Swiss club St. Gallen host Portuguese powerhouse Benfica in the first leg of the UEFA Europa League second qualifying round at Kybunpark in St. Gallen, Switzerland, on Thursday. The second leg will take place at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon on Thursday, 30 July.
St. Gallen earned their place in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers by winning the 2025-26 Swiss Cup, beating Stade Ls Ouchy 3-0 in the final in May.
Ahead of the new Swiss Super League season, Espen have played six friendly matches, winning the first three before losing the next three.
Their most recent match was against English club Norwich City, and the Swiss side lost 3-0 on 17 July. They are not in the best form at the moment, and will be coming up against a heavyweight European team in Benfica.
Meanwhile, Benfica secured their place in the UEFA Europa League qualifiers by finishing third in the 2025-26 Primeira Liga, with 80 points from 34 games, two points behind Sporting Lisbon and eight points behind league champions Porto, both of which are in the Champions League.
As Águias have played a couple of friendly matches in the last few weeks as they prepare for the new domestic season to kick off.
Marco Silva's men lost 2-1 to Brazilian club Flamengo before beating Spanish La Liga side Villarreal 2-0 last Thursday. Rafa Silva and Vangelis Pavlidis scored second-half goals to secure the confidence-boosting victory at the Estadio Algarve.
The winning side will advance to the third qualifying round to face either Sturm Graz or Hearts, while the losing team will be transferred to the UEFA Conference League Main Path third qualifying round.
Benfica are likely to dominate possession and try to dictate the tempo using their technical quality across the midfield and wings in particular. As St. Gallen are playing at home, they will feed off the energy of the fans and look to press high in search of goals to take to Lisbon in the second leg.
We expect an open and entertaining match, with Benfica securing a narrow first-leg advantage.
Prediction: St. Gallen 1-2 Benfica
Tip 1: Benfica to win
Tip 2: Benfica to score first
Tip 3: Over 2.5 goals
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