It's game one of two in the Champions League as Benfica host Ajax. This is a 8th Finals fixture played over two legs and nothing will be decided tonight.
It's quite the trip for Ajax when visiting Benfica as the cities are 2200 kilometers apart.
Ajax could be less fresh than the hosts in this fixture, as they played a Eredivisie game only four sleeps ago. That game, against Willem II, was also an away game. It's a tiring schedule for Ajax.
Benfica form and stats
Last season their Champions League adventure ended in the 3rd qualifying round.22 points is a decent return from 11 Primeira Liga games here at Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica for Benfica. The data says 7 wins, 1 draw and 3 losses. This match is a Champions League match, and the hometeam has the total statistics 5 wins, 3 draws and 2 losses in this competition.
The Benfica manager Veríssimo and his gang return home after a 2-2 draw away versus Boavista. Taarabt (midfield was the top team player in that game with a rating of 7.82/10. Taarabt scored one goal, dribled past the opponent 3 of 5 times and had 38 successful passes (of 44 total).
Ahead of that match, Benfica won a home game hosting Santa Clara (2-1).Another home game is coming up fairly shortly for the hosts, as Vitoria Guimaraes are coming to town in four days.
Benfica can score goals in their home matches. After 11 league matches they have found the net 27 times. Benfica have conceded 12 in these home matches.
Ajax form and stats
They also participated in Champions League last season. This ended in the group stage.The away performances of Ajax have been very solid so far with 9 wins, 2 draws and 0 defeats in the Eredivisie. The question is whether this happy travelling can continue. When we have look at the Champions League statistics, we find 6W-0D-0L. This is both home and away.
The Ajax goalkeeper Remko Pasveer is collecting clean sheets like a laundry worker. It's been 307 league minutes without conceding a goal, and counting.
It's the second away game in a row for Ajax, but there's smiles all around after the 1-0 victory versus Willem II last time out. Attacker Antony got a player rating of 8.75 in the game. "Man of the match" Antony served one assist, hit seven key passes, dribled past the opponent 2 of 2 times and had 53 successful passes (of 60 total).
Before that, Ajax secured a home win against FC Twente with the score 5-0.The visitors will be packing their bags again in only four days as another away game awaits: The Eredivisie trip to Go Ahead Eagles.
The Ajax manager Hag has got the team scoring on the road, with 24 away goals in 11 league matches. Ajax's manager Hag has created a great defensive setup working very nicely in away games with only 2 conceded goals. You can find more goal stats on the Statistics tab above. It's worth mentioning that 3 of these goals has been conceded in their last three away matches.
Head 2 Head
Benfica-Ajax H2H statistics last two meetings regardless of arena: Benfica zero wins, Ajax one win, one draw. zero of these two matches had three or more goals (over 2,5).Top Goalscorers
  D. Núñez Ribeiro 18 goals |   S. Haller 16 goals |  R. Fernandes Ferreira da Silva 7 goals |
Benfica missing players
Ajax missing players
| Benfica | Ajax | ||||||
| Total | Home | Statistics | Stat | Away | Total | ||
| 25 | 13 | Played | P | 10 | 25 | ||
| 12 | 7 | Won | W | 9 | 21 | ||
| 6 | 2 | Drew | D | 1 | 2 | ||
| 7 | 4 | Lost | L | 0 | 2 | ||
| 57 | 31 | Scored | S | 21 | 76 | ||
| 36 | 17 | Conceded | C | 3 | 8 | ||
| 96% | 100% | Over 0.5 | O 0.5 | 90% | 92% | ||
| 92% | 100% | Over 1.5 | O 1.5 | 70% | 80% | ||
| 68% | 69% | Over 2.5 | O 2.5 | 50% | 68% | ||
| 48% | 38% | Over 3.5 | O 3.5 | 20% | 44% | ||
| 28% | 23% | Over 4.5 | O 4.5 | 10% | 32% | ||
| 64% | 69% | BTTS | BTTS | 30% | 20% | ||
| 28% | 23% | Clean Sheets | C S | 70% | 76% | ||
| 12% | 8% | Failed to Score | F T | 10% | 12% | ||
| 6.2 | 6.5 | Corners for (avg) | C F | 6.5 | 7 | ||
| 4.2 | 3.2 | Corners against (avg) | C A | 3.8 | 2.4 | ||
| 2.4 | 2.4 | Yellow cards (avg) | Y C | 0.9 | 0.9 | ||
| 2 | 0 | Red cards | R C | 0 | 0 | ||
| 12.9 | 14.2 | Shots (avg) | S ( | 16.4 | 19.6 | ||
| 5.3 | 5.1 | Shots on Target (avg) | S O | 5.4 | 7.7 | ||
| 43% | 47% | Goal Efficiency | G E | 39% | 40% | ||
| 12.2 | 11.5 | Shots against (avg) | S A | 9.7 | 7.1 | ||
| 4.1 | 4 | Shots on Target against (avg) | S O | 2.8 | 2.2 | ||
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Porto | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 57 | 16 | 11 | 10 | 1 | 0 | 29 | 8 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 28 | 8 | 41 | 60 |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 22 | 17 | 3 | 2 | 43 | 15 | 11 | 9 | 1 | 1 | 19 | 5 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 24 | 10 | 28 | 54 |
| 3 | Benfica | 23 | 16 | 3 | 4 | 60 | 22 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 27 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 2 | 1 | 33 | 10 | 38 | 51 |
| 4 | Sporting Braga | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 39 | 23 | 12 | 7 | 3 | 2 | 22 | 10 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 13 | 16 | 41 |
| 5 | Gil Vicente | 23 | 11 | 7 | 5 | 35 | 24 | 12 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 19 | 15 | 11 | 6 | 4 | 1 | 16 | 9 | 11 | 40 |
| 6 | Vitoria Guimaraes | 23 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 33 | 30 | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 21 | 14 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 12 | 16 | 3 | 30 |
