Benfica-Celtic: High Noon in Group D

By: JT | October 24th, 2007

The landscape of Champions League Group D will become significantly more clear today as Celtic and Benfica go head-to-head at Lisbon’s Stadium of Light trying to stake their claim to a strategic position in the group as we head into the second half of the phase. Meanwhile, Shakhtar Donetsk looks to prove that they’re for real while Milan look to prove that they have a pulse when they match up at the San Siro. The separation or tightening of this group happens today.

Benfica currently sit fourth in the Portuguese Liga standings, a healthy eight points behind the undefeated runaway leaders FC Porto. Injuries have been a large part of Benfica’s less than spectacular domestic start.

Defensive midfield whiz Petit has been out for over a month already with a knee injury, and will miss out today. Keeper Jose Moreira is another long term absentee, and his new backup Hans-Jorg Butt is a doubt. Brazilian defender David Luiz is out with a fractured metatarsal, and striker Nuno Gomes is missing as well.

In many ways, the Eagles are struggling to recover from the loss of their talisman Simao Sabrosa who was sold this summer to Atletico Madrid for the paltry fee of €20m. Taking up his leadership mantle is the aging wonder Rui Costa, who is still capable of splitting open the best of defenses with his array of passing skills. Paraguayan giant and new Red Devil Oscar Cardoza provides the kind of threat in front of goal that Celtic have failed to handle in recent times. Will we see Freddy Adu?

Benfica’s desperation to salvage this Champions League campaign is what concerns me more than anything. No matter the result in Italy, they can still climb right back into the thick of things with a win against Celtic. Considering Celtic’s away form in Europe and the might of the Caso do Benfica, they’ve got to feel pretty good about their chances.

For the Celts, their powers of recovery (in every respect) are facing their biggest test of the season, and early signs are promising. Frontman Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink is back in the fold, and should start. Paul Hartley is also back from a hamstring strain, and while he will likely be in the starting eleven, what position is unknown. Stephen McManus traveled with the squad to Portugal, but it remains to be seen if he will play after head knocks in consecutive matches for club and country.

After a few days of nonsense surrounding his refusal to shake hands with Rangers players after Celtic were trashed in the Old Firm derby this weekend, keeper Artur Boruc will be glad to focus on the current rather than past.

Any of Hartley, Darren O’Dea, or Gary Caldwell could end up at right back. WGS seems to prefer a pairing of Caldwell and McManus in the middle, and since the lefty O’Dea was unimpressive in the half he played at rightback against Rangers, expect to see Hartley, Caldwell, McManus (or John Kennedy), and Lee Naylor on the left. If worse comes to worse we could even see the return of Bobo Balde, although no one wants that kind of ocular torture.

The midfield also has some questions. Aiden McGeady is clearly not someone that WGS likes in the lineup for tough road matches. That means three of the midfield four will be Shunsuke Nakamura, who was subbed early against Rangers, Massimo Donati, and Scott Brown. Evander Sno was awful against Rangers this weekend, and I’d be shocked to see him given another run. A surprisingly in-form Jiri Jarosik looks likely to be given the nod in central midfield, with Brown wide on the right.

Now that Jan the Man has returned from injury, his solid pairing with Scott McDonald should be back in place as the Celts go in search of those elusive away goals.

***** UPDATE: Jan is out, as are McDonald and Nakamura. McManus will play. It’ll be Boruc, Caldwell–Kennedy–McManus–Naylor, Hartley–Donati–Brown–McGeady, Jarosik, Killen in Celtic’s injury-modified 4-4-1-1. Goals may be tough to come by today. *****

This game will tell the world a lot about the makeup of this Celtic team. Can they recover mentally and physically from the drubbing they took this weekend at the hands of their arch-rivals? Can they finally get over the hump on the road in the Champions League? Are they fully fit? How much risk is Strachan willing to take with his injured stars to win this match?

In the four European matches that these clubs have played, the result has always been 3-0 to the home team. I really can’t see Celtic losing that badly to a Benfica squad that have been inconsistent at best this season, but victory will be difficult to come by. A one-all draw sounds about right to me here, and I’m sure that while all three points would be a great mental hurdle to dispense with, the Bhoys will be satisfied with one point from their trip.

Expect to see Shakhtar Donestsk on top of the group with seven points after today’s action, with Celtic and Milan on four apiece, and Benfica at the bottom with one. Celtic will then be in great shape to qualify with home matches against Benfica and Shakhtar on the horizon.