Barcelona and Benfica are not expected to make mass changes to their plans for the second leg of their Champions League Round of 16 clash. The two played out a hard-fought 1-0 win for the Blaugrana, down to 10-men through the sending off of Pau Cubarsi, but Benfica coach Bruno Lage claimed after the game that they could have scored five.
According to MD, Ronald Araujo will replace Cubarsi in the starting XI for Barcelona, as happened in Lisbon when he replaced Dani Olmo after the red card in the second leg. Olmo is the only other slight doubt say the Catalan daily, but is expected to get the nod over Gavi in the second leg. Hansi Flick feels he owes Olmo that much after he was sacrificed in the first leg. Inigo Martinez will also be watching his step, as he is one more booking away from a suspension of any potential quater-final first leg.
After Flick declared Robert Lewandowski fully fit for Benfica, it appears that he will remain up front as well. For Benfica, there will also be a change due to suspension: Alvaro Carreras at left-back was booked in the first leg, and as such, will be replaced by Samuel Dahl. The other doubt for Lage is at the right-back position, where Tomas Araujo is struggling with injury. If he does miss out, then they will likely be turning to 19-year-old Leandro Santos, who featured at the weekend.
Despite trailing 1-0 from the first leg, Benfica have been impressive away from home in the Champions League, winning four of their last five matches on the road and scoring in all but one. Barça will need to be cautious. @mundodeportivo
— barcacentre (@barcacentre) March 10, 2025
Over the weekend, Lage confirmed that Anatoli Trubin would start after he too missed out against Nacional in a 3-0 win. One major absence that has been confirmed is Angel di Maria, who has not recovered in time from a muscle problem, and has not traveled to Barcelona. He also missed the first leg. It seems both coaches are happy with their plans from the first leg, albeit in Lage’s case not the result.
