Benfica vs Club Brugge Champions League round of 16 preview: Where to watch, kick-off time, starting line-ups
Tuesday, March 7, 2023
Article summary
When is it? How can you watch it? What are the starting line-ups? All you need to know about the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg between Benfica and Club Brugge.
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Benfica and Club Brugge meet in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg on Tuesday 7 March.
Benfica vs Club Brugge at a glance
When: Tuesday 7 March (21:00 CET kick-off)
Where: Estádio do SL Benfica, Lisbon
What: UEFA Champions League round of 16 second leg
How it stands: First leg: 2-0
How to follow: Build-up and live coverage can be found here
Where to watch Benfica vs Club Brugge on TV
Fans can find their local UEFA Champions League broadcast partner(s) here.
What do you need to know?
David Neres' late goal in Bruges left Scott Parker's side with their backs against the wall in this last 16 tie, but the Blau-Zwart head coach insists he saw enough from his players in the first leg to believe they can mount a fightback in Lisbon. To do so, however, they will need to end a run of four Champions League games without a goal against a Benfica side who are on their longest winning run in the competition – three matches – since the 2005/06 season.
Starting line-ups
Benfica: Vlachodimos; Bah, António Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo; Florentino, Chiquinho; Aursnes, João Mário, Rafa Silva; Gonçalo Ramos
Misses next match if booked: Florentino, Gonçalo Ramos, João Mário, Otamendi
Club Brugge: Mignolet; Mata, Mechele, Sylla; Buchanan, Nielsen, Vanaken, Sowah, Meijer; Lang, Yaremchuk
Misses next match if booked: Buchanan, Mignolet, Nielsen, Odoi, Sowah
Form guide
Benfica
Form (all competitions, most recent first): WWWWLW
Where they stand: 1st in Liga
Club Brugge
Form (all competitions, most recent first): LWDLDD
Where they stand: 4th in Belgian First League
Expert predictions
Carlos Machado, Benfica reporter
After winning in Belgium, Benfica have it well within their sights to emulate last season's achievement of reaching the last eight. The Eagles were patient and clinical in the first leg and are likely to ally similar traits with a more attacking mindset in Lisbon. Expect to see the hosts look to put the tie to bed as early as possible.
Alyssa Saliou, Club Brugge reporter
Fourth-placed Club Brugge's 3-0 defeat at 17th-placed Oostende means their record under coach Scott Parker in ten league games is won two, lost two and drawn six. That latest reverse was their biggest loss under the Englishman, coming hot the heels of an important 2-0 success at home to Gent the weekend before. Their top scorer is Hans Vanaken with nine goals but he has yet to score in the Champions League this season, meaning two apiece from Ferran Jutglà and Kamal Sowah are their most notable in this competition – not the best numbers when they have a 2-0 deficit to overturn here.
What the coaches say
Roger Schmidt, Benfica coach: "The situation is pretty clear: we won in Bruges and if they want to qualify for the quarter-finals then at some point they will have to attack. Whether they do it from the beginning or not we will have to see. We just have to focus on ourselves."
Scott Parker, Club Brugge coach: "We come here with one huge challenge ahead of us; a challenge that we are relishing as a team and as a football club. We’ll go and give everything we’ve got in this second leg, we’ll enjoy this occasion and perform to the levels that we can perform at."
Where is the 2023 Champions League final?
Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium will host the final on Saturday 10 June 2023.
The winners gain a place in the 2023/24 UEFA Champions League group stage, if they have not qualified via their domestic competition.