11:30 PM PST. Shall be a cracker. I will be too smashed to comment on here during the game but I thought there should have been a proper thread put in place for a European final. Will Benfica upset the heavily favored Chelsea? Will Benfica finally end their European Trophy drought? JJ's last hurrah as Benfica manager? Tommorrow shall be interesting.
even doe i cant stand the big 3 with a vengeance, being Portuguese i always want our clubs to do well in Europe but just think benfica are going to self dis-truck and finish the season pot-less
Benfica isn't gonna win jack this season. Hopefully I'm wrong but I don't see it happening. Here's to me being wrong...doesn't happen often
It's time for you to enjoy the 3rd international title after such a long time (losing so many finals since 1962) ... so good luck for tonight! I guess a huge majority of European football fans (including me) are cheering for you guys tonight.
Hate the big 3? I can understand hating Porto or Benfica but what has Braga done to deserve such hate? See what I did there? Thanks for warm wishes
wow don't get me wrong I was cheering for Benfica but the they should put Jorge Jesus' face in the dictionary next to loser and runner up.
Zman and scp trolling hard. It must suck to like a team that can't make it out of a group stage. Are you guys even qualified for Europe next season? Enjoy midweeks off? Bigsoccer thinks your team is so small it's not even labeled correctly
Funny how I hardly come On here, yet im always on the mind Benfica choked like the losers they are, first at Porto now this in the dying seconds? To be honest benfica was playin well and could have won this final If they took shots on net Instead of attempting to walk the ball into the net.. Must be the heavy south American presence they are trying to do bachata or la rumba or some kinky shit out there on the pitch . No matter what this season will go down as a success for benfica fans, you finished several Places above sporting and thats all that matters to these fans We even took points off Porto and you couldn't even do it I remember in 2005 all the benfiquistas celebrating sporting,s late season collapse Karma is A bitch
Guy I don't even know where sporting finishes. I don't care. They're not competition. They haven't been in like 10 years. I, personally, wanted sporting to beat inter, why the hell wouldn't I? It's seriously like the only joy you get out of football is watching Benfica stumble. The inferiority sporting fans feel is real. It's not your fault. It's your clubs', that's their culture. It's a shame.
The silver lining here is that Benfica may fire Jorge Jesus, and rightly so. He's a good manager that has never and will never push a team over the edge. Benfica should do better, or get accustomed to never reaching potential
They sucked too. Remember this club thought Mourinho wasn't worth keeping around. We might as well be rooting for the same team because in Portugal there's Porto then everyone else
Sporting passed Over mourinho too we had the chance to get him first I heard. I troll Porto a lot too I'll be honest benfica had a great season, but it all unravelled in one painful week. Benfica played good football but to lose to last minute goals to Porto and Chelsea ... Now the team will likely end up with nothing to show for their efforts. Football can be cruel. Porto always seems To find ways to win even if not playing well. They have the winning mentality built up over the years and lets Be honest many clubs seem to not put up much of a fight against them but will sweat blood the next week to deny sporting a win. Anyways I felt similar in 2004/05 sporting lost to benfica the title and a few days later the Europa league to Cska on home soil . It was one of the most Butthurt moments I've ever felt as a sports fan And Maple leafs In hockey choking a game 7 4-1 lead in ten minutes was pretty bad this week And we all remember euro 2004 final wat a disaster
Can't say that I'm shocked by the result because I new Benfica would try hard to win this one. Let's face it, they had to play their style of game because they had to play for a win and not a draw like the Porto game. I think it's obvious that Benfica can hold their own against the big boys when they stick to what they are good at. That being said, Chelsea was very well organized and they seem to always have a ton of blue shirts in the box. They won the CL last season for a reason. Cardozo needs space to work and they did a great job marking him and not giving him the space he needs. Some Chelsea supporters I know made it clear that if Benfica had Falcao, Benfica would have easily won this game. We dominated most of the game, but you need to put the ball in the back of the net. Same old crap. They can score against weak opposition, but boy does the finishing look off against good teams. Heard of the luck of the Irish? I'll coin the curse of the Portuguese. Benfica is cursed. 7 european finals lost. They played well in all of them too. Time to bring in the exorcist and put him to work. As for JJ, he'll stay if he wants to stay. LFV knows JJ is good for business and replacing him isn't easy. Let's see if JJ wants to stay. I think he might want out at this point and most of the fans I know want him to move on. I'm tired of the guy, but replacing him won't be easy and I'm sure the instability will devastate the team for a few years. If JJ stays, we get more of the same. Second place finishes in the Liga and who knows what in Europe. He won the liga his first season because Porto had an off year and we had one of the best squads in decades. He strives at making the easy look hard. His new nickname should be "Second Place JJ." Part of me wants him to stay for like 10 more years and then they can erect a statue of him next to Eusebio and record all the second place finishes in the liga and Europe. I bet he can get a runners up in the CL too if he gets a good draw.
This sums up it up. Although Sporting to this day hasn't really seem to fully of recovered from 2005 let's see how Benfica responds next year.
I don't post on here much but being a Porto Fan, I must point this out: http://www.abola.pt/nnh/ver.aspx?id=402223 That is the reason why Porto and Benfica have been in the position they have been for the last 25 Years; Porto would have fired their coach and fans would have demanded answers. Benfica Celebrate good play and support a coach who yet again has delivered a second place finish. Porto still have to win on Saturday but this past week would have never been tolerated.