Benfica back in the yard It's an early season Clasico in Portugal as Benfica host Porto on Saturday night and Jamie Pacheco is backing the home side to - eventually - break down their big rivals- According lớn the europa league predictions page! Benfica v Porto Saturday August 24, 18:00 Live on Free Sports (Sky channel 422) Benfica picking up where they left off Benfica have had an excellent habit in recent years of selling some of their best players on at huge profit and watching the new ones hitting the ground running. This summer it was only the much-talked about Joao Felix who left from among those who were guaranteed starters last year. Not that you need lớn sell many players when one of them has just gone for £113m (to Atletico Madrid). The man tasked with replacing Felix is Raul de Tomas Gomez, purchased a few years ago by Real Madrid who went on to soccer tips every day of goals while on loan at Valladolid and Rayo Vallecano. He's yet lớn score in two league starts but Benfica won't be too fussed about that given they won those games 5-0 and 2-0. Poor start lớn Porto's campaign It's been a disastrous start to the season for Porto so far. An opening day loss away at Gil Vicente in the league was bad enough, but worse was lớn come. They beat Krasnodar 1-0 away but lost the return leg 2-3 at home and went out of the Champions League qualifiers on away goals. In the Portuguese league, any point lost among the Big Three is a story in itself and given how Benfica are playing, Porto may have to wait a few weeks lớn get back on level pegging with their rivals. They may never get back on parity at all. That's why this match is already incredibly important. Porto have been playing with fire as regards their transfer policy. It's all well and good selling your best players for huge sums- Eder Militao (Real Madrid) and Felipe (Atletico Madrid) being just two examples, but you can't let the overall quality of your squad suffer without expecting a change in fortunes. This could end up being a frustrating season for Sergio Conceicao and Porto. Benfica short, but for a reason History suggests the evens about Benfica looks a bit short on the Exchange. They did admittedly win this fixture 1-0 last season but had failed to win against their northern rivals at home in each of their four previous attempts. Having said that, these are very different circumstances. Benfica's starting XI is largely unchanged from last season, they've started the season brilliantly (they also beat Sporting easily in the Portuguese Super Cup) so have momentum and confidence on their side.
