Club - Benfica: the Club Facts

Finally it's time for the Champions League again! Club Brugge made a historic run and could qualify for the 8th finals of the Champions League for the first time. Read all the facts for the match against Benfica below!

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The match

On Wednesday, Blauw-Zwart hosts Benfica for the outward match of the 8th finals. Club Brugge has already played 341 European matches in its history, the team from Portugal has already played 465 times in European action. Blauw-Zwart will play its 95th Champions League match on Wednesday in its 10th participation in the Champions League.

Club Brugge has often faced a Portuguese team on the European stage. Wednesday's match against a team from the Portuguese Primeira Liga will be the 14th time and Blauw-Zwart also faced a Portuguese opponent in this year's group stage. On its own field FCB was able to win 3 times against a Portuguese club, played 2 draws and suffered 2 defeats. For Benfica it is the 22nd time it faces a Belgian team.

Although Club Brugge has faced a Portuguese team many times, FCB and Benfica never played each other before. This makes the Portuguese the 126th unique European opponent for Blauw-Zwart. Fun fact: Club Brugge's very first European opponent was also a Portuguese club, namely Sporting Lisbon!

Scott Parker will make his debut as coach on the European scene on Wednesday. For Yaremchuk, it will be a special reunion. The striker came over this summer from. Benfica. Other players with a shared club past, are Zoran Filipović, Mario Stanić, Edgaras Jankauskas and Nicolas Castillo.

Tajon Buchanan, Simon Mignolet and Casper Nielsen are on 1 yellow card from suspension and thus must avoid a card if they are not to miss the return match at Estádio da Luz. At Benfica, they are Florentino, Gonçalo Ramos and Joao Mário.

The opponent

The opponent from Portugal is not a kitten to tackle without gloves. Benfica was founded in 1904 and never relegated from the Primeira Liga. With 37 league titles, 26 Portuguese cups and 7 league cups, it is a club with a pretty full trophy cabinet.

As Águias, or the Eagles, had to go a long way to get into the 8th finals of the UCL. Thus, it first had to play two preliminary rounds and finally became group winner in the pool with Maccabi Haifa, Juventus and PSG. The Portuguese grabbed the group win after a 1-6 victory against the team from Israel, disappearing into the first drum.

In the dress rehearsal for Wednesday's game, Benfica lost to SC Braga in the Portuguese Cup. Braga drew the longer straw after a penalty kick sequence, kicking FCB's opponent out of the cup.

At Benfica, star keeper Enzo Fernández left during the winter mercato and with Andreas Schjelderup, Casper Tengstedt and Gonçalo Guedes strengthened its squad. With Gonçalo Ramos it has a real sharpshooter running in its ranks. He has already scored, across all competitions, 18 times.

In Benfica's soccer history, there is one name that is even bigger than their record itself: Eusébio. As such, he is considered the best player in club history and could score as many as 300 times for the team.

Milestones

- Mats Rits can play his 180th official game for Club Brugge.

- Simon Mignolet can stand between the posts for the 175th time at Blauw-Zwart.

- Abakar Sylla and Roman Yaremchuk can finish their 20th match at FCB.

- Clinton Mata and Mats Rits can play their 30th European match for Club.

- Raphael Onyedika can play the 20th European match of his career. He played 14 times for FC Midtjylland (Den) and 5 times for Club so far.

The referee

Italian Davide Massa, along with several compatriots, will be in charge of the Club - Benfica match. The assistant referees on duty will be Filippo Meli and Stefano Alassio. Fourth official Paolo Valeri and video refs Marco Di Bello and Daniele Chiffi complete the team.

Massa whistled a Club Brugge match before. He was referee during home matches against Atletico Madrid in 2018 and RB Leipzig in 2021. Davide has never before refereed a Benfica match.