Champions League: Maccabi Haifa vs Benfica! With a 25-fold difference in market value, why am I still looking forward to Haifa?

Today, let's continue with the first Champions League match: Maccabi Haifa vs Benfica!

Yesterday, Napoli was missing their defensive core Rrahmani, which disrupted their defense, allowing Liverpool to score two set-piece goals; their attack was also disorganized, and Liverpool pressed hard to make it difficult for them to build from the back.

Sometimes, the absence of a key figure can significantly change the course of a match.

And the soul player missing for Benfica today might have an even bigger impact on the team.

Defensive midfielder Enzo is suspended today due to accumulated yellow cards.

He was bought by Benfica this July from River Plate for 12 million euros.

After only a few months, his market value has already risen to 35 million, making him tied for the highest in the Portuguese league, and it's still rapidly increasing.

He currently leads the Portuguese league in four statistical categories:

Touches, progressive passes, passes into the attacking third, and through balls;

Being "number one in the Portuguese league" highlights his excellence.

These outstanding stats reflect his role in Benfica: the controlling playmaker.

Most of the time, he operates at the center of Benfica’s formation, acting as the passing hub.

When teammates face tight marking and struggle to move the ball forward, he shifts laterally to assist them.

Besides his Argentine genius-level ball control, he also possesses remarkable passing skills.

Often when teammates can't dribble past or find a pass, this Argentine prodigy can.

Look at his assist that helped Benfica take the lead in the last Champions League match.

Even when Azeez and Ramos were tightly marked by four Juventus players, Enzo managed to deliver a perfectly curved cross, somewhat reminiscent of Messi's style.

This is why coach Schmidt relies heavily on him.

This season, Benfica has played 11 Portuguese league matches, 9 Champions League games, and 1 Portuguese Cup match, and he started every single one without rest.

He even started in the Portuguese second division match against Caldas on the 16th of this month!

With such a packed schedule in October, he wasn’t even given a break! That shows how important he is.

Today marks his first absence since joining Benfica.

Can a possession-based team remain strong without its controlling core?

Additionally, Benfica has three other key players who will be suspended if they receive another yellow card:

Top scorer Ramos, assist leader Mario, and main defensive midfielder Luis.

If any one of these three picks up a yellow card tonight, they will miss the knockout stage, which would be tough for Benfica.

Also, the away trip itself is quite exhausting.

The distance from Lisbon to Haifa is nearly 6000 kilometers, spanning two time zones, which is not an easy journey for Benfica, who have three games in nine days.

In fact, thanks to this kind of unique "home advantage," Israeli teams have impressive home records in European competitions.

Benfica’s coach Schmidt visited Israel last year with PSV Eindhoven to face Maccabi Tel Aviv, whose market value was only a tenth of theirs, yet they did not secure a victory.

Overall, although Haifa seems weak with a total market value of 20.6 million, only 1/25th of Benfica's,

tonight’s Benfica, despite their strong appearance, also have vulnerabilities beneath the surface.

The glaring iceberg on the sea surface isn’t the real threat; it’s the hidden reefs below that are truly dangerous.

If Haifa can earn even a single point tonight, they could realize their historic dream of reaching the knockout stage in European competition for the first time.

Can they satisfy their fans? What do you think? I’m hoping they at least secure a point.

Alright, for today’s other matches, I will still send text analysis to everyone in the evening. If anything is unclear, feel free to ask me. Let’s watch and understand the games together, see you then!

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