Benfica seeks this Wednesday, on its trip to Belgium, to capitalize on its favoritism against Club Brugge and take the first step to overcome the round of 16 of the Champions League for the fifth time in history.
After having reached the ‘quarters’ in the 2005/06, 2011/12, 2015/16 and 2021/22 seasons, the ‘reds’ will try for the first time for a second consecutive classification, something they have not achieved since the race changed format and name, i.e. since 1992/93.
The Lisbon club, European champion in the 1960/61 and 1961/62 seasons, reaches this stage of the competition after beating Group H with distinction, finishing at the top, with 14 points, the same as Paris Saint-Germain. Germain and ahead of the Italians from Juventus and the Israelis from Maccabi Haifa, both with three.
The formation commanded by Roger Schmidt, who leads the I Liga, with a five-point advantage over ‘vice’ FC Porto, was ‘off’ over the weekend, as they had brought forward the game of the 20th round with Paços de Ferreira , and the last game played was last Thursday, which ended with the elimination in the Portuguese Cup, against Sporting de Braga.
On their trip to Belgium, for the first leg of the round of 16, Benfica will face Club Brugge, making its debut at this stage of the “millionaire” competition, but runner-up in Europe in 1977/78, then still in the Taça dos Champions of Europe, and in which the Ukrainian striker Roman Yaremchuk will be, who played in the ‘eagles’ last season, but without success, as is the case now in Bruges, where he has only scored two goals in 23 official matches.
The three-time Belgian champion, who occupies fourth place in the local championship, 20 points behind leader Genk, came out of the ‘Champions’ group stage as runner-up in Group B, behind FC Porto, who even won by a surprising 4 -0. in Dragão, in September last year.
The first match in history between Benfica and Club Brugge, which counts for the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, starts at 9:00 p.m. local time (8:00 p.m. in Lisbon), in the Jan Breydel Stadium, in Bruges, and will be directed by the Italian Davide Massa.
At the same time, the Germans from Borussia Dortmund host the English from Chelsea, also in the first leg of the round of 16, which started on Tuesday, with the Germans from Bayern Munich winning 1-0 at home against the French from Paris Saint. – Germain and the Italians of AC MIlan receiving and beating the English of Tottenham by the same result.
Source: TSF
