Swiss Super League side St. Gallen go host Portuguese giants Benfica for di first leg of Europa League second qualifying round at Kybunpark. Kick-off set for 14:00 on Thursday 23 July.
St. Gallen come from a 1-1 draw with FC Thun at home. Dem get 50% possession and seven shots on target. Corsin Konietzke score di goal for dem.
Benfica win 3-1 away against Estoril Praia for di Primeira Liga. Marco Silva side get 52% possession and eight shots on goal. Richard Rios, Alexander Bah and Rafa Silva score di goals.
St. Gallen top scorer na Lukas Goertler with 4 goals. Aliou Balde and Chima Okoroji get 3 each. Diego Besio record 2 assists. For Benfica, Richard Rios score 5 goals, Rafa Silva and Andreas Schjelderup get 4 each. Gianluca Prestianni get 4 assists, Anatoliy Trubin notch 2 clean sheets for last 10 games.
St. Gallen lineup (3-5-2): Lawrence Ati-Zigi (GK), Jozo Stanic, Christian Witzig, Lukas Daschner, Carlo Boukhalfa, Aliou Balde, Lukas Goertler, Tom Gaal, Hugo Vandermersch, Chima Okoroji, Mihailo Stevanovic.
Benfica lineup (4-2-3-1): Anatoliy Trubin (GK), Clement Lenglet, Antonio Silva, Alexander Bah, Georgiy Sudakov, Jakub Kaminski, Vangelis Pavlidis, Manu Silva, Samuel Dahl, Rafa Silva, Miguel Figueiredo.
Benfica dey favourite to win dis match. Odds dey show 75% probability for dem to win. But St. Gallen get home advantage and dem dey motivated.
Asian Handicap market dey offer value for St. Gallen at -125. Dat means if St. Gallen win, draw or lose by one goal, di bet go pay. Some analysts believe St. Gallen fit acquit dem well against Benfica.
Rafa Silva score for im last two games. Odds for am to score anytime na +150. Correct score bet for Benfica 1-0 win dey at +550.
Total Corners market get value at -147. Bet builder options dey available for dis match.
Benfica coach Marco Silva talk say di team need to start di season well. We consider it important to start in di best possible way and be sufficiently competitive, taking into account di current stage of di season and di atypical pre-season we don have, starting to compete very early also because of di World Cup. To be competitive and be in di next qualifying round. Dat is our objective.
Jhon Durán na one of Benfica new signings. But Silva say di team success depend on collective, not just one player. He also highlight di support from Benfica fans for Switzerland. It dey very important for us. It show di greatness of Sport Lisboa e Benfica. If e no be for Estádio da Luz, and if di draw don dictate a different scenario, perhaps one of di best places for us to play go be precisely here for Switzerland, because of everything e represent and di size of di Benfica community. E go be very important for us. Playing away from home, we go once again feel say there go be practically a balance for di stands, and dat clearly demonstrate di greatness of Benfica.
Benfica go miss some players. Leandro Barreiro out due to respiratory infection. Gianluca Prestianni suspended. John Durán no include for squad.
Referee for di match na Luca Pairetto from Italy. Im assistants na Stefano Alassio and Valerio Colarossi. Fourth official na Giovanni Ayroldi. VAR na Daniele Doveri.
Benfica substitutes list include Samuel Soares, Barrenechea, Ivanović, Dedić, Tomás Araújo, Tiago Gouveia, Daniel Banjaqui, José Neto, Anísio Cabral, Gonçalo Moreira, João Rego, Rui Silva.
St. Gallen substitutes list include Watkowiak, Andrin Hunziker, Frokaj, Betim Fazliji, Diego Besio, Enoch Owusu, Konietzke, Heydari, Joel Ruiz.
Dis match be first time St. Gallen and Benfica dey face each other for official competition. St. Gallen only play one match against Portuguese team before, lose 4-1 to Vitória de Guimarães for UEFA Conference League. Benfica face Swiss opponent once, against Chaux-de-Fonds, draw 1-1 and win 5-0.
St. Gallen dey compete for Europa League for eighth time. Dem never reach decisive stages, but dem eliminate Chelsea for 2000/01 edition. Benfica get three Europa League finals, lose to Anderlecht for 1983, Chelsea for 2013, and Sevilla for 2014.
Benfica main player na Greek striker Vangelis Pavlidis. For 2025/26, im play 53 matches, score 30 goals and provide six assists. Im finish as second top scorer for Portuguese League with 22 goals. Im dey known for intelligent movement, excellent positioning, and great finishing.
For St. Gallen, attacking midfielder Lukas Görtler na key player. For 2025/26 season, im play 37 matches, score 11 goals, and provide seven assists. Im dey draw attention for constant arrival for di area, good reading of di game, and quality for decisive passes.
Benfica arrive for good form after recovery season. Dem finish Liga Portugal for third place, undefeated for final stretch. For preseason, dem lose 2-1 to Flamengo and beat Villarreal 2-0.
St. Gallen also motivated after second place for Swiss league. Dem play six friendlies, win four and lose two. Dem beat Altach and Winterthur twice, but lose to Lyon 6-3 and Norwich 3-0.
Match go take place for AFG Arena for St. Gallen, Switzerland. Stadium open for 2008, capacity 19,568. Last season, St. Gallen play 20 matches there, win 11, draw three, lose six. Good crowd expected.
