Benfica are heavy favourites here, and I can’t see past them winning and scoring at least a couple of goals in the process.

Marco Silva’s men claimed arguably the most eye-catching result of matchday one in the Europa League, securing a 2-0 win away to AC Milan. 

They’ve also made a reasonably strong start to their Primeira Liga campaign, winning six of their opening eight matches and scoring multiple goals in each of those victories, including each of their last three at home.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Lisbon heavyweights hit Hearts for six during Europa League qualifying at the Estadio da Luz.

Celtic picked up a morale-boosting 2-0 win away to Motherwell at the weekend, but were humbled 3-1 at home by Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener. 

The Hoops also conceded four goals in 90 minutes away to LASK Linz during Champions League qualifying, which does not bode well ahead of Thursday’s trip to Portugal.

While I’m expecting Benfica to win this one, I think Celtic are well worth siding with to earn at least four corners. 

Celtic are always one of my go-to teams in the corner market, and for good reason. 

Indeed, Celtic’s Scottish Premiership matches this season have produced an average of 13.25 corners, with the Hoops taking 9.38 per game.

Martin O’Neill’s men have comfortably reached the 4+ corner mark in each of their 8 league matches this season, while they racked up 11 corners in their home defeat to Ferencvaros. 

On top of that, they forced 4 flag kicks or more in both legs of their Champions League qualifier against LASK Linz.

The case is strengthened by Benfica conceding 10 corners away to AC Milan in their Europa League opener, as well as 6 in their home win against Vitoria de Guimaraes at the weekend.

Camilo Duran is undoubtedly Celtic’s biggest attacking threat, and he looks an attractive option to attempt 2+ shots.

The Colombian forward likes to try his luck whenever the opportunity arises, as he showed at the weekend by scoring from distance against Motherwell with one of his 3 attempts.

A closer look at his numbers shows that he has averaged a sizable 3.90 shots per game in the Scottish Premiership this season, attempting multiple efforts in 5 of his last 7 outings.

Notably, Duran also fired off multiple shots in both legs of Celtic’s Champions League qualifier against LASK Linz, scoring 2 goals in the home leg.

If Benfica find themselves in a comfortable lead, they may take their foot off the gas, which could open up more opportunities for Duran to get shots away.

I’m also backing Camilo Duran to be fouled at least once during this contest. 

Opponents regularly resort to fouling the Celtic ace, as shown by the number of free kicks he has won this season. 

Duran has drawn an average of 1.69 fouls per game in the Scottish Premiership this term and was brought down 4 times during Celtic’s recent home defeat to Rangers.

Even more encouraging is that he has been fouled 8 times across Celtic’s 3 continental fixtures this season, earning his side at least 1 free kick in each game.

Souffian El Karouani is not Benfica’s first-choice left-back, but he started away to AC Milan, so there is a chance he could return to the starting XI on Thursday night. 

The Moroccan committed a foul and was booked in that match, and he could have his hands full against Duran.

Camilo Duran is undoubtedly Celtic’s biggest attacking threat, and he looks an attractive option to attempt 2+ shots.

The Colombian forward likes to try his luck whenever the opportunity arises, as he showed at the weekend by scoring from distance against Motherwell with one of his 3 attempts.

A closer look at his numbers shows that he has averaged a sizable 3.90 shots per game in the Scottish Premiership this season, attempting multiple efforts in 5 of his last 7 outings.

Notably, Duran also fired off multiple shots in both legs of Celtic’s Champions League qualifier against LASK Linz, scoring 2 goals in the home leg.

If Benfica find themselves in a comfortable lead, they may take their foot off the gas, which could open up more opportunities for Duran to get shots away.

Benfica are heavy favourites here, and I can’t see past them winning and scoring at least a couple of goals in the process.

Marco Silva’s men claimed arguably the most eye-catching result of matchday one in the Europa League, securing a 2-0 win away to AC Milan. 

They’ve also made a reasonably strong start to their Primeira Liga campaign, winning six of their opening eight matches and scoring multiple goals in each of those victories, including each of their last three at home.

It’s also worth pointing out that the Lisbon heavyweights hit Hearts for six during Europa League qualifying at the Estadio da Luz.

Celtic picked up a morale-boosting 2-0 win away to Motherwell at the weekend, but were humbled 3-1 at home by Ferencvaros in their Europa League opener. 

The Hoops also conceded four goals in 90 minutes away to LASK Linz during Champions League qualifying, which does not bode well ahead of Thursday’s trip to Portugal.

Sunderland come into this clash under pressure following their 2-0 defeat against Brighton, as they have lost each of their last three consecutive league matches. However, they did manage a positive start in their European campaign, beating AZ Alkmaar 1-0 before the break. It was a dominant performance from the Black Cats, who eventually found the decisive goal through Enzo Le Fee from the spot. 

Once again, there is a massive gulf in quality between these two sides, and Sunderland will hope to capitalise. Torreense qualified to the Europa League after winning the Portuguese Cup last season, but they are massive underdogs in the competition. In fact, they currently sit 15th in the Portuguese second division with the record of one win, three draws and three losses.

Both sides made winning starts to their Europa League campaigns, as Lyon beat Anderlecht 2-1 in Belgium, while Crystal Palace dismantled Lech Poznan 4-0 at Selhurst Park. Over 2.5 goals has landed in six out of eight matches for Palace this season, and their recent encounter against Nottingham Forest was particularly open. 

Lyon have also been an entertaining side to watch, especially when playing on home turf. Over 2.5 goals has landed in four out of their five matches, with BTTS in three of those. They came away with a 4-0 win over Rennes in their last outing at the Groupama Stadium, and a 3-1 victory over Auxerre before that.

Bournemouth have one of the worst disciplinary records in the Premier League so far after six matches. They have picked up 18 yellow cards - only Hull have been carded more. That includes four yellow cards against Chelsea last time out. Even in the Europa League, there were six cards shown in Bournemouth’s round one fixture against Real Sociedad, with three apiece. 

Sturm Graz haven’t been as aggressive, but they are still averaging 3.73 cards per game across all competitions this season, with 2.0 for, and 1.7 against. The Austrian side have been awarded at least two bookings in each of their last seven consecutive matches across all competitions.