Benfica's players celebrate during a Portuguese League match at Luz stadium in February. (Photo : Reuters)
Primeira Liga champions SL Benfica is scheduled to face Serie A team ACF Fiorentina in the 2015 International Champions Cup friendly match at the Rentschler Field in East Hartford, Connecticut on Friday, July 24.
Benfica is coming off a hard-fought 2-3 loss to youthful Ligue 1 champions Paris Saint-Germain last week, via Goal. The Águias actually led at halftime, 2-1, after Brazilians Talisca and Jonas found Kevin Trapp's net at the 34th and 42nd-minute marks following French forward Jean-Kévin Augustin's goal at the 29th.
PSG bounced back in the second half, though, to snatch the game away from Rui Vitória's squad after left back Lucas Digne provided the winning goal at the BMO Field in Toronto, as per SportsNet.
Meanwhile, Fiorentina is set to meet Les Parisiens on Tuesday to open their US summer tour. La Viola scored successive victories in their last three games in the Serie A against Parma, Palermo, and Chievo, and would try and bring the momentum to the ICC competitions.
Paulo Sousa's boys will be facing some of the best international clubs in this year's competitions, including La Liga champs Barcelona and Premiere League winners Chelsea. The team is bound to improve in any game they play in this tourney and will surely be looking for an opportunity to pull off an upset.
Prediction: A 2-1 win by Benfica over Fiorentina. The Reds will bounce back from the loss against PSG as they find their first win in the friendly tournament.
SL Benfica starting lineup (4-2-2-2 formation): César; Eliseu, Jardel, Luisão, Almeida; Fejsa, Samaris; Gaitan, Talisca; Lima, Jonas
Fiorentina starting lineup (4-4-2 formation): Neto; Pasqual, Savic, Rodriguez, Alonso; Gilardino, Valero, Pizarro, Aquilani; Ilicic, Gomez
