Benfica will look to get together the pieces of their broken title quest this weekend as they face off with mid-table Tondela at the Estádio João Cardoso with the Portuguese giants an almighty 12 points off first-placed Porto in what has been a poor campaign by their usual standards.
It really has been a tough one for Benfica this season and this was made a truckload worse when they ended up losing in the Taca da Liga final to Sporting Lisbon despite leading for a chunk of the game through Everton Soares.
Nevertheless, the champions of Portugal came back in the second half with two goals and ended up heaping more misery on Benfica this season.
To make matters even worse for the Lisbon outfit after losing to their arch rivals, the club also ended up losing to Gil Vicente 2-1 as Goncalo Ramos scored late on.
This has also brought the gap between these two sides down to 11 and Benfica now face the alarming issue that Braga are just six points behind them in the table and this gap could break even more if poor form continues.
As of now, Benfica are sitting with four losses in the division too, which is in great contrast to that of the other 'Big Three' in Portugal as Porto are unbeaten and Sporting have lost only twice. Benfica are, however, the joint-highest scorers in the division.
Both they and the league leaders Porto have managed to net 53 goals this campaign, so at the very least, Nélson Veríssimo’s men are in excellent goalscoring form once again.
At the same time, the club have also conceded only 18 goals in a relatively solid performance on the defensive front for them too.
As for Tondela, they sit in 13th in what has been a topsy-turvy campaign for them, but with an almighty 40 goals conceded this campaign already, the club have their work cut out when they play hosts to the league’s top scorers.
Needless to say with the form of either side and with the goals Benfica have scored that they are the side to watch here and the clear favourites too.
With this in mind, Forebet predicts a game of over 2.5 goals in favour of the away side in what should be an easy win for Benfica.
It would still leave them with a load of work to do to break the gap on the champions Sporting Lisbon, however, but Benfica for now, are expected to return to winning ways.
Home
Football 
Basketball
Hockey
American Football
Baseball
Rugby
Volleyball
Handball
Esoccer