| 7 | Estoril | 22 | 7 | 9 | 6 | 26 | 24 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 13 | 14 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 10 | 2 | 30 |
| 8 | Maritimo | 22 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 28 | 30 | 10 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 13 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 2 | 6 | 15 | 21 | -2 | 28 |
| 9 | Portimonense | 22 | 7 | 6 | 9 | 22 | 24 | 12 | 2 | 4 | 6 | 9 | 15 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 13 | 9 | -2 | 27 |
| 10 | Pacos de Ferreira | 23 | 5 | 9 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 12 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 12 | 14 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 13 | -9 | 24 |
| 11 | Santa Clara | 22 | 6 | 6 | 10 | 26 | 41 | 11 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 14 | 19 | 11 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 12 | 22 | -15 | 24 |
| 12 | Vizela | 23 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 39 | 12 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 16 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 23 | -14 | 23 |
| 13 | Boavista | 23 | 3 | 13 | 7 | 27 | 36 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 1 | 17 | 14 | 11 | 0 | 5 | 6 | 10 | 22 | -9 | 22 |
| 14 | Arouca | 23 | 5 | 6 | 12 | 22 | 42 | 11 | 3 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 25 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 12 | 17 | -20 | 21 |
| 15 | Famalicao | 22 | 4 | 8 | 10 | 28 | 37 | 11 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 17 | 24 | -9 | 20 |
| 16 | Tondela | 22 | 6 | 2 | 14 | 29 | 44 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 17 | 23 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 21 | -15 | 20 |
| 17 | Moreirense | 22 | 4 | 7 | 11 | 22 | 37 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 12 | 1 | 4 | 7 | 7 | 22 | -15 | 19 |
| 18 | Belenenses | 23 | 3 | 6 | 14 | 14 | 43 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 24 | 12 | 0 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 19 | -29 | 15 |
| Total | Home | Away | |||||||||||||||||||
| # | Team | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | MP | W | D | L | F | A | +/- | P |
| 1 | Ajax | 23 | 18 | 3 | 2 | 70 | 5 | 12 | 9 | 1 | 2 | 46 | 3 | 11 | 9 | 2 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 65 | 57 |
| 2 | PSV | 22 | 16 | 1 | 5 | 54 | 28 | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 29 | 16 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 25 | 12 | 26 | 49 |
| 3 | Feyenoord | 22 | 15 | 3 | 4 | 52 | 19 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 28 | 10 | 11 | 7 | 2 | 2 | 24 | 9 | 33 | 48 |
| 4 | AZ | 23 | 14 | 3 | 6 | 45 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 26 | 11 | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 19 | 16 | 18 | 45 |
| 5 | FC Twente | 22 | 12 | 5 | 5 | 34 | 27 | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 15 | 6 | 12 | 6 | 2 | 4 | 19 | 21 | 7 | 41 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 22 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 27 | 36 | 11 | 4 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 21 | 11 | 7 | 1 | 3 | 16 | 15 | -9 | 36 |
| 7 | FC Utrecht | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 39 | 29 | 11 | 7 | 3 | 1 | 26 | 12 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 6 | 13 | 17 | 10 | 35 |
| 8 | NEC | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 28 | 32 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 11 | 15 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 17 | -4 | 31 |
| 9 | SC Cambuur | 22 | 9 | 3 | 10 | 38 | 47 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 21 | 25 | 11 | 5 | 2 | 4 | 17 | 22 | -9 | 30 |
| 10 | FC Groningen | 22 | 6 | 7 | 9 | 25 | 31 | 11 | 2 | 6 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 16 | 22 | -6 | 25 |
| 11 | SC Heerenveen | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 20 | 31 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 19 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 12 | -11 | 25 |
| 12 | Heracles | 23 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 24 | 32 | 12 | 6 | 3 | 3 | 17 | 13 | 11 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 7 | 19 | -8 | 23 |
| 13 | RKC Waalwijk | 23 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 25 | 37 | 11 | 4 | 1 | 6 | 10 | 19 | 12 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 15 | 18 | -12 | 23 |
| 14 | Go Ahead Eagles | 22 | 6 | 4 | 12 | 22 | 38 | 11 | 4 | 0 | 7 | 14 | 19 | 11 | 2 | 4 | 5 | 8 | 19 | -16 | 22 |
| 15 | Willem II | 23 | 6 | 3 | 14 | 21 | 42 | 12 | 4 | 1 | 7 | 10 | 18 | 11 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 24 | -21 | 21 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 24 | 50 | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 13 | 23 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 27 | -26 | 19 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 35 | 12 | 2 | 5 | 5 | 10 | 17 | 10 | 1 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 18 | -18 | 17 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 22 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 17 | 36 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 12 | 11 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 10 | 24 | -19 | 16 |
