Barcelona and Benfica are not expected to make mass changes to their plans for the second stage of their Champions League round of 16 collision. The two played a hard-fought 1-0 win for the Blaugrana, up to 10 men by sending Pau Cubarsi, but Benfica coach Bruno Low claimed after the game that they could have scored five.
According to MD, Ronald Araujo Cubarsi will replace in the starting XI for Barcelona, as happened in Lisbon when he replaced Dani Olmo after the red card in the second stage. Olmo is the only other little doubt, says the Catalan daily, but is expected to get the kink about Gavi in the second stage. Hansi Flick feels that he owes Olmo so much after he was sacrificed in the first stage. Inigo Martinez will also keep an eye on his step, because he is still a booking from a suspension of a potential quater-final first leg.
After Flick stated that Robert Lewandowski was completely suitable for Benfica, he also seems to stay in front. For Benfica there will also be a change as a result of suspension: Alvaro Carreras on the left was booked in the first stage and will be replaced as such by Samuel Dahl. The other doubt for Lage is on the right back position, where Tomas Arajo is struggling with injury. If he misses it, they will probably turn to 19-year-old Leandro Santos, who could be seen during the weekend.
In the weekend, Lage confirmed that Anatoli Trubet would start after he had also missed Nacional in a 3-0 win. An important absence that has been confirmed is Angel Di Maria, who has not recovered from a muscle problem and has not traveled to Barcelona. He also missed the first stage. It seems that both coaches are happy with their plans of the first stage, albeit in the store of Lage, not the result.
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