Match report: Benfica 5-1 Club Brugge (7-1 agg)
Roger Schmidt’s Benfica side blitzed Club Brugge 5-1 on the night to secure an astonishing 7-1 aggregate victory, while cruising into the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League for the second consecutive season.
With a two-goal advantage to their name already, the only surprise at the break was that it took 37 minutes for Benfica to find a breakthrough, when they opened the scoring via Rafa Silva.
The 29-year-old wriggled away from two defenders inside the Brugge penalty area, before poking home beyond a statue-esque Simon Mignolet in the visitors’ goal.
It was Gonçalo Ramos who had set up Silva for the opener, and the Benfica talisman would find time before the interval to get himself on the scoresheet too.
Dancing beyond the Brugge backline, Ramos tucked a composed right-footed strike into the bottom corner, upping his tally for the season to an astonishing 22 goals and putting the tie beyond Brugge’s reach.
Ramos would add further to that already-impressive tally just 10 minutes after HT, netting Benfica’s third of the evening and their fourth of the tie.
Displaying the quality that has many tipping him as one of Europe’s most promising strikers, the 21-year-old’s first-time finish inside the box left a crestfallen Mignolet little chance of making a save.
Brugge’s maiden foray into the UEFA Champions League last-16 had by now turned into a feeble joke, and having already been put to the sword, their evening would get much worse before getting any better.
Bamboozled all evening by the Benfica frontline, defender Loubadhe Abakar Sylla’s clumsy foul inside the 18-yard box led referee Halil Umut Meler to point to the spot, where João Mário duly obliged with a well-taken penalty kick.
Substitute David Neres then got in on the act with a goal of his own, taking a shot just inside the penalty area and tucking the ball into the bottom corner, while adding further gloss to a landslide victory.
However, it wouldn’t all be doom and gloom for Brugge, as Bjorn Meijer struck a sensational consolation late on, crunching a left-footed strike into the top-right corner for a scant consolation.
Having destroyed a side that was synonymous with defensive composure for much of the group stage, Benfica will pose a huge threat for whoever they come up against in the next round.
Already set to win the Primeira Liga by a considerable margin, the Portuguese giants are once again displaying their European credentials in fine fashion.
