Leader of the Portuguese league and favorite on paper, the Benficadriven by the reigning world champion Nicola Otamendivisit this Wednesday in the round of 16 of the Champions League a belgium brugesa team with doubts and problems who are confident that the European competition will serve as a springboard for the rest of the season.

The reigning Belgian league champions – currently fourth and 20 points behind the leaders – are nowhere near the good form they were in in the autumn, when they finished first in their qualifying group, beating Bayern Leverkusen, Porto and Atlético de Madrid, and qualified for the cross “Champions” for the first time since the 1990/91 season.

Elimination from the Belgian Cup in December and poor regular season results cost manager Carl Hoefkens his job, replaced in January by England’s Scott Parker.

But things have certainly not improved in the few weeks in which the new coach has been in charge of the reference team in Belgium, which in seven games with Parker recorded one defeat, one victory and five draws, the last one last weekend against the Union Saint-Gilloise.

Benfica move to Belgium as clear favorites and with the aim of extending their excellent run in the Champions League.

The Portuguese were first in group H and weren’t intimidated by Juventus in Turin or by the powerful PSG of Mbappé, Messi and Neymar, but in the round of 16 they won’t have one of their stars, the Argentine Enzo Fernández.

However, his millionaire transfer to Chelsea -121 million euros- doesn’t seem to have hurt the team coached by the German Roger Schmidt, who remains the only leader in the Portuguese championship.

Probable formations

Bruges: Mignolet; Clinton Mata, Boyata, Mechele, Meijer; Onyedika, Nielsen; Buchanan, Vanaken, Sowah; lang.

Benfica: Vlachodimos; Bah, Silva, Otamendi, Grimaldo; Fiorentino, Chiquinho; João Mario, Aursnes, Guedes; Goncalo Ramos.