Benfica vs St. Gallen Preview

Thursday evening at the Estádio da Luz sees Benfica host St. Gallen in the second leg of this Europa League qualifying tie, with the Portuguese giants facing the uncomfortable reality of having to overturn a 2-1 first-leg deficit. St. Gallen won at home in Switzerland a week ago in a result that turned heads across European football, and they now travel to Lisbon needing only to avoid defeat by more than one goal to reach the next round. Benfica must win by two or more to progress on aggregate.

Benfica’s form heading into this second leg has been mixed but showed a sharp upturn most recently. Their most recent outing was a dominant 5-1 home win over Os Belenenses in a friendly — an emphatic performance that will have done wonders for confidence ahead of this crucial tie. Prior to that, the 2-1 first-leg defeat away to St. Gallen was a significant shock, Benfica failing to convert their possession and being punished on the counter. Before that, a 2-0 home win over Villarreal in another friendly. Earlier in this run, a 2-1 home defeat to Flamengo RJ and a 3-1 win away to Estoril in the final Liga Portugal fixture of last season. Pavlidis leads the attack and will need to be at his best, Sudakov and Rafa Silva provide the creativity in the three behind him, and Trubin must command his area from the outset. The Estádio da Luz crowd will be fully behind the home side, and Benfica will start at intensity, knowing that an early goal changes the dynamic of the tie completely.

St. Gallen arrive having earned one of the results of the qualifying rounds — a 2-1 home win over Benfica that few predicted. Their most recent outing before the first leg was a 3-0 home defeat to Norwich, and before that a 6-3 defeat away to Lyon — results that suggested their defensive record was a concern. Earlier in this run, a 1-0 win away to Winterthur and a 3-2 home win over Altach showed they can grind out results. The Swiss side will come to the Luz with a clear game plan: stay compact, stay organised, and use the pace of Stevanovic and Balde on the counter-attack to threaten Benfica’s backline when they commit forward. Daschner has been outstanding in pre-season and is the engine of the St. Gallen midfield. The key question is whether they can defend as well over ninety minutes at the Luz as they did in their own stadium.

The head-to-head record between these clubs consists only of the first leg — St. Gallen beat Benfica 2-1 at home in the Europa League qualifying first leg on 23rd July 2026.

In Portugal, the match is live on Benfica TV, SIC, and LiveMode. In Switzerland, viewers can watch on SRF zwei and RTS Sport. In Germany and Austria, the game is available on SRF zwei.

Possible Lineups

St. Gallen (3-4-1-2) Ati Zigi, Gaal, Stanic, Okoroji, Vandermersch, Daschner, Boukhalfa, Stevanovic, Gortler, Witzig, Balde

Benfica (4-2-3-1) Trubin, Bah, Silva, Lenglet, Dahl, Figueiredo, Manu, Rafa Silva, Sudakov, Kaminski, Pavlidis

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Benfica — Last 5 Matches

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
✅	Benfica	5–1	Os Belenenses	Friendly	24/07/26
❌	St. Gallen	2–1	Benfica	Europa League Qualifying	23/07/26
✅	Benfica	2–0	Villarreal	Friendly	17/07/26
❌	Benfica	1–2	Flamengo RJ	Friendly	11/07/26
✅	Estoril	1–3	Benfica	Liga Portugal	16/05/26

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St. Gallen — Last 5 Matches

Result	Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
✅	St. Gallen	2–1	Benfica	Europa League Qualifying	23/07/26
❌	St. Gallen	0–3	Norwich	Friendly	17/07/26
❌	Lyon	6–3	St. Gallen	Friendly	11/07/26
✅	Winterthur	0–1	St. Gallen	Friendly	01/07/26
✅	St. Gallen	3–2	Altach	Friendly	27/06/26

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Head-to-Head

Home Team	Score	Away Team	Competition	Date
St. Gallen	2–1	Benfica	Europa League Qualifying	23/07/26

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TV Listings / Streaming

Country	Channel
Portugal	Benfica TV, SIC, LiveMode, Betclic
Switzerland	SRF zwei, RTS Sport
Germany	SRF zwei
Austria	SRF zwei
Liechtenstein	SRF zwei
France	Betclic
Poland	Betclic