Your comprehensive guide to the Benfica and Club Brugge match in the UEFA Champions League 2022/2023

Needing nothing except a wonder to maintain their Champions Organization desire active, Club Brugge make the trip to Portugal to tackle Benfica in the 2nd leg of their last-16 affair on Tuesday evening.

Roger Schmidt's men travelled back residence from Belgium with a 2-0 advantage from the very first leg, where defensive lapses showed fatal for Scott Parker's plant.

In the middle of their continual surge in the direction of delight in the Portuguese top flight, Benfica had to hold your horses to make the development at the Jan-Breydel-Stadion in their first leg with Brugge on February 15, yet a set of expensive mistakes from the Belgian giants gifted the Eagles success on a silver plate.

With 51 mins gone, Jack Hendry's nasty on Goncalo Ramos enabled Joao Mario to collapse home a charge off the bar, and also the insurance coverage objective came by means of the boot of David Neres in the dying cinders courtesy of another backline error - this moment from Brandon Mechele's inadequately regulated touch.

For the very first time in their 119-year background, Benfica might get to the quarter-finals of the Champions Organization in back-to-back periods - having actually been dumped out of the last 8 by Liverpool in the 2021-22 project - however the Portuguese giants are still awaiting their very first semi-final berth in the top rate.

The Eagles need to walk with caution, however, as their newest last-16 departure came after they had won the first leg - defeating Borussia Dortmund 1-0 prior to a 4-0 second-leg loss in 2016-17 - but they have actually clinched three straightforward sway Boavista, Vizela and also Famalicao because overcoming Club Brugge to remain in control of their Primeira Liga title destiny.

Ramos's 14th and 15th goals of the organization period protected a 2-0 gain Famalicao in Friday's video game, keeping Schmidt's males eight factors clear of Porto at the top of the table, and also just Bayern Munich and Liverpool have actually beaten Benfica in the Champions Organization at the Estadio da Luz because 2020.

Seeing the well-dressed Parker take charge of a Champions Organization match was a collection agency's product, however the ex-England global has actually openly admitted that he is fearing for his future in the Brugge hotseat in the middle of a miserable spell for the Belgian champions.

There was little that the former Bournemouth coach can have done to prevent a pair of individual mistakes in the first leg, however Brugge are not getting on much better on the residential front, winning simply 2 of their last 13 top-flight games throughout a despairing title protection.

A 2-0 win over Gent on February 26 did lift the spirits somewhat, however Brugge were brought collapsing back down to planet with a humbling 3-0 defeat to KV Oostende on Friday, leaving them fourth in the rankings as well as a tremendous 20 points adrift of leaders Genk, who likewise have a video game in hand.

Adhering to that defeat, Parker acknowledged that he was not sure if he would still in a job for Tuesday's second leg, but whatever happens 2 days from currently, the 42-year-old can happily flaunt to be the first-ever Brugge supervisor to organize a Champions Organization ko video game.

3 succeeding clean sheets when driving in the Champions League uses a slight glimmer of hope for the visitors, who also caused a striking 4-0 loss on Porto throughout the group stage, however few will be placing bank on Benfica suffering an identical fate right here.

Benfica instructor Schmidt has no major injury worries to first-team regulars unsettling him at this stage, yet Mihailo Ristic (muscular tissue) as well as Julian Draxler (ankle) are both sidelined.

On a brighter note, Chiquinho as well as Goncalo Guedes have actually fought back from muscle and also knee troubles, while right-back Alexander Bah is fine in spite of being restricted to health club deal with Monday.

Schmidt himself will be back in the dugout after offering a suspension in the sway Famalicao - the German was sent off against Vizela for throwing a canteen - while Mario might come to be the very first Benfica gamer given that Eusebio in the 1960s to rack up in five successive Champions League suits.

As for Club Brugge, first-leg villain Hendry suffered an injury to his quadriceps in the gain Gent and also will certainly need analyzing right here, while Andreas Skov Olsen is inaccessible as he recovers from appendix surgical procedure.

Midfielder Raphael Onyedika was back on the bench versus Oostende after recuperating from a health problem as well as can make his go back to the first XI right here, yet Roman Yaremchuk will likely need to accept minutes as a substitute against his old club.

Benfica feasible starting schedule:

Club Brugge possible beginning lineup:

We say: Benfica 3-0 Club Brugge (Benfica win 5-0 on aggregate).

Club Brugge may have served Porto a slice of humble pie during their remarkable group-stage ventures, but introducing an unlikely fightback at the residence of the Primeira Liga leaders is surely a bridge also much.

Must Parker continue to be in the hotseat for the time being, a heavy defeat here might effectively be the last nail in his Belgian casket, as the Eagles will definitely travel through to the last eight with minimal difficulty.