UEFA Champions League: Borussia Dortmund vs Benfica preview

Benfica will be trying to protect a narrow one-goal lead when they travel to Germany to face Borussia Dortmund at Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday. The Portuguese side secured a 1-0 first-leg victory thanks to a goal from Greek striker Kostas Mitroglou but that result is not nearly enough to guarantee them qualification to the quarter-finals. Borussia Dortmund have been in impressive form after the defeat at Benfica, they secured three consecutive Bundesliga wins, scored 12 goals in the process and conceded just two. Last week they hammered Bayer Leverkusen 6-2 in Dortmund, proving their great strength at home once again. In fact, they have won eight of their last nine home matches in all competitions. They do have quite a few injured players, with Mario Gotze sidelined indefinitely along with Marco Reus, Sven Bender, Nuri Sahin and Sebastian Rode. Benfica have been in superb form lately, they are on a seven-match winning streak in which they have conceded just two goals. They are leading the Portuguese top-flight table but they will probably battle for the title until the last day of the season with rivals FC Porto. Alex Girmaldo and Filipe Augusto will not play on Wednesday due to injuries, while Lubomir Fejsa is a fitness doubt. Nelson Semedo will most likely return to the starting eleven after having been suspended for the first leg. Probable line-ups: Dortmund: Burki - Ginter, Sokratis, Bartra - Piszczek, Castro, Weigl, Guerreiro - Dembele, Pulisic - Aubameyang Benfica: Moraes - Nelsinho, Luisao, Lindelof, Eliseu - Pizzi, Samaris - Zivkovic, Rafa, Carrillo - Mitroglou My prediction: Borussia Dortmund to win 2-0. Here are the odds for the match at Bet365: Dortmund win - 1.36 Draw - 5.25 Benfica win - 9.50