AEK face Benfica at Olympic Stadium on Tuesday, Oct. 2. Here’s all the info you need to watch.
AEK and Benfica both lost their opening Champions League games. Greek side AEK went to Amsterdam and lost 3-0 to Ajax. Benfica opened their tournament in Lisbon, losing 2-0 to Bayern Munich. The two clubs enter the second match day looking to pick up their first game of the group stage.
AEK were burned twice by Ajax left-back Nicolas Tagliafico, who got in behind the defense and scored twice in the first game. Marinos Ouzounidis’ side will have to do a better job marking opposing players if they are going to pick up three points. The mistakes were rare for AEK, who have been very strong defensively in the Super League. In their five league games, AEK have allowed only two goals, keeping four clean sheets to sit third in the Super League table.
Ezequiel Ponce will be the focal point of the AEK attack. Roma signed Ponce as an 18-year-old in 2015. Over the past three seasons, Ponce has struggled to score goals while on loan in Spain and France. Roma loaned Ponce to AEK this season and the Argentine striker has performed well, scoring three goals in five Super League games.
Benfica fell to third in the Portuguese league after settling for a draw against Chaves. Outside of the draws against Chaves and Sporting, Benfica have won the rest of their league games. Pizzi and Rafa Silva have had a strong start to the season. Pizzi leads the club with four goals, while Silva has three goals after scoring twice against Chaves.
Benfica’s attack would be better if they could get production from their strikers. Haris Seferovic, Facundo Ferreyra and Jonas have combined for two goals this season. Jonas is a club legend, scoring 122 goals for Benfica since joining the club in 2014. However, at 34-years-old, Jonas has lost a step and is struggling to get playing time. Seferovic and Ferreyra have split playing time but neither player has separated themselves from the other.
The Champions League match between AEK and Benfica will be broadcast live on B/R Live. Live streaming is available on B/R Live, which you can access with your cable or satellite subscription, either online or through their app.
Date: Tuesday, Oct. 2
Start Time: 3 p.m. ET
Location: Athens, Greece
Stadium: Olympic Stadium
TV info: B/R Live
Live Stream: B/R Live | Watch live on Fubo.TV. Sign up for a free seven-day trial here.
AEK and Benfica were in the same Europa League group in 2010-11. In the two group stage games, both clubs won on their own home field.