Benfica boss Marco Silva looks to B-Team for Celtic challenge
A leading Portuguese outlet have warned Benfica that Celtic are showing “signs of life” after their convincing 2-0 win over Motherwell.
Benfica, absolutely destroyed Hearts in the Europa League play-offs and are due to host the Scottish Champions on Thursday night, in the second round of group stage matches in the same tournament.
Scouts representing the Portuguese giants were present in the Fir Park stands on Sunday, and were impressed by the performance of the Scottish Champions after a run of three consecutive defeats.
Celtic’s warmed up off the Benfica clash by winning by the same scoreline as they saw off Vitoria Guimares comfortably on Sunday night.
Benfica manager Marco Silva is also ready for the visit of the finest team in Scotland, and even indicated that he may rest some key players in a bid to give some of his B stars more match fitness.
Speaking to Portuguese outlet A Bola, Silva revealed that Colombian forward Jhon Durán had suffered discomfort during the international break, with doubts also cast over the availability of Danish defender Alexander Bah who was withdrawn against Vitória after reporting thigh discomfort, meaning he may be forced into resting some key players.
“Yes, it’s a possibility. Right now, the idea is to give some players from the B team some playing time to gain match fitness.
“From there, we will assess the players and analyse the next opponent to prepare for Thursday’s game and make the necessary decisions,” Silva stated.
Silva continued: “I was pleased at the control of the game we had against Vitoria. We had to be patient. I felt that some players were more tired than usual, especially those who had been with their national teams.
“We gave the 60,000 fans at the Estadio da Luz plenty to enjoy. The reality is that we didn’t give our opponent any chances and won the game comfortably.”
Even if Silva is true to his word, it’s still a mammoth task ahead of the Hoops, who will need to put in a top class performance to get a positive result.
Benfica are averaging over four goals per match at the hugely impressive Estadio da Luz this season, so Celtic’s defence will have to be at their best, with Auston Trusty likely to partner Liam Scales at the centre of the defence.
Viljami Sinisalo will also have to avoid the kind of costly error that gave the Rangers their goal at Celtic Park just before the international break.
This one could call for an Atalanta away performance for Celtic if we are to have any hope of picking up a point in Lisbon. That’s probably the best we can hope for before turning our attention to the visit of Hearts on Sunday afternoon to Celtic Park.
