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Benfica vs Newcastle United Europa League match banter!

April 4th, 2013 | 68 Comments |

Benfica v Newcastle United in the Europa League.
Jesus vs Pardew – Who will come out on top?
Venue: Estadio da Luz, Lisbon.
Date: Thurs 4th April, 2013.
Kick off: 8.05pm.
Referee: Antony Gautier (France).
UK TV: ITV 4.

Hello, good evening and welcome to our “match banter” for this evening’s Europa League clash against Benfica from the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

Before I proceed further, you might also be interested in my two part guide to Benfica here and here.

Now I’ve got that out of the way, the first piece of good news is that due to an major oversight by UEFA, they have allowed a French referee called Antony Gautierto officiate. Don’t they realise that Newcastle United are a French team now?

Another piece of possible good news (for Newcastle anyway) is that Benfica’s primary right winger and one of their biggest goalmakers and goalscorers, Eduardo Salvio, could be an injury doubt with his knee. Having written that though, there are still several very able players who could step into the breach. It is also true that Benfica’s injury worries are still less than our own, with Salvio being about the only top player who might be a concern. (more…)