Benfica players insisted: “We must focus on the derby, not waste time on it.” It was late December, and coach Jorge Jesus had assembled his squad to discuss what was said in the dressing room after the 3-0 defeat to Porto in the Portuguese Cup.
Jorge Jesus had missed that match due to the suspension, but knew that one of the captains, Pizzi, had insulted him and so he asked the veteran midfielder to repeat what he had said, word for word. Pizzi denied abusing him. Jesus does not believe him and declares that the midfielder will not train with the first team.
When the 67-year-old coach leaves the room, the rest of the squad talk for a minute and make a quick decision: If Bizzy gets kicked out of the session, they won’t train either. There was no turning back – it was Jesus against the players. Within 48 hours, Jesus is about to leave the Portuguese giant. It could have been a turning point for them, but it wasn’t.
A day later, Benfica played against Porto again with only four points behind their northern rival. As they prepare to host Liverpool in the Champions League quarter-final on Tuesday, they are 15 points off the lead and out of their league title chase for another year.
Not surprisingly, the season that began with house arrest in the home of Luis Felipe Vieira, the club’s president since 2003, ended like this. He later resigned for tax evasion and money laundering, although there is no conviction yet and his lawyers have denied the allegations.
The question today is different: How can a team that has gone through all this and not even been able to beat clubs like Vizela and Gil Vicente get this far in the league?
“It’s time to let go of all the pressure”
Over the past few months, the leaked conversations revealing, for example, that Jose Mourinho pressed for Benfica to appoint Laurent Blanc instead of Jesus as manager have made headlines almost every day in Portugal. It is part of the audio recordings that prosecutors made as part of the investigation into Vieira and his closest associates, and they revealed much of the club’s business.
With so much hype outside the pitch, it’s hard to imagine a scenario in which Benfica could remain focused on football. “It is normal for players to be affected by this as well.” Former Benfica, Tottenham and Portsmouth defender Ricardo Rocha told BBC Sport.
“While a lot of these issues are not related to the game, it certainly makes it difficult for the team to achieve its goals. And that team is expected to fight for every prize. But then again, it is a lot harder to do when you have a lot of issues with With the club’s structure, there was a presidential election, a new president [la légende portugaise Rui Costa] And a new coach [Nelson Verissimo, qui s’occupait auparavant des réserves]. Obviously, these things affect your daily life and show in the way the team performs in the Portuguese league – they are not in the position they want. Since Verissimo took charge, he’s managed to unite the players and, having reached the Champions League quarter-finals, now is the time for them to let go of all the pressure and play football against Liverpool.” The former defender added.
Will Benfica win in 2006 against Liverpool?
Struggling for most of the domestic season, Benfica had his best moments in the Champions League: they beat PSV Eindhoven in the playoffs, Barcelona in the group stage and Ajax in the round of 16.
It’s a lot more than they’d hoped, but they want to continue their European adventure. If they succeed, they will have followed the example of Rocha and his teammates, who surprised Liverpool by eliminating them in the last 16 in the Champions League in 2006.
“I would say that Liverpool are stronger today, but at that time they were the defending champion and a very difficult team to play against.”Rosha said. “That didn’t stop us from believing we could still go on and so we kept beating them in both games. That’s the mentality you need for this type of match.
Throughout this campaign, Benfica seemed more comfortable in defense than when they had to dominate matches. This may be the key to understanding why they reached the top eight clubs in Europe, but they couldn’t win against them Braga in the league on Friday lost 3-2.
A must for Benfica Exposing Liverpool’s weaknesses Rocha said Tuesday night, top scorers Darwin Nunez – with 27 goals and three assists this season – and defensive duo Jan Vertonghen and Nicolas Otamendi will be as well. “Very decisive” for them. “The whole team has to be at their level if they want to keep dreaming.” he added.
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