Club Brugge vs. Benfica Betting Tips: Two bets for Wednesday's European game in Belgium
Club Brugge get their knockout campaign in the Champions League started against Benfica on Wednesday and we’ll be previewing the action and picking out two bets that we think represent decent value.
Brugge are not where they want to be in the Belgian Pro League where they find themselves 20 points off Genk in first place, however, they will be relatively proud of reaching the knockout stages in club football’s biggest competition.
On the other hand, Benfica are loving life in their domestic league where they are now five points ahead of Porto at the top of the league.
All key players are expected to be available for both teams and no injuries have been confirmed for either.
Joao Mario is having a monster of a season with Benfica at the moment where he has scored 16 goals and assisted nine times. Four of his goals have come in the Champions League where he is averaging a goal every 132 minutes.
Only one player has more shots on target for Benfica this season and that is Goncalo Ramos who is their main striker. Joao Mario has an impressive 20 shots on target in 19 games for Benfica and we’ll be backing him to hit the target against Club Brugge.
BetUK are offering 5/6 for him to have one or more shots on target which seems incredibly generous considering his record this season. Benfica also come in as the odds-on favourite despite making the away trip to Belgium so it’s fair to say they’ll most likely have a fair few efforts on goal.
Casper Nielsen is Brugge’s rock in midfield and plays nearly almost every game for the club. He’s a defender that is not afraid to put in a few tackles and that is evident from his stats this season.
Nielsen has committed 29 fouls in 25 games for Brugge this season with only Onyedika having more fouls to his name in the squad. Nielsen has already picked up two yellow cards in the Champions League this season which brings his total to six for his current campaign.
The Danish midfielder looks a decent price to pick up a card tonight at 3/1 with BetUK. Benfica are expected to dominate the majority of the ball this game and with some of the tricky players they have, Nielsen is going to put in a few challenges if he wants to regain some of that control.
For someone that commits fouls so frequently and is near the top of Brugge’s booking charts, 3/1 really does look a decent price all things considered. This will also finish off our bets for Brugge vs Benfica and if you are following along, please remember to gamble responsibly.