waldschmidt is looking for a move back to his homeland in search of regularly playing time and with Benfica stacked at the striker position, a few strikers are expected to move before the transfer window closes. Benfica currently have strikers Haris Seferovic and Rodrigo Pinho on the sidelines with injury but will see the return of Darwin Nunez after a 3 month lay off, throw in recently acquired striker Roman Yaremchuk with Goncalo Ramos and Carlos Vinicius and that is too many strikers for one or two positions in the starting eleven.
The 25 year old German International has appeared in 43 games across all competitions for Benfica, scoring 12 goals while setting up 4. Benfica would be wise to hang onto the left footed striker and look to capitalize on the older Seferovic who caught the eye of many clubs after his performance at this summers Euro tournament. While 2019-20 top scorer Carlos Vinicius also looks ready to depart the club again, as manager Jesus seems to have no interest in giving the Brazilian playing time. Benfica need to move strikers but Waldschmidt is the wrong one to move on from but what can you expect from a club that seems to have lost it's way.