Benfica were likely thrilled to see the back of Andre Villas-Boas back when he departed FC Porto for Chelsea, but they’re apparently not rid of him yet. They’ve been drawn with Zenit St. Petersburg in the Champions League Round of 16. This Zenit team isn’t quite as good as the Porto squad that took Benfica apart on a few occasions, but they’re certainly good enough to advance to the quarterfinals.
Benfica vs. Zenit St. Petersburg, Champions League draw 2015: Eagles have to see AVB again
Benfica really won’t be thrilled to come up against Andre Villas-Boas.
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Benfica
Benfica haven’t exactly been enjoying life in the Portuguese Primeira Liga this season, sitting in third place and well off the pace set by Sporting Club de Portugal and former Benfica boss Jorge Jesus. They’re not doing badly on home soil, but sitting so far behind the league leaders isn’t exactly what they were hoping for approaching the halfway point of the season. They’ve had better luck with the Champions League, though, winding up as the only team in their group to beat Atletico Madrid, and doing it in Spain to boot. Even if they’re not quite the threat they once were, Benfica are still a tough team that demand respect, and if they draw an opponent who overlook them too much, they could be in for a surprise.
Key player: Nicolas Gaitan
Gaitan's creative still and attacking threat is what drives Benfica's successes in the final third. The Argentine isn't a superstar by any means, but he's a dangerous player that needs accounting for, as Benfica's opponents found out as he lead the team in Champions League scoring. That said, their attack is almost too heavily reliant on him -- take Gaitan away, and service to Jonas and Raul Jimenez and Kostas Mitroglu and the rest of Benfica's attack gets cut off, and they become much easier to handle.
Though he will be leaving at the end of the season, the final chapter of the Andre Villas-Boas rehabilitation project is going very well indeed, at least when it comes to the European side of things. Zenit's progress through the group stage may have come at the expense of relatively shambolic Valencia and Lyon sides, but them's the breaks, and Zenit scored a pleasing amount of goals as they progressed.
There’s spirit, too, most notably in their opening fixture in Spain, where they threw away a two-goal lead only to snatch the victory back minutes later. And while Artem Dyzuba gets most of the goals and Hulk most of the headlines, there’s a solid spine to the team, running from Ezequiel Garay in defence through Axel Witsel and onto captain and playmaker Danny. They’re probably the group winner that most of the second placed teams would like to draw, but they’re not going to be anybody’s pushovers.
Key player: HULK
HULK SMASH. HULK CUT IN FROM RIGHT ONTO FAVOURED LEFT FOOT AND KICK BALL HARD AT GOAL. HULK SCORE THREE IN FIVE GAMES. HULK PROVIDE SEVERAL ASSISTS FOR OTHER PLAYERS, NOTABLY ARTEM DYZUBA, WHO HIMSELF SCORED SIX GOALS IN SIX GAMES. HULK MISSING FROM FINAL GAME DEFEAT TO GENT, ONLY LOSS OF CAMPAIGN. HULK INVITE READER TO DRAW THEIR OWN CONCLUSIONS.
Prediction
Based on their recent histories and squads, you’d think this is a wide-open matchup, but Zenit have to be considered favorites. They’ve been the much better of the two teams this season. Zenit by one goal.
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