FC ST. Gallen vs 23.07.26 18:002 – 1Full Time
Benfica — UEFA Europa League: stats, lineups & analysis
Match report
FC ST. Gallen vs Benfica — the facts
FC ST. Gallen beat Benfica 2–1 (half-time 1–1).
FC ST. Gallen met Benfica in the UEFA Europa League (2nd Qualifying Round). Kick-off was Thursday, 23 July 2026, 18:00 UTC at Kybunpark. Referee: Luca Pairetto.
Team pages: FC ST. Gallen · Benfica · UEFA Europa League
Key moments
- 37' Goal: Aliou Balde (assist: Lukas Görtler) — 1–0 · Watch Aliou Balde's goal video (37')
- 44' Goal: Rafa (assist: Vangelis Pavlidis) — 1–1 · Watch Rafa's goal video (44')
- 80' Goal: Tom Gaal (assist: Lukas Daschner) — 2–1 · Watch Tom Gaal's goal video (80')
Starting line-ups
FC ST. Gallen (3-5-2)
Benfica (4-2-3-1)
Sirius · Why these numbers
Before kick-off Sirius gave FC ST. Gallen 12%, the draw 11%, Benfica 77%. It finished FC ST. Gallen 2–1 Benfica.
Benfica's rating gap outweighs FC ST. Gallen's home ground — Benfica are clearly the stronger side on our strength rating, and that is most of Benfica's 77%. The draw at 11% is trimmed by a league that produces few draws.
Why Benfica at 77%?
Benfica sit 564 points higher on our strength rating — 1472 to 2036. Sides with a more than 300-point rating edge on the road won 65.9% of 5,127 such games. The 300 most similar past games finished 8–12–80.
Why not higher?
UEFA Europa League home sides out-perform the global norm — and the difference mostly flows to draws (22.8% vs 24.9% norm). UEFA Europa League homes won 47.5% of 4,370 games vs 44.9% across all 98,257 — outside the noise band, so the tally moves accordingly.
Why is the draw only 11%?
With a rating gap this size the draw starts at 13.7%. These teams' recent games average 3.5 goals — a high-scoring environment. Games in that environment drew 22.8% of 16,701. UEFA Europa League produces fewer draws than most, taking 2.1 points off. The goals environment takes 1.0 points off the draw.
What did we measure but not count?
FC ST. Gallen have 15 fully-tracked matches with us — under our usual 25-game bar — but their strength rating is anchored to the long-run European club ratings list, which carries their wider competitive history into the number. Clubs from leagues we don't fully cover play too few tracked games for a record built from scratch, so their rating chain starts from published long-run club ratings instead of a blind first guess.
Sirius probabilities, frozen at kick-off. Analysis, not betting advice. How Sirius is doing this season · Full breakdown, evidence cards and squad news in the Match Insights tab
About this match
On this page: the FC ST. Gallen vs Benfica final score and result, goal highlights and video clips of every goal, who scored, starting lineups, match stats and the full match report from this UEFA Europa League fixture.
- Who scored and when — a goal-by-goal timeline of the match.
- Match stats — possession, shots, expected goals (xG), corners and cards.
- Starting lineups and player ratings for both teams.
- Head-to-head record and recent form for both sides.
- Watch Aliou Balde's goal against Benfica (37').
- Watch Rafa's goal against FC ST. Gallen (44').
- Watch Tom Gaal's goal against Benfica (80').
Watch the goals: goal highlights and video clips of every goal from FC ST. Gallen 2–1 Benfica. Explore more on the FC ST. Gallen and Benfica team pages or the UEFA Europa League page.
Quick answers
›What was the final score of FC ST. Gallen vs Benfica?
FC ST. Gallen beat Benfica 2–1 (half-time 1–1).
›Who scored in FC ST. Gallen vs Benfica?
Aliou Balde (37') for FC ST. Gallen; Rafa (44') for Benfica; Tom Gaal (80') for FC ST. Gallen.
›Where can I watch FC ST. Gallen vs Benfica highlights?
Goal highlights and video clips from FC ST. Gallen 2–1 Benfica are on this page — open the videos tab to watch every goal.
›What is the head-to-head record between FC ST. Gallen and Benfica?
FC ST. Gallen and Benfica have met 1 time — 0 wins for FC ST. Gallen, 1 win for Benfica and 0 draws.