Bruges was beaten by Benfica in Belgium in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, leaving one foot out of the tournament.
He Benfica de Lisboa, unstoppable in the Portuguese league, confirmed his role as favorite in the round of 16 of the Champions League in front of witches by winning their visit to the Jan-Breydel Stadium (0-2) with goals from Joao Mario and David Neres that deepened the bad run of the Flemish team.
Two goals at the start and end of the second half caused by two naive defensive errors were enough for the Portuguese, led by the German Roger Schmidtto treasure a victory that put them with one foot in the quarterfinals.
The result that greatly complicates Bruges’ aspirations in their first Champions League round of 16 since the 1990-1991 campaign.
In a first half without an owner or goals, in which the initial dominance of Bruges was diluted, the incursions of the Canadian Tajon Buchanan put the Belgians in danger and the aerial game of the Argentine central defender Nicolás Otamendi for the Portuguese.
The locals went to the locker room with a goal disallowed just before the break, for Ghana’s Dennis Odoi being offside, when he finished off a free kick by the Dutchman Noa Lang.
But as soon as the second half began, Benfica took the lead thanks to a clumsy penalty from Welshman Jack Henry on Goncalo Ramos, that Joao Mario transformed, adding his fifth goal in the Champions League this season and the fourth from a penalty.
The English coach of Bruges, Scott Parkerwho replaced the dismissed Carl Hoefkens in January and is not getting results, moved the bench desperately and made the Spanish Ferran Jutglà reappear, who had been injured and came on the field to replace the Ghanaian Kamal Sowah in the 79th minute.
But it was of little use. The Portuguese ‘Aguilas’ sealed the victory and consolidated the three points with a second goal in the 88th minute of David Neres following taking advantage of another mistake, this time in a control by the Dutchman Bjorn Meijer.
Benfica, champion of the highest European club competition in 1961 and 1962, confirmed that it is going through a sweet moment, even following losing players of the stature of the Argentine Enzo Fernández in January, transferred to Chelsea for 121 million euros.
Bruges, who signed a brilliant start to the season but went into a tailspin in the autumn and continues to find no sensations or results.
Now they will have to conspire to achieve a difficult comeback on March 7 in Lisbon and hold on to a competition in which they trusted to redirect the season, following being eliminated in the Belgian Cup and being fourth in the league championship.
Benfica seal a win in Belgium ????#UCL pic.twitter.com/uFosn9v37f
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) February 15, 2023
