Toulouse vs Benfica Prediction: Silva to get on scoresheet

It was a tale of two penalties when Benfica established a 2-1 first-leg lead over Toulouse at Estadio da Luz last week.

Two cool-as-you-like conversions from Angel Di Maria, the second coming eight minutes into stoppage time, ensured the Portuguese champions head to southern France this week with a slender advantage.

Benfica were better than the scoreline suggests but failed to punish the French club, who will now look to end a six-game winless streak at home to progress to the last 16.

Team News

Full back Juan Bernat is Benfica’s only confirmed absentee through injury but central defender Joao Neves could also miss out as he mourns the death of his mother and grandfather.

Toulouse look set to recall right-back Mikkel Desler, who scored their goal in Lisbon, at the expense of Warren Kamanzi after the Norwegian was one of their few flops during a 2-1 win at Monaco on Sunday.

Match Odds

Like the first leg, Benfica enter the match as the favourites and are available at 5/6 to repeat their home victory at Stadium de Toulouse.

Les Violets are as big as 3/1 to satisfy their passionate home supporters, with the draw at 11/4.

Both teams to score, which has landed in Toulouse’s last four games in all competitions, is available at 8/11 while it’s evens at least one of the teams fails to find the net and over 3.5 total goals is on offer at 2/1.

Over 9.5 Total Corners @ 11/10

Benfica have been warned about the atmosphere Toulouse fans will generate inside the stadium, but the home side have hardly responded to the support of late.

It has been more than three months since the fans of Les Violets famously disrupted Jurgen Klopp’s post-match press conference with their noisy celebrations following a 3-2 group-stage win over Liverpool — the team’s last victory on their turf.

Toulouse have taken charge of their three most recent home games, dominating possession and both the shot and corner counts.

But a failure to score more than once in nine of their last 10 matches at Stadium de Toulouse has meant they have won only two games there since the start of October.

They can be relied upon to get corners, however, with Carles Martinez Novell’s side having racked up a total of 26 across their last three home fixtures.

Benfica have won the second-most corners in the Portuguese top-flight and will surely carve out some set-piece opportunities against a Toulouse side who have faced an average of 5.5 corners per game in the Europa League this term.

Rafa Silva to score Anytime @ 15/8

Di Maria is the star of this Benfica side, but Rafa Silva is the most loved by Eagles fans and his statistics underline why.

The 30-year-old attacker has scored 15 goals and assisted a further 13 in 37 games this season, with eight of those strikes having come away from home.

Rafa has the pace and ability to be a major threat on the counter attack in Toulouse and could add to his tally of two European goals from Champions League away trips to Salzburg and San Sebastian earlier this season.

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