That clause was a huge mistake. Every single Benfica follower realised it immediately. But he had the weight Felix on his back and sometimes managers do have to be patient, director do have to be patient and have to realize that some player can show full potential right away at senior level and others need some more time and to get more chances.
Benfica is by far the biggest club in Portugal, 50% of all Portuguese follow the club, but also many, many portuguese descendants around the world, for instance did you know the former French footballer is a huge Benfica fan? All the newspapers in the country make covers with Benfica and his players every single day, many tv stations in here talk about it for 3-4 hours every night. So itās difficult sometimes for a kid that has always been a wonder kid and started to be the best in every single Benfica team since he was 8 or 9 years old.
Plus his loan to Spain didnāt work.
He needed a fresh startā¦
I can confess that I have common friends with his dad and tell you that staying in Scotland is very likely. But who knows?
Thanks, it was quite nice, we were clever. Reachead the quarter-finals 6 years later wich is a long time for a club with such history. But like I always says, the history is past and we have to live for the moment.
Must confess I was not very confident, we havenāt been in a good shape this season and Ajax made a perfect group stage.
Nevertheless, it is or 18th or 19th time in the quarter-final (counting with the european cup) and it is always pleasent to be there, even thought almost all other opponents are much stronger (except perhaps for Villareal) and itās not that often a club apart from the big-5 leagues reach this stage (only 7 for the last 10 years), and lets see how it goes. Since 2004 only one team apart from the big 5 leagues reached the semi-finals, wich was Ajax in 2019 (if Iām not wrong).
Thatās why I personally miss old footbal, when it was possible for Steaua or Red Star to lift the trophy.
Me too. I used to love the European Cup/Champions League. But the way it is now, only the teams from the top 4 or 5 leagues have any chance.
Itās sad how many great names from European football are now āsmallā teams that rarely progress very far. Like the ones you mention. And others like Feyenoord, Anderlecht, and Benfica and Celtic!
Iāll be cheering for Benfica in the next round, whoever they get.
I donāt like the plan for the new CL format, do you?
I miss the old European Cup and also the āEuropean weeksā with Uefa Cup on Tuesdays, European Cup on Wednesdays and Cup Winners Cup on Thursdays. All knock down on two legs.
Also miss much about footbal pre-Bosman. Then fan related more with the players, since most of them were from the clubs countries and were ābornā at their clubs. An example: there was much mire passion at the Bernabeu on the 80ās when they won the Uefa Cups with the āQuinta del Buitreā than now.
And anyone can understand that when a club win an European Cup, like Celtic did, with all players being from the Glasgow area or like Benfica did with all players being portuguese (although some born in the african colonies) was special because even the players related more tk the club and remained there for most of their carrers.
Plus, it was possible for Benfica, PSV, Celtic, Red Star, Malmoe, Panathinaikos, Partizan, Brugge to achieve the final of a major competition.
Since 2004, all finalists came from 4 countries except for PSG (once) and thatās a shame.
I understand that āmoney talksā.
But how cool would it be to see a Champions League final Benfica-Celtic or Feyenoord-Red Star? Well, probably not so funny for the English or Spanish or for most of the asiansā¦
My first European match in the stadium was an European Cup semi-final in 88, Benfica - Steaua, 120.00 people, crazy environment, Rui Ćguas scored both goals (the son of the captain who lifted two European Cups for the club), 2 years later, another European Cup semi-final, Benfica 1 - Marseille 0, another 120.000 fans exploding with joy. I was just a kid back then and cried like a small baby.
Would like to see a Champions league with a maximum 2 club per country and more countries represented. That would be a blast.
Almost impossible, but miracles sometimes happen. I recall the last time Benfica faced Liverpool in the CL, back in 2006ā¦ they were european chmpions back then, and after a close win 1-0 in Lisbon we won in Anfield 2-0.
Sure, I think this is a stronger Liverpool.
Whoever wins, will most likely face Bayern and they are also very, very strong. The strongest are definitively Pool, Bayern and City.
So, Jota signed for Celtic. Weāre very happy! We love him. A big loss for Benfica. But I think heāll be back there one day. After heās conquered the world!