A quieter day of the Champions League knockout round on Wednesday led to victories for both Borussia Dortmund and Benfica. The first defeated an expensive Chelsea side, despite the Blues having more strong chances. Benfica traveled to Club Brugge and took advantage of a penalty to win in the other game.
Dortmund’s victory came by a narrow 1-0 margin. Benfica provided a little more comfort to fans watching at home, taking a 2-0 lead in the second leg in Portugal.
Those return stages are not for another four weeks. Still, there are a number of key takeaways for all the teams involved in Wednesday’s set of games.
Dortmund and Benfica achieve victories in the round of 16 in first legs
The larger of the day’s two games was undoubtedly Chelsea’s trip to Germany. Chelsea went into a sizzle. The club is tenth in the table with three consecutive league ties. The new signings are still comfortable at Stamford Bridge.
A trip to Signal Iduna Park showed the potential of the squad. Creating chances, mastering possession and quick passes meant that all the statistics pointed out that Chelsea should have won. Joao Félix had a gem of a game, a common occurrence for the loanee.
However, the name of the game for Chelsea was the inability to take risks. in the first half. Reece James forced two strong saves from Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel. Enzo Fernández almost equalized in stoppage time. Emre Can had a goal-line clearance after Kalidou Koulibaly chipped Kobel’s palms.
With all this pressure, Dortmund would need a moment of brilliance to find a goal of their own. That would be an understatement of what Karim Adeyemi did. On a Chelsea corner, Adeyemi took advantage of a clearance in his own half. He then dribbled past Enzo Fernández and goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga to score the only goal of the game.
That would be the difference in the game.
Benfica is still in good shape in Europe
The Bruges-Benfica battle did not have the prominence of its simultaneous counterpart. Benfica, who finished first in the group with Juventus and PSG, continues to go unnoticed despite leading the Primeira Liga. Brugge, on the other hand, is the surprise team in the Champions League round of 16. The Belgian team ranks fourth in their national league. Also, in the group stage of the Champions League, Brugge was the joint lowest scorer with just seven goals.
If Brugge was going to have trouble scoring, he would have to do well to keep the ball out of his own net. Early in the second half, that challenge became more challenging. A penalty on a defensive clearance allowed Joao Mario to put Benfica ahead from the penalty spot.
Unable to move forward, Brugge sent only four shots, one hitting the target. Then, just before stoppage time, a defensive calamity for Brugge all but gifted David Neres a goal. Brugge now faces a mountain on his trip to Portugal.
However, at the beginning of the season, Brugge had to play in Porto. Brugge walked away with a shock 4-0 win. The Belgians need a similar result to advance to the Champions League quarter-finals.
PHOTO: IMAGO / Moritz Müller
