Newcastle United will look to continue its solid Europa League campaign when it takes on Benfica in the first leg of Thursday's Quarterfinal's match.
The team has not conceded a single tally in the two knockout rounds. In the Round of 32, Newcastle drew 0-0 in the first leg against Metalist Kharkiv but managed a 1-0 win in the rematch. The team followed the same script in its round of 16 bout with Russian side Anzhi Makhachkala.
"Apart from Bordeaux away, we've been very, very strong in Europe, but we've lost bodies in this campaign. It has cost us points and, without a shadow of a doubt, we would not be in this position if we were not in the Europa League," said Manager Alan Pardew about how his team's poor Premier league position is a result of the Europa league play. "However, we are, and we've approached the Europa League every time to try and win the game. You can fault us for that, but we think that's the right approach and we will carry that forward into Thursday."
He added, "There are too many games in the competition. I am never going to change my opinion on that, even if we win the thing."
The team takes on a Benfica side that earned third place in the Champions league Group G with Barcelona, Celtic, and Spartak Moscow. Since joining the Europa league in the round of 32, Benfica has yet to lose a single game and defeated its first opponent Bayern Leverkusen 3-1 across two matches. They were even better in a 4-2 aggregate win against Bordeaux in the round of 16.
Prediction: Benfica wins the first leg 2-0.
Start Time: 3:05 PM EST
TV: Sports Net One
Watch Live Stream HERE.
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