Santa Clara vs Benfica prediction 26.10.2026 | Liga Portugal

Last season, Santa Clara finished dangerously close to the relegation zone, and their only goal for the 2026/27 campaign was to avoid another stressful year. However, after just eight rounds of Liga Portugal, Santa Clara have already collected an impressive 18 points, suggesting that they could be in for a far more successful season than initially anticipated. Petit's team were unbeaten until their most recent outing, when Santa Clara lost 3-2 after extra time away to Mafra in the Taça de Portugal. The visitors were unrecognizable, especially defensively, and ultimately suffered a surprising defeat.

After the Taça de Portugal defeat, Santa Clara's head coach, Petit, was understandably disappointed. He stated, "First of all, I have to congratulate Mafra on their qualification. We had a very good start, and after 20 minutes we had complete control and scored a goal. Creating six chances and only scoring one goal is very little for what we produced offensively, and against these teams, when you don't finish the game off, you end up conceding." 

Santa Clara midfielder Dje Tavares received a red card in the Taça de Portugal and will not play on Monday against Benfica. His absence could be significant, as he is a 23-year-old who has started every game this season. Dje Tavares will join already-sidelined MT.

Benfica are without a domestic league trophy for the last three matches and have big expectations for the current year. However, after only eight matches, Marco Silva's team is already five points behind Porto. Benfica were impressive in the last two months with 11 wins in the last 12 matches. In the previous game, Benfica won 4-1 on the road in the Europa League against Omonia. The first half was relatively evenly contested, but Benfica stepped up after the break, took control, and cruised to a comfortable win.

Benfica dominated in the second half against Omonia, and the head coach, Marco Silva, talked about what his team was missing in the first 45 minutes. He commented, "We tried to force things, but we weren't very direct; we lacked the ability to move the ball from one side to the other. In the second half, with a strong start, we scored early again and controlled the game. A clearly deserved victory because we are the better team."

Enzo Barrenechea, Leandro Barreiro, and Jaden Umeh are injured and will not travel to Ponta Delgada. Also, Jakub Kaminski, Daniel Banjaqui, and Jhon Duran are questionable for Monday night.