Very early on, Benfica showed that they were the main contenders for the title and nine days before the end they even had a 10-point lead. But it was necessary to wait until the final round for confirmation, when the eagles finished the league with 87 points (they were one away from matching the best ever score, with Rui Vitória, in 2015-16), two more than the runner-up, FC Porto, who fought to the end.
The eagles lifted another trophy 1392 days after the club won the Algarve’s Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup with a thrashing from Sporting in a game that saw Vlachodimos, Grimaldo (a goal), Florentino Luís, Rafa Silva (a goal and two assists ) ) and Chiquinho (one goal), all still in the team that won this competition.
The 38th National Champion title thus finally came to Luz, three seasons after the last victory, then led by Bruno Lage, after a season in which Benfica dominated from start to finish (it isolated itself in the lead on matchday four and took advantage of the unexpected defeat of FC Porto in Vila do Conde). The triumphant tour that was expected eventually fell through – thanks to the dragons and Sp. Braga, who never gave up and pressed the men on Roger Schmidt’s orders until the final whistle – but the guaranteed advantage throughout the year would ultimately prove decisive.
For the German coach, who was nothing but modesty as a player, this was the second title of champion. He already did this in Austria in the service of Red Bull Salzburg, where he achieved the double (2013/14), successes where he later won a Chinese Cup (2017/18, in Beijing Guoan) and a Cup and a Super Cup in the Low Countries (2021/22) – plus a few trophies in Westphalian lower leagues before reaching higher tiers.
It was only the fourth time in the 21st century that a foreign coach managed to become Portuguese champion: this hasn’t happened since 2005/06, i.e. 17 years ago, when the Dutchman Co Adriaanse guided FC Porto to the title, succeeding Italian Giovanni Trapattoni, winner at Benfica last season. This class is completed by the Romanian László Bölöni, who guided Sporting to their penultimate victory in 2001/02.
A good choice
Officially announced on May 18 last year, Roger Schmidt started working in Seixal on June 27. “Last season FC Porto and Sporting were better and scored more points, but now they all start from scratch. I am very excited, Benfica’s managers believe in me and that I am a good coach for the club. The pressure is on me , to show who made a good choice,” he said at the first press conference, in a pragmatic tone that he would maintain throughout the season: “We have a great motivation to make everyone who loves Benfica proud, we have be a fighting team”.
At the start of the season embodied in the DN, which had the qualification for the group stage of the Champions League as its first major goal, Pedro Henriques, current commentator and former player of the club where he was part of his training, set the first mission from the German coach: “Turning Benfica into a collectively strong team”. And the least that can be said is that Schmidt accomplished this task admirably.
On July 9 at St. George’s Park, England, the first test: a 2-0 win over Reading, with Alexander Bah scoring the opening goal. At that time, Schmidt used the 4x2x3x1 characteristic of this Benfica. It would be the first of 19 consecutive wins: six in pre-season matches, four in Champions League qualification, two in the group stage (including one in Turin, against Juventus) and seven in the Portuguese league.
Benefiting from the presence in the European qualifying rounds, Benfica’s initial schedule was ideal: the team started with a defeat (4-0, with the first goal again from a right-back, in this case Gilberto) over Arouca. The team of that game formed the basis of the entire season: only the Brazilian (gradually), Enzo Fernández (who left for Chelsea in January), Morato (who lost his position to António Silva from the fifth matchday) and on one or different way of form , Neres (who at one point became the less regular option, given the greater reliability and versatility of Aursnes, who played on the left wing as well as joined Florentino in the center after the departure of the Argentine midfielder or the right wing “handled “) did not retain the status of indisputable holders to the end.
Eight players played at least two-thirds of the minutes played in Liga, showing that once the winning formula was found, Roger Schmidt rarely wanted to give it up. Incidentally, it had already been the case at PSV, so that the supporters of the Eindhoven team criticized the coach when the team lost too many points due to the obvious fatigue of some players, especially in his first season (between mid-January and the end of March suffered four defeats , half conceded at the time, and two draws in 11 games).
World Cup provides a break
The journey to the title suffered the first accident in the eighth round, before the reception in Paris SG. At Guimarães, Vitória created difficulties Benfica had not yet felt in what must have been one of their least successful games offensively, and the last clean sheet ended up being a happy one.
