Hertha - Benfica UEFA Cup Preview

The group stages of the UEFA Cup gets underway this Thursday, and Benfica opens up the group by traveling to Berlin to face locals Hertha.
Hertha, who is currently 4th in the Bundesliga, got to the UEFA Cup Stages through 3 qualifying rounds where they outscored their opponents 13-1. Domestically they have only lost one game at home out of the four they have played, they have scored 10 goals in 8 fixtures but they have also allowed 9. Not your typical German defensive powerhouse, but also a team not shy when it comes to goal scoring.
Benfica on the other hand, comes to Germany trying break their losing tendency against German teams. Out of the 15 games Benfica have played in Germany, Benfica was only able to win once, while losing 11 times and coming away with with minimum points another 4 times.
Not a very favorable track record, but as Quique has said before "records are meant to be broken"

Traveling to Germany were 20 players

Keepers - Quim, Moreira and Moretto;

Defenders - Luisão, Léo, Maxi Pereira, Miguel Vítor, Sidnei and Jorge Ribeiro;

Midfielders - Balboa, Binya, Reyes, Katsouranis, Urreta, Di María, Yebda and Carlos Martins;

Forwards - Cardozo, Suazo and Nuno Gomes.

Only 18 players wil be able to suit, so two players will watch the game from the stands. One of them will most likely be Moretto, while the other will either be Urreta or Balboa.
After resting for the Portuguese Cup, Maxi, Jorge Ribeiro, Yebda, Carlos Martins, Cardozo and Nuno Gomes all return to the game roster sheet. Cardozo will get his first taste of European play after serving his 3 game suspension. Also returning to European competition is Suazo, who has fully recuperated from an injury suffered against Napoli. The obvious absences are the ones of Aimar and Ruben Amorim, who were not in good enough conditions to give their contribute to the team. Amorim had some problems following the cup game and did not recuperate in time, while Aimar is a very delicate situation, in which Benfica is not taking any risks in rushing the Argentine to action.

Here's the probable starting 11:

It won't be too different from what we saw in the last game for the Liga Sagres.
Quim will return to goal. The back four will remain the same, with Ribeiro still on the left. In the midfield, Katsouranis and Yebda will dictate the flow of play, while on the flanks it'll be Reyes on the left and Martins on the right. Up front it'll be Cardozo and Suazo, with the Honduran playing the more retracted supporting role. There's also the DiMaria option on the right flank but it's unlikely. Up front you can bet that Cardozo will get the start as he will be needed to combat the height and the physicality of the German defense.

After almost a 2 week absence it's hard to tell what Benfica will show up. If it's the Benfica of big games, the one that played against Porto, Sporting and beat Napoli, you can expect the team to put on a good performance.
In my opinion the team is almost at full strength with the players that will be available to Quique, there should be no reason not to play a good tough match.
Suazo lacks some routine, and minutes, and I'll be curious to see how him and Cardozo fit together. Reyes has been steadily improving, let's hope we can witness another good performance by the Spaniard. My biggest worry falls on the right side of the midfield, where i feel Martins will be out of position, and his production might be limited as a result. DiMaria is an option but, he would be out of position also, as he clearly prefers the left. Martins is still a better option, as he holds the ball a lot better and helps out defensively.

Although a loss would not hurt Benfica's aspirations, a win could put Benfica in the driver's seat. Hertha will most likely be one of the teams fighting for one of the 3 spots that will guarantee the next round. A win over a direct rival is the key to qualification. Quique has stated that the most important is not to lose, and if Benfica can't win then a tie would do just fine, but it would be a big error if Benfica stepped on the pitch thinking of a tie.