Gonçalo Ramos sold to PSG. Chiquinho close to leave to Russia. The rest of the squad is available.
Starting the new season as the defending champions for Primeira Liga.
4 wins and 2 defeats in the 6 matches of pre-season. The two defeats were the last 2 games of the 6, against Feyenoord and Burnley.
Benfica starts the season with an empty medical department. All players are physical ready to start the season, however...
...star striker Gonçalo Ramos' transfer to PSG was confirmed, and he won't play already the Supertaça.
Petar Musa is the replacement for Ramos, at least for the Supertaça match. Musa is physically stronger, taller and possesses a good short-to-mid-range finishing shot. However, Musa misses Ramos quality off the ball, as well as he is much worse than Ramos when working with the ball on his feet.
Up to three new signings might start next match: left-back Jurasék is the most likely; Angel Di Maria has good chances; Orkun Kokçu should be a 1st option throughout the season, but hasn't proved to be an unquestionable asset, for now; Schmidt has other options in Florentino or João Neves.
Odysseas Vlachidomos and Petar Musa will play next match knowing that the club is about to sign players for their positions: Trubin (gk) and Artur Cabral (striker) are close to arrive to Luz.
Reserve midfielder Chiquinho is reported to be close to leave.
Some sources mentioned the chance of Morato starting instead of Otamendi, because the Argentine played just 45 minutes in pre-season. However, it seems more likely that Otamendi will start, anyway.
Benfica usually struggles when directly facing their fiercest rivals FC Porto: just 1 win in the last 11 matches between these two teams.