Despite everything, with the help of FC Porto that Sp. Braga, the Reds even increased their lead from two to three points. The victory in Dragão, in the next round, increased the distance to six and by the 12th round there were already eight.
Holding the World Cup, which spawned two world champions (Otamendi and Enzo, who would never be the same again due to the greed he aroused in Qatar), ultimately broke the victorious dynamic a bit. The team was eliminated from the League Cup and suffered its biggest defeat and worst performance of the season on its return to the championship: 0-3 in Braga. The derby against Sporting ended in a draw and by the end of the first round Benfica’s lead had fallen to four points over the Minho team and five over the dragons.
The beginning of the second half of the competition marked another series of good results. Benfica benefited from rivals’ slippages in the title fight (mainly FC Porto’s home defeat against Gil Vicente, which proved that it is often in matches with less strong opponents that a regulation measure is decided, as happened yesterday with Casa Pia ) and in the 26th round, before the blue and white were received, the lead was already ten points. A victory in the derby would turn the rest of the competition into pro forma, but after a win but underachievement in Vila do Conde, FC Porto showed the fatigue of a team that, despite practically starting to win, lacked the mental strength had to win. imposing themselves and eventually losing 1-2. This result was the start of an unprecedented negative cycle at the time: three consecutive defeats (including one in Chaves) and four games without a win (two of which cost continuity in the Champions League).
A slim victory over Estoril and another hard-fought victory in Barcelos put the team back on track, leading by just four points, before reception over Sp. Braga, one of the two most complicated appointments to the end. The win was numerically inconclusive (1-0), but the solid performance showed that the title could narrowly escape.
Joao, Goncalo and Rafael
If the great virtue of this Benfica champion – also a great victory for Rui Costa, who had already achieved it as a player, for the bold bet on Schmidt in his “year zero” as president – was without doubt his collective, pragmatic and committed to attack everywhere, there were of course excellent individual contributions, starting with João Mário.
The midfielder/winger, who was also champion at Sporting and had a disappointing first season at Luz, was almost always in top form (he was a bit out at the end of the season) and revealed an unknown goalscoring facet (23 goals in total of 17 in the League, to which he added six assists), probably because he played more advanced in the field, on the left (with Neres), right (with Aursnes) and even in the center (alternating with Rafa).
With an above-average performance, Gonçalo Ramos also stood out, undisputed starter and the goalscorer that every ambitious team desires (30 in the season, including the national team, and 19 in the league, without being the penalty taker). Rafa Silva, the man of verticality, was more erratic but absolutely decisive in Hour H and often made the difference; the goals in Dragão and against Sp. Braga at home helped tip the balance in the final bills.
Florentino Luís, in midfield, was as impressively regular as he was discreet, despite also falling at the end, whether it was with Enzo (first half star), Aursnes or Chiquinho nearby. Behind that, Otamendi, even a “defendant” in Chaves’ misadventure, was a worthy captain, while Grimaldo (extroverted) continued what he had shown on the left, often a vital offensive unlocker: he provided nine assists (the same as a Neres who started very well but lost steam) and still scored five goals. The arrival of Aursnes gave the team an element capable of taking different positions, essential for small tactical changes during the matches.
In goal, Vlachodimos added up every minute of the competition and, without being extraordinary, was always reliable and gave confidence to his teammates. Bah and Gilberto alternated well on the right and Chiquinho was able to seize the opportunity after Enzo went off and scored an important goal to unblock a match that was about to get complicated at Barcelos. Striker Musa, with only a few minutes left, signed a remarkable record: in about 600 minutes on the field, he scored nine goals (seven scored and two assisted).
Draxler and Gonçalo Guedes (arrived in January), two of the main signings, ended up playing little roles due to physical problems, so the final highlight goes to the two youngsters in the team who were the coach’s bet: António Silva, a center of great future who debuted on matchday four and became indisputable (to the point that he had been to the World Cup and was in the senior team). And João Neves, who made his breakthrough at the end of the season, was Schmidt’s constant effort and one of the figures of the team, scorer of the draw in Alvalade in the penultimate round.
Source: DN
