Benfica will be looking to defend a 2-0 first-leg lead when they meet Club Brugge in the return leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Estadio da Luz.
After a well-deserved win in Beglium, Roger Schmidt’s men have put one foot in the quarter-finals, the stage they also reached last season. But they’ve refused to rest on their laurels, winning three consecutive domestic fixtures since via a two-goal margin to set themselves up nicely for this encounter. This game should be a mere formality for Benfica, considering they’ve never lost a home meeting with Belgian visitors in major European competition (W8, D2), winning each of the last six on the spin. History beckons for the Primeira League leaders, as only one of the 45 previous teams to have won the first leg of a Champions League knockout tie on the road by at least a two-goal margin has failed to progress into the next round.
In the meantime, visiting Club Brugge have blown hot and cold since the first-leg showdown, experiencing mixed fortunes in their last three competitive outings (W1, D1, L1). That hardly bodes well ahead of their eighth European visit to Portugal, especially knowing they’ve lost five of their seven previous UEFA away contests against Primeira Liga sides. Yet, it’s worth noting they ran out 4-0 victors at Porto in this season’s Champions League group stages, suggesting not all is lost yet. Adding to this sentiment, Scott Parker’s lads have kept a clean sheet on their last three Champions League travels, as many shutouts as in their previous 19 such match-ups.
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