The biggest gift of the Champions League draw came to Benfica, who will face Club Brugge from Belgium in the eighth finals, the opponent for whom all the seeds crave. FC Porto will compete with Inter Milan, a club that Sérgio Conceição knows well from his playing time. In the Europa League, Sporting has an accessible opponent, Midtjylland, from Denmark, and Sp. Braga will not have an easy mission in the Conference League against Fiorentina.
Benfica will take on one of FC Porto’s opponents in the group stage. If it is true that the Belgians caused a sensation when they won 0-4 in the Dragon, they were recently thrashed at home by the Dragons with the same result. But don’t forget that in the group stage they defeated Atlético Madrid (2-0) and B. Leverkusen (1-0) in Belgium. Currently, the club is led by Carl Hoefkens, where former Benfica player Yaremchuck plays, fourth in the championship, with 32 points, 11 from league-leader Genk.
“We know Bruges well, they were champions of Belgium last year, we’ve all seen the campaign they did in this group stage. The goal is to arrive in February and finish the first game, then play in our stadium. play where we are.” very strong, and with the support of our fans we can overcome this adversary. We fully respect them and maintain the values we have shown this season,” said Simão Sabrosa, director of Benfica.
Bart Verhaeghe, president of Club Brugge, is aware of the difficulties: “We have a lot of respect for Benfica, they are currently number one in Portugal. We played against FC Porto and we know how good the Portuguese league is. Rich tradition, they are always on the European podiums and we have a lot of respect. It is up to us to do our best and Belgium’s coefficient is not far from Portugal’s and it will also be an interesting competition at that level.” The eagles will visit Club Brugge on February 15 and play in Luz on March 7.
The Bruges squad is valued at €184.20 million and the most valuable players are Andreas Olsen (20 million), Vanaken and Noa Lang (15 million each)
Sergio’s Reunion
More complicated (but far from impossible) seems to be FC Porto’s mission, which will see Inter Milan on their way to the round of 16, a club where Sérgio Conceição played as a player between 2001 and 2003. the Nerazzurri were in second place behind Bayern Munich but ahead of Barcelona. FC Porto will play in Milan on February 22 and the Dragon match is on March 14.
The Milan team, coached by Simone Inzaghi and featuring footballers such as Dzeko, Lautaro Martínez, Lukaku, Mkhitaryan and Çalhanoglu, is currently seventh in the Italian league, with 24 points, 11 from Napoli. The Milan team is valued at 592.5 million euros.
“It will be a high level draw, Inter is a quality team, with good players. We believe we can do something very interesting in this Champions League. We are ambitious, we have history, we are used to playing in this competition. ” we feel it is possible,” said Vítor Baía.
Javier Zanetti, sporting director of the Italians, praised the dragons. “We have a lot of respect for FC Porto. If they have won the group, it means they have done well. I know Sergio Conceição, I saw the game against At Madrid, they have interesting players. It is difficult to handle attacking situations against Simeone’s team and FC Porto has created a lot. It will not be an easy challenge,” he shot.
The history of clashes between the dragons and the nerazzurri is somewhat favorable for the Italians – they won two games, drew one and lost another.
Also highlighted in the draw for two matches that are authentic early finals: Real Madrid-Liverpool and PSG-Bayern Munich. The match between English Spaniards is a repeat of last season’s and 2017-18 finals, both won by Real Madrid. The Germans and the French faced each other in the 2019-20 Lisbon final, with the Bavarians victorious.
lions with danes
In the Europa League, Sporting cannot complain about the draw as they face Denmark’s Midtjylland in the play-off for access to the round of 16, a team that was eliminated by Benfica in the 3rd qualifying round of the Champions League – 3 -1 and 4-1. Midtjylland was second in Group F, behind Feyenoord, but ahead of Lazio and Sturm Graz. The current eighth place in the Danish league is now coached by Spaniard Albert Capellas.
“Midtjylland is a team that has been diligently present in European competitions in recent years. They were in a very balanced group in the Europa League, they finished with the same points as the first. Prepared for the challenge,” said Hugo Viana, sporting director of the lions.
“Sporting has a lot of great European merit, it will undoubtedly be a difficult task. We are looking forward to it and it will be incredible,” said Svend Graversen, sporting director of the Danes.
In the remaining matches of the Europa League, Barcelona-Manchester United stands out, a sort of early final of the competition, which will mark Cristiano Ronaldo’s reunion with the Catalans. And for Mourinho’s Roma, who play at RB Salzburg. The first legs are scheduled for February 16; the 2nd is played on the 23rd of the same month.
In the Conference League, Sporting de Braga didn’t have much luck in the draw as they face Fiorentina, a team coached by Vincenzo Italiano, who occupy 12th place in Serie A.
Arsenalistas, however, are not getting along with Italian teams as they knocked out Chievo and Parma (both in 2006/07) and Udinese (2012/13) in the play-offs to gain entry to the Champions League. In the history of clashes, they fell only against Roma (2020/21).
Source: DN
