Benfica vs Club Brugge – Betting Preview
The second leg of Benfica’s match against Club Brugge in the UEFA Champions League round of 16 will take place at the Stadium da Luz on Tuesday.
Joo Mário and David Neres’ goals in the second half gave Benfica a 2-0 victory in the first match. They only have to hold onto their lead, which shouldn’t provide any difficulties for them at home!
Benfica Preview
The hosts have won four straight games in all competitions, and Gonçalo Ramos’ two goals in their most recent match helped them defeat Famalicao 2-0 at home.
As guias are unbeaten at home in all games and will want to maintain their unbeaten home record. They are the favourites, at least on paper, and have at least two goals in nine of their last ten home games.
The Eagles must exercise caution, though, as their most recent last-16 exit came after they had won the first leg—beating Borussia Dortmund 1-0 before a 4-0 second-leg loss in 2016–17—but they have won three easy matches over Boavista, Vizela, and Famalicao since defeating Club Brugge to keep their Primeira Liga title chances alive.
Only Bayern Munich and Liverpool have defeated Benfica in the Champions League at the Stadium da Luz since 2020.
Ramos’ 14th and 15th goals of the league season gave Benfica a 2-0 victory against Famalicao on Friday, maintaining Schmidt’s team eight points clear of Porto at the top of the standings.
Club Brugge Preview
After their humiliating 3-0 loss to KV Oostende on Friday, Parker said that he was unsure if he would still be employed for Tuesday’s second leg, but 48 hours from now, whatever happens, the 42-year-old can confidently declare that he will be the first Brugge manager to oversee a Champions League knockout match.
Few people will be laying bets on Benfica suffering the same fate as Porto in this match but the visitors have kept three straight clean sheets on the road in the Champions League. The visitors also humiliated Porto 4-0 during the group stage!
Only a few wins have been recorded by Blauw-Zwart in 2023 due to previous struggles in their games. They have struggled in five of their seven road games against Portuguese opponents, so they might have trouble here!
1×2 Betting Odds
Let’s begin analysing the 1×2 market
Considering the current form of the two teams and their performances in the first leg, we expect the hosts to record another comfortable win.
Benfica to win stands @ 1.48.
They have won six straight games and have not lost any of their last 10 home games against Belgian opponents, thus the away side will have it very, very difficult.
Victory for Club Brugge stands @ 7.70. They are the underdogs.
The market odds of a stalemate stands @ 4.90.
Total goals over/under
Let’s check the over/under scenario
The odds that the total number of goals scored will be over 2.5, stands @ 1.75.
While the odds that the total number of goals will be under 2.5, stands @ 2.28.
Benfica has an average of 3.57 goals per game in Champions League this season. Yes, Club Brugge only averaged 1.86 goals per game in the competition so far, but they will have to be more open in the second leg since they are chasing a two-goal difference!
So expect over 2.5 goals in this easily!
