Champions League: Benfica vs Inter Milan verdict, predicted score, key stats and suggested bets

Champions League quarter-final first leg, Tuesday, April 11th, Kick-off 8pm, live on BT Sport

Benfica to win

Goncalo Ramos to score

Inter are unbeaten in 10 of their last 12 away Champions League games.

Only Liverpool, Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig have won here in European competition since 2017.

Benfica have won 10 of their Champions League games and remain unbeaten.

Benfica are the top scorers in the competition with 35 goals so far.

UEL: Inter Milan 4-3 Benfica, March 2004

UEL: Benfica 0-0 Inter Milan, March 2004

Mihailo Ristic, Alexander Bah, Goncalo Guedes and Julian Draxler are all likely to miss this game but Benfica have no fresh concerns.

Milan Skriniar is in a race against time to be fit and his absence would be a blow for the visitors. Hakan Calhanoglu is also doubtful.

Benfica had won eight straight games prior to their defeat to Porto at the weekend. Joao Mario and Goncalo Ramos were prolific during that winning run and the pair have 17 goals each this season.

Inter Milan's run of one win in six league games has seen them drop below Roma and fierce rivals AC Milan in the race for Champions League football, and they can consider themselves lucky to have beaten Porto in the previous round.

Following his side's loss to Porto, Roger Schmidt said: "It's part of football that sometimes you lose games. On Friday we lost an important game, but we've won a lot before and we always try to use the wins to develop and to grow.

"I saw my team very quickly looking forward. For the last few days we were completely focused on the game against Inter."

At the pre-match press conference, Inter Milan defender Alessandro Bastoni said his side doesn't fear anyone. "Benfica have great quality, but we don't fear them any more than we feared Barcelona, ​​Bayern, or Porto,"

He acknowledged how tough a challenge it will be and added: "We have to stay compact if we're going to cause them problems."

When these sides last met in March 2004, Benfica were looking to bounce back from a disappointing end to February that had damaged their title push.

Meanwhile, in Italy, Alberto Zaczcheroni had a fight on his hands to guide an expensive Inter Milan side to a top-four finish in a season where they were expected to compete for the Scudetto.

It's been 19 years since these sides last met in a competitive fixture and not a lot has changed. Hosts Benfica are locked in a scrap for another domestic title and will be hoping to bounce back from their defeat to Porto.

Benfica reached this stage of the competition by ruthlessly dispatching Club Brugge 7-1 on aggregate. The Eagles won both legs with in-form duo Joao Mario and Goncalo Ramos scoring five of the seven goals.

As Aguias will have been left wounded by their derby day defeat and Inter could be sitting ducks if they can't improve on recent form. Simone Inzaghi's men are sliding down the table and have been unable to rely on their away form all season.

I Nerazzurri have dropped points in nine of their 14 domestic away games this season, but most concerning is that they've conceded 25 goals in doing so.

Despite progressing 1-0 on aggregate against Porto, the Italians were second best over the two legs and some wasteful finishing let them off the hook.

They may not be so lucky here against the Champions League's top goalscorers. Benfica have scored 35 since their qualifying campaign began and they've struck 68 times at home in the league.

Porto, PSG and Portimonense are the only sides to hold the hosts to one goal at Estadio da Luz, and not even PSG could beat them. Benfica will want to take a handsome lead to Italy and there's a good chance they will.