Nico Otamendi was a defensive wall in Benfica's triumph against Bruges and was one step away from the Champions League quarterfinals

Leader of the Portuguese league and favorite on paper,

, led by the defending world champion

this Wednesday in the round of 16 of the Champions League

, a team with doubts and problems that trusts that the European competition will serve as a springboard for the rest of the season.

.

The reigning champion of the Belgian league -currently fourth and 20 points behind the leader- is far from the good form it was going through in autumn, when it came first in its qualifying group, beating Bayern Leverkusen, Porto and Atlético de Madrid, and qualified for the "Champions" crosses for the first time since the 1990/91 season.

Elimination from the Belgian Cup in December and poor results in the regular season cost coach Carl Hoefkens his job, replaced in January by Englishman Scott Parker.

Benfica moves to Belgium as the clear favorite and with the aim of prolonging their excellent run in the Champions League.

The Portuguese team was first in group H and was not intimidated by Juventus in Turin or the powerful PSG of Mbappé, Messi and Neymar, but in the round of 16 they will not have one of their stars, the Argentine Enzo Fernández.

However, his millionaire transfer to Chelsea -121 million euros- does not seem to have hurt the team coached by the German Roger Schmidt, who remains the sole leader of the Portuguese League.