Gonçalo Ramos, the buteur of Benfica PEDRO NUNES / REUTERS
The Lisbon club made short work of Club Brugge in the round of 16 second leg (5-1).
Benfica confirmed he could be more than a surprise. After the 2-0 victory in the first leg, the Lisbon team won very easily against Club Brugge at home with a score of 5-1. From the start of the match, with flagrant domination but above all with a first goal disallowed for offside from the 2nd minute of play, the fate of the match seemed written.
Vastly superior, the Lisboans still had to wait until the 38th minute to open the scoring on a counter-attack concluded by a double contact followed by an outside foot from Rafa Silva. Benfica kept pushing and took off thanks to two goals from the excellent Gonçalo Ramos. First with a sublime sequence to eliminate three players by dribbling before ending with a lucky cross shot for the 2-0. Then, he took advantage of a good cross from Grimaldo on the left side to shoot Simon Mignolet and score his double (57th).
Victory in style
Joao Mario made history by joining Eusebio to become the second Benfica player to score a goal in five straight Champions League games. To conclude this meeting, it was David Neres who scored the 5th Portuguese goal on a service from the very young Joao Neves (18 years old and only 29 minutes played as a professional). Despite the reduction of the score on a magnificent strike from Meijer (87th), it was a perfect evening for Benfica.
In addition to the river score, it is above all the manner that is to be remembered on this victory. In point tactically but especially technically, they seemed largely above Bruges and can believe in a good course on the European scene. Tonight’s game confirms that 1st place in the group, ahead of PSG and Juve, was not an error. We can’t wait to see them in the quarter-finals (April 11-12 and back on April 18-19).
