Champions League: Benfica Heavy Favorite against Brugge

Benfica's Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Portuguese League football match between SL Benfica and FC Famalicao, at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on March 3, 2023. (AFP)
Benfica's Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Portuguese League football match between SL Benfica and FC Famalicao, at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on March 3, 2023. (AFP)
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Champions League: Benfica Heavy Favorite against Brugge

Benfica's Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Portuguese League football match between SL Benfica and FC Famalicao, at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on March 3, 2023. (AFP)
Benfica's Portuguese forward Goncalo Ramos celebrates after scoring his team's second goal during the Portuguese League football match between SL Benfica and FC Famalicao, at the Luz stadium in Lisbon on March 3, 2023. (AFP)

Thriving and facing an opponent in crisis, Benfica couldn’t be in a better position to keep its good run going in the Champions League.

The Portuguese side will defend a 2-0 lead from the first leg against Club Brugge at home on Tuesday. Benfica is looking to reach the quarterfinals of Europe’s top club competition for a second straight season, a feat it last accomplished more than five decades ago. It was eliminated by eventual runner-up Liverpool in the final eight last year.

There aren’t many teams in Europe in as good a form as Benfica, which is unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions. It has won 10 of those matches, including the last four and eight of the last nine. It didn’t lose in the group stage of the Champions League, winning its group ahead of powerhouses Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus. Benfica also comfortably leads the Portuguese league.

Brugge, meanwhile, has won only twice in 11 matches since English coach Scott Parker took over in December. It plunged deeper into crisis with a 3-0 loss at relegation-threatened Oostende in the Belgian league on Friday, prompting fans to ask players for explanations and Parker to acknowledge that his job was in jeopardy.

“Now it’s about showing character and stepping back,” Parker said. “It’s a huge challenge for everyone at the club. The players will face even greater challenges in their lives and professional careers. The important thing now is to work very hard together and do everything we can to respond.”

The Belgian champion was one of the surprises of the group stage, finishing second to Porto ahead of Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid. It made it to the knockout round for the first time in 10 attempts.

The last 45 times a team won the first leg by two or more goals on the road, only once has it failed to advance — PSG against Manchester United in 2018-19.

Benfica, the 1961 and 1962 European champion, has been eliminated after winning the first leg only three times in 31 attempts. It last made it to the quarterfinals in consecutive seasons in 1967-68 and 1968-69.

The loss to Liverpool in the first leg of last season’s quarterfinal was one of only three defeats for the Portuguese club in its last 24 European matches at home. It began this year’s competition in the third qualifying round.

Coach Roger Schmidt is not like to take any risks with some of his players who are not fully fit, including Gonçalo Guedes, who is nursing a left knee injury. Also out injured will be Julian Draxler, Chiquinho and Mihailo Ristic.

The coach may promote the debut of two recently signed players — Casper Tengstedt and Andreas Schjelderup.



Rafael Nadal Retired after the Davis Cup. It's a Rare Team Event in Tennis

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, left, shakes hands with Rafael Nadal during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, left, shakes hands with Rafael Nadal during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
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Rafael Nadal Retired after the Davis Cup. It's a Rare Team Event in Tennis

Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, left, shakes hands with Rafael Nadal during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)
Spain's Carlos Alcaraz, left, shakes hands with Rafael Nadal during a training session at the Martin Carpena Sports Hall, in Malaga, southern Spain, on Sunday, Nov. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Manu Fernandez)

Rafael Nadal wanted to play his last match before retiring in Spain, representing Spain and wearing the red uniform used by Spain's Davis Cup squad.

“The feeling to play for your country, the feeling to play for your teammates ... when you win, everybody wins; when you lose, everybody loses, no?” Nadal, a 22-time Grand Slam champion, said a day before his career ended when his nation was eliminated by the Netherlands at the annual competition. ”To share the good and bad moments is something different than (we have on a) daily basis (in) ... a very individual sport."

The men's Davis Cup, which concludes Sunday in this seaside city in southern Spain, and the women's Billie Jean King Cup, which wrapped up Wednesday with Italy as its champion, give tennis players a rare taste of what professional athletes in soccer, football, basketball, baseball, hockey and more are so used to, The AP reported.

Sharing a common goal, seeking and offering support, celebrating — or commiserating — as a group.

“We don’t get to represent our country a lot, and when we do, we want to make them proud at that moment,” said Alexei Popyrin, a member of the Australian roster that will go up against No. 1-ranked Jannik Sinner and defending champion Italy in the semifinals Saturday after getting past the United States on Thursday. “For us, it’s a really big deal. Growing up, it was something that was instilled in us. We would watch Davis Cup all the time on the TV at home, and we would just dream of playing for it. For us, it’s one of the priorities.”

Some players say they feel an on-court boost in team competitions, more of which have been popping up in recent years, including the Laver Cup, the United Cup and the ATP Cup.

“You're not just playing for yourself,” said 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu, part of Britain's BJK Cup team in Malaga. “You’re playing for everyone.”

There are benefits to being part of a team, of course, such as the off-court camaraderie: Two-time major finalist Jasmine Paolini said Italy's players engaged in serious games of UNO after dinner throughout the Billie Jean King Cup.

There also can be an obvious shared joy, as seen in the big smiles and warm hug shared by Sinner and Matteo Berrettini when they finished off a doubles victory together to complete a comeback win against Argentina on Thursday.

“Maybe because we’re tired of playing by ourselves — just for ourselves — and when we have these chances, it’s always nice,” Berrettini said.

On a purely practical level, this format gives someone a chance to remain in an event after losing a match, something that is rare in the usual sort of win-and-advance, lose-and-go-home tournament.

So even though Wimbledon semifinalist Lorenzo Musetti came up short against Francisco Cerúndolo in Italy's opener against Argentina, he could cheer as Sinner went 2-0 to overturn the deficit by winning the day's second singles match and pairing with Berrettini to keep their country in the draw.

“The last part of the year is always very tough,” Sinner said. “It's nice to have teammates to push you through.”

The flip side?

There can be an extra sense of pressure to not let down the players wearing your uniform — or the country whose anthem is played at the start of each session, unlike in tournaments year-round.

Also, it can be difficult to be sitting courtside and pulling for your nation without being able to alter the outcome.

“It’s definitely nerve-racking. ... I fully just bit all my fingernails off during the match," US Open runner-up Taylor Fritz said about what it was like to watch teammate Ben Shelton lose in a 16-14 third-set tiebreaker against Australia before getting on court himself. "I get way more nervous watching team events, and my friends play, than (when it’s) me, myself, playing.”