Benfica are closing in on the Uefa Champions League quarterfinals as they welcome round of 16 newcomers Club Brugge to Lisbon holding a two-goal advantage.
The Portuguese side are bidding to reach the last eight for the second season in a row and took a significant step towards that in Bruges on 15 February, second-half strikes from João Mário (51pen) and David Neres (88) putting them firmly in charge against a Club Brugge side who have progressed from the group stage for the first time at the tenth attempt.
The first leg was the teams' first meeting – one of only two round of 16 ties in which the clubs' paths had never previously crossed, Borussia Dortmund-Chelsea the other.
The Belgian champions qualified ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Atlético de Madrid to finish second in Group B, thanks mainly to victories in each of their first three matches. Benfica also claimed a notable coup in the group stage, remaining unbeaten to finish top of Group H ahead of Paris Saint-Germain thanks to a remarkable Matchday 6 result.
Club Brugge and Eintracht Frankfurt are the only teams to be making their Uefa Champions League knockout debuts in 2022/23.
Form guide
Benfica
Benfica are competing in the Uefa Champions League proper for the 17th time and the 12th in 13 seasons – they missed out only in 2020/21, when they were beaten by PAOK in the third qualifying round. They have reached a seventh knockout phase, qualifying in successive seasons for only the second time, after 2015/16 and 2016/17.
In 2021/22 the Eagles came through two qualifying rounds to reach the group stage, where they collected eight points to finish second in Group E behind Bayern München, eliminating Barcelona in the process. They then ousted Ajax in the round of 16 (2-2 h, 1-0 a) before losing to Liverpool in the quarterfinals (1-3 h, 3-3 a).
Benfica – who were third in the Portuguese Liga in 2021/22, 17 points behind champions Porto and 11 adrift of runners-up Sporting CP – have reached seven European Cup finals, winning the trophy in 1961 and 1962 but losing on their five subsequent appearances, most recently against AC Milan in 1990.
The Portuguese giants kicked off this season under new coach Roger Schmidt in the third qualifying round, recording two emphatic wins against Midtjylland (4-1 h, 3-1) with Gonçalo Ramos scoring a first-leg hat-trick. They then eased past Dynamo Kyiv (2-0 a, 3-0 h) to make it four wins from four in Uefa Champions League play-off ties.
Benfica then won four of their six Group H games, the exceptions two 1-1 draws against Paris Saint-Germain, and snatched first place ahead of their French rivals with a remarkable 6-1 win at Maccabi Haifa on Matchday 6. The Eagles scored five times in the last 31 minutes to claim their biggest away Uefa Champions League victory and finish ahead of Paris by virtue of scoring more away goals.
The defeat by Liverpool in last season's quarterfinal first leg is one of only three in Benfica's last 24 European matches at their own stadium (W15 D6).
Last season was Benfica's first round of 16 appearance since 2016/17, when a 1-0 home first-leg win against Borussia Dortmund was undone by a 4-0 loss in Germany. That is the Portuguese side's only aggregate defeat at this stage of the Uefa Champions League after wins in 2005/06, 2011/12, 2015/16 and 2021/22.
Benfica's last games against Belgian opponents before this tie came in the 2020/21 Uefa Europa League group stage, winning 3-0 at home against Standard Liège before a 2-2 away draw. The latter result ended the Eagles' four-match winning run against Belgian clubs, though they are now unbeaten in six.
This is Benfica's 23rd match against a Belgian side. They have won 13 of the previous 22, with all four defeats in Belgium, including the first leg of the 1982/83 Uefa Cup final against Anderlecht, which they lost 1-0, ultimately going down 2-1 on aggregate. The Eagles have never lost at home to a visiting team from the country (W7 D2), winning the last five, with RC Liégeois the last to avoid defeat, drawing 1-1 in Lisbon in the 1988/89 Uefa Cup second round to complete a 3-2 aggregate success.
Benfica lost 3-1 on aggregate to Anderlecht in the 2004/05 Uefa Champions League third qualifying round to make their overall record in knockout ties against clubs from Belgium W4 L3.
Benfica have lost only one of 21 Uefa competition ties after winning the first leg away, against Ajax in the 1968/69 European Cup quarterfinals, when they followed a 3-1 win in Amsterdam with a home defeat by the same scoreline and subsequently lost a Paris play-off 3-0. Most recently they beat Dynamo Kyiv in this season's Uefa Champions League play-offs (2-0 a, 3-0 h), the fourth time they had won 2-0 away in the first game.
