Benfica v Inter Milan: Back the home win and plenty of goals in Lisbon

• Benfica looking to win five in a row in Champions League

• Inter have just one win in eight in all competitions

• Ramos and Mario in fine form for the hosts

• Read on for a potential 3.51 Bet Builder

Benfica v Inter Milan
Tuesday, 20:00
Live on BT Sports

Friday hiccup can be forgiven

Benfica made light of Club Brugge in the previous round, beating them 2-0 away and thrashing them 5-1 at home.

The attacking players who have come up with the goods time and again this season- Rafa, Goncalo Ramos, David Neres and Joao Mario- were all on the scoresheet that night in what has been one of the best Benfica sides we've seen in years.

They're hot favourites to win the league and could have all but wrapped it up by avoiding defeat to rivals Porto at home on Friday.

But they lost 2-1 and perhaps more worrying than the result itself was the performance: they may have had more possession but Porto were arguably the better team throughout and had a goal ruled out late in the first half for offside that could have made the margin of victory even bigger.

It's one thing saying they already had one eye on this match with the league all but sewn up. But they fielded pretty much their best side and the best way to prepare for a big game is surely to win the one before.

But they're allowed one bad day at the office and all in all, look in great shape.

Struggles for Inter

Inter are currently fifth in Serie A, one point behind AC Milan and two behind Roma. It's been a rather average season by their recent standards but making it into the semis of the Champions League and securing a Top 4 finish in Serie A would still make it a really good campaign. Of the two, a Top 4 finish is probably the more likelier.

If Benfica had one bad result recently, Inter have had plenty. They've won just one of their last eight- a 2-0 victory over Lecce in early March.

They drew a bad-tempered match in the Cup against Juventus in midweek and followed that up with a 1-1 draw at Salernitana on Friday, conceding in the last minute.

So form isn't on their side but there's plenty of Champions League experience in their team with the likes of Romelu Lukaku, Edin Dzeko and Samir Handanovic having featured in dozens of games over the years.

Football... Only Bettor - Champions League

Home win could be full of goals

There's absolutely nothing wrong with simply backing Benfica at 2.26/5 to win the game.

That loss to Porto on Friday was just their first home defeat of the season across 20 matches in three competitions. They drew 1-1 with PSG and across their other four home matches in the Champions League (including a qualifier) they won 4-1, 3-0, 2-0, 4-3 and 5-1.

But if you're going the Benfica win route, it's surely preferable to go with them winning in a match with over 2.5 goals in it.

They're more than capable of getting three by themselves if they get going, and have a bad habit of conceding in matches they're bossing. Before that loss to Porto, they'd won their two previous home games 5-1.

So, Benfica to win with over 2.5 goals in the game at 11/4 it is.

Inter are 3.814/5 to inflict what would be just Benfica's second home loss of the campaign, while the stalemate is 3.412/5.

Good options in the 'Score or Assist' market

The 'to score' and 'to score or assist' markets look interesting ones, especially with Benfica expected to score at least a couple here.

Goncalo Ramos is evens to score or assist but tends to do more of the former. He has three goals in this competition and just the one assist, to go with 17 goals in the league and just the two assists. So in his case, the 7/4 that he scores makes more appeal.

The case of Joao Mario is a slightly different one. Despite the fact he's matched Ramos' 17 league goals from midfield, has six assists to Ramos' two, to go with six Champions League goals and two assists, he's a considerably bigger than Ramos at 7/5 in the 'score or assist' market.

A lot of those goals were penalties but then again, it's hardly surprising that such a good attacking side keep racking up spot-kicks and Mario has been pretty ruthless when it comes to taking them.

It's 12/5 he scores but we prefer keeping both bases covered, albeit at the shorter price.

Also of interest in this market is left-back Alejandro Grimaldo.

Now in his seventh season at the club, this has arguably been his best, unsurprising given the freedom he's been allowed to get forward at any opportunity, which plays to hi strengths.

He's racked up four goals across all competitions, two of which were in this competition and provided a further three assists in Europe. So the 11/4 is certainly worth a second look.

A Bet Builder to round things off

It's hard to get away from the fact this match should have plenty of goals, meaning the 5/6 that a goal will be scored in both halves, looks decent.

Adding that Joao Mario to score or assist bet to the equation, means the double comes to 3.51.