{"id":9331,"date":"2021-11-23T09:04:51","date_gmt":"2021-11-23T08:04:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?p=9331"},"modified":"2025-03-24T13:38:08","modified_gmt":"2025-03-24T12:38:08","slug":"barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona will look to start the Xavi Hernandez era in the Champions League with a win against Benfica in this game.<\/p>\n<p>The returning midfielder knows he has a lot of work on his hands, but he would be confident he can turn his former side into a leading Spanish club again.<\/p>\n<p>Benfica won the reverse of this fixture 3-0 in Portugal and that has set this one up nicely to be a game to look forward to.<\/p>\n<p>Barca is above the Portuguese side by just two points and win in this match will confirm their participation in the knockout stages of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>However, if they suffer yet another defeat, they would be out of the running and that is something Xavi would be working against in this match.<\/p>\n<p>Benfica comes into this match on the back of two fine wins, but Barcelona struggled to beat Espanyol 1-0 at the weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The Blaugranas would consider that some progress judging by where they are coming from, but their fans would want a more expansive win today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Barcelona will look to start the Xavi Hernandez era in the Champions League with a win against Benfica in this game. The returning midfielder knows he has a lot of work on his hands, but he would be confident he can turn his former side into a leading Spanish club again. Benfica won the reverse of this fixture 3-0 in Portugal and that has set this one up nicely to be a game to look forward to. Barca is above the Portuguese side by just two points and win in this match will confirm their participation in the knockout stages of the competition. However, if they suffer yet another defeat, they would be out of the running and that is something Xavi would be working against in this match. Benfica comes into this match on the back of two fine wins, but Barcelona struggled to beat Espanyol 1-0 at the weekend. The Blaugranas would consider that some progress judging by where they are coming from, but their fans would want a more expansive win today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9255,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,13,157],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-champions-league","category-football","category-match-preview"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.1.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Barcelona will look to start the Xavi Hernandez era in the Champions League with a win against Benfica in this game. The returning midfielder knows he has a lot of work on his hands, but he would be confident he can turn his former side into a leading Spanish club again. Benfica won the reverse of this fixture 3-0 in Portugal and that has set this one up nicely to be a game to look forward to. Barca is above the Portuguese side by just two points and win in this match will confirm their participation in the knockout stages of the competition. However, if they suffer yet another defeat, they would be out of the running and that is something Xavi would be working against in this match. Benfica comes into this match on the back of two fine wins, but Barcelona struggled to beat Espanyol 1-0 at the weekend. The Blaugranas would consider that some progress judging by where they are coming from, but their fans would want a more expansive win today.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Matchplug Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"675\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"\",\"@id\":\"\"},\"headline\":\"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\"},\"wordCount\":180,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Champions League\",\"Football\",\"Match Preview\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\",\"name\":\"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":675,\"caption\":\"NYON, SWITZERLAND - AUGUST 2: A view of the UEFA Champions League trophy during the UEFA Champions League 2021\/22 Play-offs Round draw at the UEFA headquarters, The House of European Football on August 2, 2021, in Nyon, Switzerland. (Photo by Richard Juilliart - UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"description\":\"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Matchplug Blog\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png\",\"width\":389,\"height\":218,\"caption\":\"Matchplug Blog\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog","og_description":"Barcelona will look to start the Xavi Hernandez era in the Champions League with a win against Benfica in this game. The returning midfielder knows he has a lot of work on his hands, but he would be confident he can turn his former side into a leading Spanish club again. Benfica won the reverse of this fixture 3-0 in Portugal and that has set this one up nicely to be a game to look forward to. Barca is above the Portuguese side by just two points and win in this match will confirm their participation in the knockout stages of the competition. However, if they suffer yet another defeat, they would be out of the running and that is something Xavi would be working against in this match. Benfica comes into this match on the back of two fine wins, but Barcelona struggled to beat Espanyol 1-0 at the weekend. The Blaugranas would consider that some progress judging by where they are coming from, but their fans would want a more expansive win today.","og_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/","og_site_name":"Matchplug Blog","article_published_time":"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":675,"url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"","Est. reading time":"1 minute"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/"},"author":{"name":"","@id":""},"headline":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview","datePublished":"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/"},"wordCount":180,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","articleSection":["Champions League","Football","Match Preview"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/","name":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview - Matchplug Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","datePublished":"2021-11-23T08:04:51+00:00","dateModified":"2025-03-24T12:38:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","width":1200,"height":675,"caption":"NYON, SWITZERLAND - AUGUST 2: A view of the UEFA Champions League trophy during the UEFA Champions League 2021\/22 Play-offs Round draw at the UEFA headquarters, The House of European Football on August 2, 2021, in Nyon, Switzerland. (Photo by Richard Juilliart - UEFA\/UEFA via Getty Images)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/barcelona-vs-benfica-match-preview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Barcelona vs Benfica Match Preview"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","name":"Matchplug Blog","description":"Matchplug is the best soccer prediction site connecting bettors with winning tips. We are spot on in our Soccer predictions, premier league predictions, Bet9ja prediction, matched betting and premier betting.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"Matchplug Blog","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/08\/cropped-mp_logo_2.png","width":389,"height":218,"caption":"Matchplug Blog"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/author\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/uefa-champions-league-trophy.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9331"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28590,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9331\/revisions\/28590"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9255"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matchplug.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}