Benfica will begin the new season on Wednesday evening when they travel to Russian capital to lock horns with Spartak Moscow in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League third round qualifier.
Benfica had an extremely disappointing run in the previous term of the Primeira Liga. They finished the season in third place, sitting behind Sporting Lisbon and Porto.
We should thus not be surprised to see their activities during the summer transfer window.
We should thus not be surprised to see their activities during the summer transfer window.
Benfica enjoyed an unbeaten thread in the pre-season, beating Casa Pia, Almeira, and Lille before playing a 1-1 draw to Olympique Marseille in their very last check before the official start to the season.
Spartak Moscow, who finished the previous Russian Premier League campaign as runners-up, have already been in competitive action last month.
They began the season with a disappointing 1-0 loss at Rubin Kazan, but managed to bounce back in the second round, beating Krylya Sovetov on the road with the same scoreline.




译文(自动翻译仅供参考):

本菲卡将于周三晚上前往俄罗斯首都莫斯科，在欧冠第三轮预选赛的第一回合迎战斯巴达克队，开启新赛季的征程。
本菲卡在上一届的英超联赛中表现极其令人失望。他们以第三名的成绩结束本赛季，排在里斯本竞技和波尔图之后。
因此，看到他们在夏季转会窗口的表现，我们应该不会感到惊讶。
因此，看到他们在夏季转会窗口的表现，我们应该不会感到惊讶。
本菲卡在季前赛中保持不败，先后击败了卡萨·皮亚、阿尔梅拉和里尔，之后在赛季正式开始前的最后一场比赛中1-1战平了马赛。
莫斯科斯巴达克队，在前一赛季以亚军的身份结束了俄罗斯超级联赛，上个月已经开始了比赛。
赛季开始时，他们以0 - 1负于鲁宾·喀山队(Rubin Kazan)，令人失望，但在第二轮比赛中成功反弹，在客场击败克里亚·索韦托夫(Krylya Sovetov)，取得同样的比分。