Dynamo Kyiv vs Benfica Preview

Benfica will look to record a win when they travel to Lodz to play Ukrainian side Dynamo Kyiv in the first leg of the final round of the UEFA Champions League group stage qualifiers.

Dynamo Kyiv booked their place in this stage of the tournament by beating Sturm Graz 3-1 on aggregate in the last round after a 1-0 win in the first leg at this stadium.

Having also beaten Fenerbahce on their way to this stage of the tournament, they will want to give it their all to ensure that their efforts so far do not go to waste.

But their woeful record against Benfica will be an enormous source of worry for them heading into this game. The hosts are hoping to end a 31-year wait for a win over Benfica with their only win coming against the Lisbon giants back in 1991 (W1, D1, L4) in the UEFA Champions League (UCL) playoffs.

Meanwhile, Benfica will look to get a first-leg win when they travel to Poland on Wednesday.

The visitors qualified for this stage of the tournament by comfortably beating Midtjylland 7-2 on aggregate in the last round.

They come into this tie on the back of a 1-0 win over Casa Pia in their domestic league. That win took their tally to ten consecutive wins in all competitions (including friendlies).

And so, they will come into this fixture full of confidence and belief that they can get a good result against a Kyiv side that are still very rusty following the pausing of their domestic league due to the war between Ukraine and Russia.