At Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, Benfica will welcome a faltering Famalicao on Friday night to begin Matchday 18 of the Primeira Liga.
The hosts have the chance to jump into the top two overnight with a win in this Friday's stand-alone match, while the visitors can move up to ninth place with three points.
Compared to a few weeks ago, when they concluded 2024 with a 1-0 loss at Sporting Lisbon and returned in the New Year with a 2-1 home loss to Braga, Benfica will be feeling considerably better going into this weekend's league games.
The boost in their mood this week comes from a string of impressive performances in the domestic cups over the past nine days. They got their revenge on the same two teams, first dominating Braguistas 3-0 in the Taca da Liga semi-final, then securing a penalty victory over Os Leoes in the final.
After clinching their first trophy of the season, Bruno Lage's team put on an outstanding second-half display. Trailing 1-0 on Tuesday night, they turned things around to win 3-1 against Farense, earning a spot in the last 16 of the Taca de Portugal.
Now, Aguias are eager to carry this momentum into the league, where they've faced some struggles lately, having only earned seven points from their last five matches, following a strong 11-match unbeaten streak.
That said, the hosts know they can’t take their upcoming opponents lightly. They were beaten 2-0 in the first encounter of the season back in August, so they'll be looking for redemption.
Famailicao, meantime, was not playing in midweek after losing to Santa Clara in the fourth round of the Taca de Portugal. They will be playing again for the first time since January 5.
After a 1-1 stalemate with Casa Pia on the road that day, Azuis e Brancos' winless streak in the top division now stands at seven games and eight in all competitions since the beginning of November.
After winning three straight games in their opening three games of the season, Fama has now only won one of their subsequent 14 league games (W1 D8 L5), which is a huge decline.
Though the squad has only lost twice in eight games this season (W2 D4 L2), the one bright spot for new manager Hugo Oliveira is that he has yet to experience road defeat since joining the team, drawing his first two away games.
Renato Sanches experienced yet another injury setback after assisting Benfica in winning the Taca da Liga title. The club revealed that he is expected to be out for around two months due to a muscular problem.
The Paris Saint-Germain loanee has only played in 11 games for the Eagles this season across all competitions, and this is his third injury absence since moving to Lisbon at the beginning of the campaign.
Oscar Aranda, who has scored in three of his previous five league games to bring his season total to seven across all competitions, will most likely start at the top of the score for the visitors this weekend.
Lazar Carevic will start in goal for the fourth straight game as Fama just have one injury absence to reckon with in the form of goalie Ivan Zlobin, who is suffering from a kidney issue.
