Benfica – Brugge

Benfica will not smash Brugge in their second match

Benfica take on Brugge at home on Tuesday, March 07, in the second leg of the Champions League 1/8 final. The first leg ended 2-0 in favour of the Portuguese club. The Belgians did not stand much of a chance. The second leg proved to be a formality. Benfica, led by Roger Schmidt, are playing some eminently attractive football and producing some outstanding results. The stability and system of the game are noteworthy. "The Eagles are almost invincible in 2023. There have been eight wins and two draws in their last ten games. It is important that the club is still competing intelligently across several competitions. In the championship, they managed to beat Famalican 2-0 in the last meeting. Benfica have almost secured the national title. Porto have an eight-point lead. Interestingly, the team's results were not at all affected by the defection of key midfielder Enzo Fernandez. The Argentine's functionality was distributed through Benfica's internal reserves. Unfortunately, not all players are fit. Draxler, Gedesh and Ristic will not appear in the nearest match. The appearance of Chiquinho is also questionable. Brugge are predictably the weakest side in the Champions League play-offs. Too many things have changed for the team since the successful group stage. The team have changed coaches. The results did not improve. The Englishman Scott Parker is now in charge of the team. The experiment does not look very successful. Brugge almost lost their chances of qualifying for the Champions League next year. The club is only in fourth place in its championship. The home tournament has a much higher priority at the moment. Curiously, in the last round, the crisis probably reached the top spot. Brugge managed to lose by a big score to outsider Ostend, 0-3. It is not ruled out that there will be another coaching resignation in the near future to save the season on the domestic scene. Due to injuries, the team will not be able to help Hendry and Skov Olsen. There are losses, but such results are not the consequence of personnel problems. Benfica are unlikely to be targeting their opponents in the return leg. The bookmakers give relatively fair odds. The visitors are in terrible form. They just don't care about the Champions League right now. That said, a rout is unlikely. It's worth paying attention to the goal total. The Portuguese have no top-flight tendency. If we take the last five games, then only one meeting in which the total was not played less. Brugge have a similar situation. The total over three was played in only one match.