“Champions”. Portugal may have three clubs in the “round of 16” for the first time
With the “Lions” already qualified, FC Porto and Benfica enter the sixth and decisive round of the “Champions” group stage with the possibility of progressing in the competition and writing a golden page in national football, the seventh time that Portugal managed to place three teams in the most important European club competition.
For that, Sérgio Conceição’s team has to beat Atlético de Madrid in Group B, at Estádio do Dragão, while Jorge Jesus’ team is forced to beat Dinamo Kiev, in Luz, and hope that FC Barcelona cannot triumph. at Bayern Munich, in Group E.
Apart from these accounts, Sporting has secured second place in Group C ahead of Borussia Dortmund, one of the favorites to move forward, and behind Ajax, another representative of leagues outside the so-called ‘big 5’.
Portugal is even the second most represented country in the “eighths” of the “Champions”, only behind England, which reaches this stage already with four representatives (Liverpool, Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City), and with Italy and Spain to be the only ones who can match the Portuguese representation.
In 2006/07, 2007/08, 2012/13, 2014/15, 2016/17 and 2017/18, the presence of Portuguese clubs was three, but such a scenario, with full qualification, was never possible.