Monaco is the opponent in the Champions League play-offs

DRAW

The draw for the Champions League play-off, held on Friday morning, January 31, dictated a re-match between Benfica and Monaco. The first leg will be played at the Stade Louis II on February 12 and the second leg at the Estádio da Luz on February 18. Both games are scheduled to kick off at 8 pm (mainland Portugal time).

The two teams met on matchday 5 of the league phase of the current edition of the competition, with the Eagles prevailing 2-3 against the Principality outfit. There had been two previous matches between the two sides, also in the Champions League: in the group stage of the 2014/15 edition, Benfica won 1-0 at the Estadio da Luz and Monaco drew 0-0.

In the league phase of the current edition of the Champions League, the team led by German coach Adi Hütter beat Barcelona (2-1), Red Star (5-1), Bologna (0-1) and Aston Villa (1-0); drew at Dinamo Zagreb (2-2) and lost to Arsenal (3-0) and Inter (3-0), as well as losing to Benfica (2-3), picking up the same 13 points as the eagles (16th place). In the final reckoning, they're one place behind (17th).

On the domestic front, Monaco currently have 34 points in Ligue 1 and are in 3rd place, three behind Marseille and 13 behind leaders Paris Saint-Germain.

In the January transfer window, Benfica's next opponents in the Champions League strengthened with forward Mika Biereth, signed from Sturm Graz. On the other hand, midfielder Eliot Matazo was traded to Hull City.

THE OPPONENT

REACTIONS TO THE DRAW

Simão Sabrosa (Benfica's director of international relations): "It's a team that we already know, that we've played against and beaten. They're a team that also had a great campaign in this [league] stage of the Champions League. It's going to be a very tough game, but we're ready for this big match. We already know Monaco well. Let's wait and see how we do at this stage and how we find Monaco, after their good run in the Champions League, just like we did. When we played Monaco, the support of all the Portuguese was very important. We have a large Portuguese community in France and, in fact, they were very important in the turnaround in that game. We hope we can count on that support, because we, Benfica, play at home in almost every stadium. We want to count on that support and that energy coming from the stands to help our team in this game, the support of all the fans will be essential. There are no first-place finishers here. It's a match between two great teams who respect each other a lot and will give it their all. We'll be counting on the support of the fans, on that positive energy that comes from the stands and that also ends up helping the players. And then, in the second game, at home, with our fans and a full stadium, we want to play the best game to stay in the Champions League, and we're counting on the fans, both in Monaco and in our stadium, to bring that energy to the players, so we can get a good result and get through to the next stage."

Thiago Scuro (Monaco's general manager of football): "We have the opportunity to face Benfica, a great team, with tradition in international competitions and also in their own country, as well as Monaco. We had the chance to face each other in the league phase. It was a great game, decided in the last few minutes. Now, in the play-offs, we're expecting some great games too."