BOLA – Portugal can make history (and put in another €27.6 million) (Champions League)
Portugal has never had three teams in the round of 16 of the Champions League and only once did two get there simultaneously. It happened in 2016/2017, when FC Porto (2nd behind Leicester) and Benfica (2nd after Napoli) went ahead in the group stage, later falling at the feet of Juventus and Dortmund, respectively.
Now, five years after this good presence of dragons and eagles, Portugal can repeat the feat again or even make history if it achieves the full stroke. Sporting is already there and FC Porto (today) and Benfica (tomorrow) can follow the lions. The blues and whites are, since logo, in the round of 16, if they beat Atlético Madrid at Dragão and also started tying in front, since Milan won’t win, at home, AO Liverpool.
Benfica’s math is simple to do: they have to beat Dynamo Kiev and hope that Barcelona don’t win in Munich. If they finish with the same points as the Catalans, the reds will move on to the next stage, as they won in Luz and drew in Barcelona. They will thus guarantee the fifth presence in the eighth in the current model: for now, they were in 2005/2006 (Ronald Koeman), 2011/2012 (Jorge Jesus), 2015/2016 (Rui Vitória) and 2016/2017 (Rui Vitória).
At stake, for FC Porto, Sporting and Benfica, is nothing less than 27.6 million euros: 8.4 million if the three beat Atlético de Madrid, Ajax and Dynamo Kiev and another 19.2 million if dragons and eagles reach the eighth. Lions have already guaranteed the 9.6 million presence in the next stage of the competition.
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