- Benfica Lisbon starts in the second leg of the Champions League round of 16 against a weak Bruges to show off.
- After the 2-0 in the first leg, the game ended 5-1 at home in the Estadio da Luz.
- Gonçalo Ramos, who scored several goals against Switzerland in the World Cup round of 16, scored a brace.
- Chelsea eliminated Dortmund thanks to a 2-0 home win.
Benfica Lisbon could deal with March 17 early in the game. That’s when the draw for the quarter-finals of the Champions League takes place, and there the Portuguese will be in the pots for the second time in a row.
Even before the second leg against Bruges, thanks to the 2-0 cushion from the first leg, everything spoke in favor of the favorites, who are still unbeaten this campaign. And Benfica did a lot very early on to ensure that the last hopes of the weakening Belgians disappeared.
After less than 2 minutes, the ball was already in the goal of Bruges, Joao Mario had supplied the ball beautifully with the heel there. However, an offside position silenced the early celebrations of Roger Schmidt’s team. A little later, Florentino missed from the best position and a shot from the active Mario was clarified on the line.
Bruges without resistance
After this roughly half-hour Sturm und Drang phase, Brugge got into the game – but only Benfica managed to score goals. In the 38th minute, the home team countered and the ball came to Rafa Silva in the penalty area. The Portuguese left his opponent standing and scored with an outside instep to make it 1-0.
Even before the break, Gonçalo Ramos made it 2-0 in a similar manner – he also let several Brugge defenders who were too passive stand in the penalty area – the 2-0 and thus the definitive decision.
In the second half, Benfica only started to show at the Estadio da Luz. First Ramos, who had scored three times for Portugal against Switzerland in the 6-1 draw in the World Cup round of 16, increased to 3-0 (57th) and made himself a double goal scorer.
Colleague Mario, who had previously been unlucky, also put himself on the top scorers list with a penalty (71st). David Neres even scored to make it 5-0 (77′), before Björn Meijer scored the consolation goal for the Belgians with a dream goal shortly before the end (87′).
Bruges, which had previously only won 1 of the last 5 games, knew little or nothing to counter the spectacle for long stretches and thus said goodbye to the “premier class” without a shine. As suspected early on, Benfica will continue with the quarter-final draw in 10 days.