Brugge look to wake up in the Champions League by receiving Porto

BRUSSELS (AP) — Three months ago, Club Brugge were hailed as Belgium’s Bayern.

They now occupy fourth place in the Belgian championship and their new coach Scott Parker is desperately trying to get them back on their feet. The Champions League looks like another tough test as they host Benfica on Wednesday in the first leg of the Round of 16.

After Brugge crowned the Belgian champions for a third consecutive season in May – their 18th title overall – with an attractive attacking football proposition, the team looked forward to a Bayern Munich dynasty in Germany.

Sorting through a tough Champions League group that also included Atlético Madrid, Porto and Bayer Leverkusen, Brugge stunned last fall by reaching the knockout stages of the tournament for the first time in three decades.

Led by goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, with 31 saves in the group stage, Brugge maintained their mark at zero in five games. They were also relentless in scoring timely goals thanks to the rise of Barcelona ex-Ferran Jutgla.

But like the rest of his teammates, the Spanish player entered a negative cycle from November that they haven’t shaken off yet.

Club Brugge have won just two of their last 13 matches in all competitions, trailing Genk by 20 points. Looking for a shock, management fired former manager Carl Hoefkens at the end of December and brought in Parker but the change failed to take effect.

What there is is a certain stability. Under Parker, they have drawn five of seven games, including last week’s 1-1 draw against Union guard Saint Gilloise.

“Things are moving in the right direction,” centre-back Jack Hendry said ahead of Benfica’s visit to the Jan Breydelstadion.

Benfica are unbeaten in their last seven Champions League matches, with four wins and three draws. They will be looking to string together three wins in the European tournament for the first time since the 2005-06 season.

Despite the departure of Argentine midfielder Enzo Fernández to Chelsea last month, German coach Roger Schmidt has a very talented squad, with striker Gonçalo Guedes as his target. He could also turn to the Dane Casper Tengstedt and the Norwegian Andreas Schjelderup, two attackers acquired in the winter transfer window.