My Crystal (Foot)Ball

Liverpool 3 Benfica 1

Liverpool win 3-2 on aggregate!!! you wait and see, I will be right.

Head-to-Head

Liverpool and Benfica have met on seven previous occasions in European competition, with Liverpool winning five times and Benfica twice.

Liverpool have won all three matches against Benfica played in England, 4-1, 1-0 and 3-1.

Both of Benfica's victories came in matches played in Portugal and both were won 1-0, the last being the first leg of this tie.

Liverpool have hosted Portuguese clubs on six occasions, winning five and drawing once. The sole draw was against Boavista (1-1) in a Champions League group phase match in September 2001.

Benfica have lost seven of their eight matches in England, their only victory coming in November 1991 at Arsenal (1-3).

Liverpool reached the final of the Champions Cup in each of the three seasons in which they played Benfica.

Benfica have been eliminated from European competition by an English club on six occasions - Manchester United (1965/66 and 1967/68), Derby County (1972/73) and Liverpool (1977/78, 1983/84 and 1984/85).

However, Benfica knocked Tottenham Hotspur (1961/62) and Arsenal (1991/92) out of European competition, and their victory against Manchester United in their last Champions League match put the English club out.

Liverpool have only been put out of Europe by a Portuguese club on one occasion. Vitoria Setubal eliminated them from the 1969/70 Fairs Cup.

European History

Liverpool have won the Champions Cup/Champions League five times, the most recent coming in May 2005 when they won their first Champions League on penalties, from AC Milan.

Their previous successes came in 1977, 1978, 1981 and 1984.

They have also won three Uefa Cups and three Uefa Super Cups.

This season is Liverpool's fourth in the Champions League and their 33rd in European competition.

Benfica won the Champions Cup two years in a row in 1961 and 1962, beating Barcelona and Real Madrid respectively. However, since then they have played in six European finals (five in the Champions Cup) and lost them all.

Benfica have 44 seasons of experience in European competition. However, this is only their third Champions League campaign.

In 1994/95 Benfica were eliminated by AC Milan in the quarter-finals.
In 1998/99 they were eliminated in the Group stage, finishing second in Group F to Kaiserslautern.