St. James’ Park — Newcastle-upon-Tyne April 11, 2013 KO 8:05 PM BST
By James McManus
Newcastle manager Alan Pardew faces a lengthy injury list ahead of Thursday’s crunch Europa League clash, with Hatem Ben Arfa (hamstring), Mathier Debuchy (hamstring), Davide Santon (hip), Cheikh Tiote (hamstring) and Haris Vuckic (knee) all set to miss the game.
Elsewhere, long-term absentee Ryan Taylor is targeting a return in time for the derby game against Sunderland on Sunday, but Fabricio Coloccini and Massadio Haidara are for a place on the bench against the Portuguese outfit after suffering from back and knee strains respectively.
Benfica boss Jorge Jesus faces very few injury worries ahead of the return leg, with Eduardo Salvio remaining a doubt after picking up a knee injury shortly prior to the first leg between the two sides.
DID YOU KNOW?
- Newcastle have beaten Metalist Kharkiv and Anzhi Makhachkala in the knockout stages so far, both by a solitary 1-0 aggregate scoreline.
- Papiss Cisse has now scored four goals in the 90th minute this season after his last-gasp winner against Fulham.
- The Senegal striker, along with Shola Ameobi, is the Magpies’ top scorer in the Europa League with three goals each.
- Alan Pardew’s side have conceded just once at home in six games in the competition this term – that goal coming during the 1-1 draw with Maritimo in November.
- Oscar Cardozo (pictured right) is Benfica‘s top goalscorer this year with 28 goals, six of which have come in Europe.
- The Portuguese outfit have scored 107 goals so far this season in all competitions.
- They currently sit four points clear ahead of Porto at the top of the domestic league and are unbeaten in 25 games since the start of the season.
- Jorge Jesus’ side have won their last eight games in a row going into the clash.
- Benfica’s last five quarter-finals against English opposition have all resulted in elimination.
