Champions League Road Map Unveiled

After a two year absence Benfica returns to Europe's elite competition, the Champions League. The drawing, held this past Thursday in Monaco, put France's Lyon, Germany's Shalke, and Israel' Hapoel in our way. Certainly not the hardest of groups, but a group with opponents that can't be taken lightly either.


The first match day takes place on September 14th, and Benfica will open up at Estadio da Luz, against Hapoel who is theoretically the weakest team of the group. Hapoel reached the group stages of the CL after having played 3 pre-qualifying matches. A key match in the group for Benfica, not only because it's important to get the precious 3 points, but because every team is expected to beat Hapoel at home. A result of less than a win would not be a good result.
In the mean time, Lyon will host Schalke, in a match that can go either way for these two teams.
The three points are not only crucial to start the competition right, they will also serve to either take the lead of the group(in case of a tie in the other game)
or to keep pace with the winner of that game.

On September 29th, Benfica will travel to Gelsenkirchen to face Schalke. Schalke got an automatic bid into the group stage after coming in second in last years Bundesliga.
Although seeded in pot 3, Schalke is as capable of winning this group as anyone else. With players like Neuer, Escudero, Metzelder, Farfan and the newly arrived Madrid legend Raul, Schalke is anything but an easy opponent.
The trip to Germany comes at a time where the competition is still in the early stages and a slip up, or even a tie, will not endanger any aspirations to the top two spots of the group.
Lyon will travel to Tel-Aviv, where Hapoel will certainly defend their home turf, tooth and nail.

October 20th will be the date for Matchday 3, and Benfica will have what will be the hardest fixture of the group stages against Lyon. With a very good possibility that both teams will have at least a win under their belt, this game can very well catapult the winner into the lead of the group. Lyon, who has had assiduous participations in the Champions League, qualified directly into the group stages, following their second place in last years Ligue 1.
With players like Cris, Cissokho, Kallstrom, Michel Bastos, newly acquired Gourcuff, and the well known Lisandro Lopes, Lyon has to be the line favorites to win this group, not only because of their pot 1 seed, but also because their above mentioned regular presences in this competition which edges out the rest of the teams in the group as far as experience goes.
Schalke hosts Hapoel with a chance to benefit from a possible stalemate between Lyon and Benfica.

On Match day 4, November 2nd, Benfica and Lyon will invert matchday 3's fixture, as Benfica will host Lyon at Estadio da Luz.
With the group stages entering the final stretch, this can be a game that can give Benfica momentum to finish strong, with the result in France as a backdrop, this match will either serve to re-establish parity, or determine who will take a clear advantage into the last 2 fixtures.
Schalke will travel to Israel hoping to put an end to Hapoel's dream, and at the same time gain an edge following the double fixture clash between Benfica and Lyon.

At the end of November(24th) it'll be Benfica's turn to travel to the middle east to face Hapoel. In a game that can prove to be decisive in Benfica's aspirations into the round of 16. Only a win will do at this point of the competition. A win here can very well seal a spot into next round, or put us in a position where our destiny is in our hands, especially when Lyon will travel to Germany.

The last fixture of the group stages will take place on December 7th, and Benfica will close out the group stages against Schalke. It's hard to imagine that the last fixture will be meaningless, one thing is for sure, if Benfica is still in the hunt, I much rather finish at home in front of our fans.
Coming into this game Schalke will have had to play 3 difficult fixtures domestically, against Bremen, Kaiserslautern and Bayern Munich respectively, another factor to keep in mind.

Ideally Benfica can very well advance into the round of 16, but because football is so unpredictable, this is nothing but an exercise in speculation. Still, with 2 wins against Hapoel, 1 win and 1 tie against Schalke, should be enough even if we get nothing but 1 tie from the Lyon double fixture.

There's definitely some excitement and anxiety to see what JJ and this team can do in Europe. Despite the slow start domestically, i think that we can very well have a good campaign in this years CL, a year that marks our 50th anniversary of our first Champions League trophy.