Benfica vs Santa Clara Prediction: Schjelderup to strike again

Benfica have made an ideal start to the 2025/26 Primeira Liga campaign, winning all three league games - scoring six goals and conceding just one. On Friday (20:15 BST), they host Santa Clara, who lost their first two before picking up four points from the last six on offer, at the Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.

Below are my Benfica vs Santa Clara predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

Team News

Bosnian full-back Amar Dedic is suspended for Benfica after his dismissal in the 2-1 win at Alverca last time out. With Alexander Bah (knee) still sidelined, 21-year-old centre-back Antonio Silva, who was a late substitute against Alverca, is likely to come into the starting XI, with Tomas Araujo moving out to right-back.

Bruma (Achilles), Nuno Felix (muscle), Manu (knee) and Dodi Lukebakio (foot), who joined from Sevilla on transfer deadline day, look set to miss out on Friday.

Georgiy Sudakov, who recently made the move from Shakhtar Donetsk, could make his debut for As Aguias three days after scoring for Ukraine in a 1-1 draw with Azerbaijan.

Football Odds

Santa Clara will be without defender Pedro Pacheco (knee), but otherwise appear to have a fully-fit squad available.

Vasco Matos could name an unchanged starting XI, following last Saturday's 1-0 win at Estoril.

New signings Luquinhas and David Silva could make their debuts.

Today's Football Fixtures

Benfica vs Santa Clara

Benfica are 1/4 to make it four wins from four in the Primeira Liga, implying an 80% probability of success, while Santa Clara are 12/1, or a 7.7% chance, to record back-to-back away victories, and a first head-to-head win since June 2020.

The draw is priced at 9/2, both teams to score at 11/8, and over 2.5 total goals at 4/5.

Home Team Total Goals - Over 2.5 @ 11/8

Santa Clara have kept three consecutive clean sheets since losing 2-1 at home to Shamrock Rovers in the first leg of their Uefa Conference League play-off tie on August 21, drawing 0-0 with the same opposition in the Republic of Ireland a week later before being held to a goalless stalemate at home by Estrela on August 31. Last time out, on September 6, Os Acorianos won 1-0 at Estoril.

However, Matos' side started their league season with a 3-0 defeat at Famalicao, and have conceded 3+ goals in six of their last seven meetings with Benfica, including their last three trips to the Luz. Two of those games were last season, with Benfica winning 4-1 in the Primeira Liga last September, and 3-0 in the League Cup quarter-finals the following month.

Benfica scored 3+ goals in 52.9% (18) of their league games last season, and in their first home match in the competition this term, on August 23, they beat Tondela 3-0. Bruno Lage's charges could only manage two strikes in a 2-1 win at Alverca last time out, but both goals were scored in the first half, and they were reduced to 10 men in the 70th minute, hindering their chances of netting a third.

Back on home soil this week, over 2.5 Benfica goals provides a little bit of value at 11/8.

Anytime Goalscorer - Andreas Schjelderup (SLB) @ 9/5

Six goals in 40 Benfica appearances isn't exactly impressive for an attacking winger, but when you consider Andreas Schjelderup only turned 21 in June and has scored three times in his last seven club starts, including the opener last time out at Alverca, his 9/5 price to strike anytime on Friday starts to become more attractive.

The Norwegian was a wonderkid at former club Nordsjaelland, scoring 17 goals in his first spell there, and it was a loan spell with Tigrene in 2023/24, when he found the net 10 times in 38 appearances, that reignited his career and convinced Benfica's management to hand him a chance last season.

Only three of his 20 league games last season came as a starter, which goes a long way to explaining a paltry goals total of one, but he's already matched that number of starts in 2025/26, getting the nod in Benfica's first three matches.

Schjelderup failed to fire in his side's opening two games, but he found the net in the fifth minute against Alverca and hit the post in the second half.

The Norway international, who scored a winner against Bayern Munich in the group stage of the 2025 Fifa Club World Cup during the summer, will have gained even more belief during the September internationals, as he started his country's 1-0 win over Finland last Thursday.

I'm backing Schjelderup to start where he left off on Friday, by scoring in Benfica's first game back against Santa Clara. There are four players higher than him in the anytime goalscorer market, ranging from Vangelis Pavlidis (19/20) to Henrique Araujo (13/10), so I believe we're getting decent value here.

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