Benfica's record in four Uefa penalty shoot-outs is W2 L2:
4-1 v Torpedo Moskva, 1977/78 European Cup first round
5-6 v PSV Eindhoven, 1987/88 European Cup final
4-1 v PAOK, 1999/2000 Uefa Cup second round
2-4 v Sevilla, 2013/14 Uefa Europa League final
Club Brugge
This is Club Brugge's tenth Uefa Champions League campaign – two short of Anderlecht's Belgian record – and a club-record fifth in succession.
All nine of those previous campaigns failed to extend into the knockout rounds; in 2021/22 the Bruges side finished bottom of Group A behind Manchester City, Paris Saint-Germain and Leipzig after collecting four points from their six games, the last four all defeats.
This season, Club Brugge kicked off with a 1-0 win at home to Leverkusen before a 4-0 success at Porto – making them the first Belgian side to win their first two games in a Uefa Champions League group – and a 2-0 home victory against Atlético. Progress was assured with a goalless draw in Madrid on Matchday 4 although first place slipped from their grasp after a 4-0 home defeat by Porto before a 0-0 draw at Leverkusen that made it three games without a win or a goal. They did, however, keep clean sheets in five of their six matches.
Despite this season's three victories, Blauw-Zwart have managed only seven in their last 39 fixtures in the Uefa Champions League proper (D12 L20).
Club Brugge have lost only four of their last 14 away matches in the Uefa Champions League proper (W4 D6), scoring two or more goals in four of the last nine.
Club Brugge are only the second Belgian side to reach the Uefa Champions League round of 16, Gent losing 4-2 on aggregate to Wolfsburg in 2015/16.
Antonio Nusa completed the scoring in Club Brugge's Matchday 2 win at Porto, becoming the second youngest goalscorer in Uefa Champions League history aged 17 years 139 days – behind Barcelona's Ansu Fati (17 years 40 days).
Champions of Belgium for the 18th time in 2021/22 – their third title in a row – Club Brugge appointed Carl Hoefkens as coach in May, their former defender earning internal promotion to replace the Ajax-bound Alfred Schreuder, who had in turn taken over from Philippe Clement four months earlier. Hoefkens was replaced in December by ex-England midfielder Scott Parker, the former manager of Fulham and Bournemouth.
This is Club Brugge's fourth game against a Portuguese club this season, the 4-0 win at Porto on Matchday 2 making their record away to Portuguese opponents W2 L4. The only other success came at Braga in the 2011/12 Uefa Europa League group stage, Ryan Donk securing a 2-1 win with a 91st-minute goal.
Home and away, Club Brugge's record against Portuguese clubs is now W5 D1 L7.
This is Club Brugge's third knockout tie against a Portuguese side. They lost to Porto in the 1972/73 Uefa Cup second round (0-3 a, 3-2 h), their first games involving opponents from Portugal, but beat Boavista in the first round of the same competition in 1985/86 (3-4 a, 3-1 h) with Jean-Pierre Papin scoring a second-leg hat-trick.
Club Brugge have lost all five Uefa competition ties in which they suffered a home defeat in the first leg, most recently against Roma in the 2005/06 Uefa Cup round of 32 (1-2 h, 1-2 a). Their sole previous 2-0 home first-leg loss came against Barcelona in the 2000/01 Uefa Cup third round (1-1 a).
Club Brugge's record in four Uefa penalty shoot-outs is W4 L0:
4-1 v Shakhtar Donetsk, 2002/03 Uefa Champions League third qualifying round
4-2 v Borussia Dortmund, 2003/04 Uefa Champions League third qualifying round
4-3 v Vålerenga, 2005/06 Uefa Champions League third qualifying round
4-3 v Lech Poznan, 2009/10 Uefa Europa League qualifying play-off
Links and trivia
Roman Yaremchuk was a Benfica player between 31 July 2021 and 29 August last year, when he signed for Club Brugge. He scored nine goals in his 47 appearances for the Lisbon club, including three in 16 Uefa Champions League games.
International teammates:
Alexander Bah & Andreas Skov Olsen (Denmark)
Benfica's Julian Draxler came on as a substitute in Paris Saint-Germain's 1-0 home win against Club Brugge in 2019/20 and 1-1 draw in Bruges in 2021/22, both in the Uefa Champions League group stage.