Chelsea vs Benfica Prediction & Betting Tips (30 September)

After two years of absence, Chelsea is back in the Champions League this season. The Blues composed their ticket in C1 thanks to a beautiful 4th place in the Premier League. This summer, they confirmed their return to the foreground by winning the Club World Cup. It is therefore with the full ambition that the London training started this exercise 2025/2026. Unfortunately, she failed to create the surprise in the lair of Bayern Munich for her entry into this 3-1 Champions League. On the national scene, Chelsea blew hot and cold in the first four days while remaining undefeated 2 victories and 2 draws. On the other hand, the men of Enzo Maresca then fell on the lawn of Manchester United 2-1. Last weekend, they tried to relaunch themselves with the reception of Brighton to come.

 8th of the Champions League finalist last year, Benfica was forced to go through the preliminary towers to access the league phase this season. The LisBoets did the work by dominating Nice 4-0 after the round trip then Fenerbahce 1-0 at the end of the round-trip matches. On the other hand, they started the competition very badly with a completely unexpected setback suffered at home against Qarabag two weeks ago 2-3. This defeat led to the dismissal of coach Bruno Lage and the arrival on the bench of Jose Mourinho. Under the orders of the Special One, Nicolas Otamendi's partners won against AFS 0-3 before being held in check, at home, by Rio Ave 1-1. Last weekend, they received Gil Vicente to come. Eager to stay in contact with Porto and Sporting, Benfica is currently 3rd in the Portuguese championship. 

The Chelsea coach deplores the packages of the offensive recruit Delap, the defender holder Colwill as well as the usual Badiashile (defender) and Lavia (Middle) replacement. In addition, the community arrived at the club this summer alley was not registered for this Champions League while the Ukrainian winger Mudryk continues to serve his long suspension for doping. Recently, it is the essential Cole Palmer (champions scorer against Bayern) who has dropped and will miss the next three weeks of competition. Maresca will be able to count on the Brazilian striker Joao Pedro (2 goals and 3 PL passes) while in the midfield, we find the tauliers Caicedo (2 goals in PL) and Fernandez (2 goals and 1 PL pass), which display a nice complementarity. On the side of Benfica, missing, the solid defender Bah, the replacement circles Manu Silva and Nuno Felix as well as the interesting winger Bruma, all on the side.

On the other hand, the Belgian international Lukebakio (1 spend in the league), absent in the first match of the Champions League, has been able to replay since. The Greek striker Pavlidis (3 goals and 2 championship passes) found the way to the net against Qarabag. This Tuesday, he should still be supported by the important summer recruit Sudakov (2 league goals). The experienced Otamendi (37) remains a strong element of Benfica and forms the central hinge with the very promising Antonio Silva (21). 

• Summary: Chelsea U19 is going head to head with Benfica U19 starting on 30 Sept 2025 at 14:00 UTC . The match is a part of the UEFA Youth League .