Benfica are aiming to enhance their standing in Europe with a strong run in the Europa League, having all but given up their hopes of the domestic title. Stuttgart stand in their way on the route to the last 16, and two fascinating matches of football are in prospect.
The Lisbon side will probably feel that they should have achieved more in the Champions League, in which they were one of the teams to fall in the group phase. Third was attained behind Schalke and Olympique Lyonnais in a rather mediocre Group B, bettering only Hapoel Tel Aviv, and even then only thanks to a late strike from OL in a match they had no control over.
German opposition in the form of die Koenigsblauen were the only team to overcome Jorge Jesus’ side twice, so there will be an air of wariness approaching Thursday’s encounter, even if Stuttgart’s domestic form leaves much to be desired.
The Aguias, on the other hand, are well on course to retain their Champions League status, even if the domestic crown is likely to head to unbeaten Porto. Since a heavy and embarrassing 5-0 defeat to the league leaders in November, they’ve recorded seven successive victories and established a comfortable 12 point gap to city-rivals Sporting.
Only in sporadic bursts have Benfica shown their true muscle in Europe, but against ailing Bundesliga opponents, they’ll hope to record another confidence-boosting result.
Underdogs
UEFA Cup runners-up in 1988-89, Stuttgart are now a side who have fallen a long way from the elite level of the European game. They may still be battling valiantly in the Europa League, but their Bundesliga form this season has been miserable and sees them maroon in the bottom two of the table, staring relegation in the face.
Christian Gross and Jens Keller have both been accounted for by the club’s poor results, and it is now Bruno Labbadia who is leading the Schwaben, though he’s not having much luck either and has actually presided in a further fall in the team’s fortunes since taking charge in mid-December.
A 4-2 defeat last weekend by Nuremberg leaves Stuttgart in a very unhealthy position indeed, though this is a side that have exploded into life at times this term, recording 7-0 and 6-0 victories over Borussia Moenchengladbach and Werder Bremen respectively. Europe has also been a fertile field for the league strugglers, who won five out of their six group stage matches.
“We are the underdogs. We will need to be compact and patiently wait for our chance,” Labbadia told his side’s official website. “In our current situation, it can only be an advantage for the team to get away for two or three days and have the opportunity to clear their thoughts.”
The glamour of Thursday night’s encounter will certainly be an ideal chance for the Germans to relax and produce their best football in a relatively pressure free environment, allowing them to be at their most dangerous.
TEAM NEWS
Benfica
New additions Weldon and Jose Luis Fernandez are both ineligible for this encounter. Additionally, Javier Saviola has a one-match ban to serve.
Stuttgart
The visiting team have a number of issues going into this game. Christian Gentner and Pavel Pogrebnyak lead a list of injuries that is also inhabited by Arthur Boka, Johan Audel and Mamadou Bah, while Timo Gebhart is also sidelined.
Ciprian Marica won’t feature, having been relegated to the reserves following a training ground bust-up.
Prediction
Benfica should be good enough to win this encounter, but it would be foolish to write-off any German club in a competition in which Bundesliga sides tend to thrive. Stuttgart certainly approach this match as underdogs though.
Benfica 2-1 VfB Stuttgart 
