Benfica reach tentative agreement with Roger Schmidt

Benfica have announced that they have reached a principal agreement with current PSV manager Roger Schmidt to take over the club next season with only minor details of the contract to be worked out. Schmidt deal is said to be for two seasons with an option for third which would commence in the summer after his contract with PSV Eindhoven expires.

The 55 year old Schmidt made a name for himself in Austria while in charge of Red Bull Salzburg for two seasons before moving on to lead Bayer Leverkusen in his native Germany for almost three seasons. Schmidt would then head over to Chinese club Beijing Guoan for two seasons before taking over with PSV in the summer of 2020.

Schmidt has captured a variety of trophies during his coaching career from the Austrian league championship during the 2013/14 season to this seasons double trophy haul, winning the Dutch Super Cup and the Dutch Cup at PSV. Schmidt is said to be bringing his number two Jorn Wolf to join his coaching staff at Benfica.

 

Benfica will need to work quick for Neres

Benfica have a great opportunity in front of them presented by the unfortunate situation in the Ukraine as many foreign players look set to depart clubs from the Ukraine and Russia during the summer transfer window. One of those players is 25 year old winger David Neres who just joined Shakhtar Donetsk during the winter window from Ajax for €12M after spending the past five seasons in the organization.

The Brazilian winger is said to be on the wish list of incoming manager Roger Schmidt who got a first hand look at Neres while managing against him while at PSV in the Eredivisie League. Neres has yet to play a game for Shakhtar since joining the club, as the league was in its winter break when the Ukraine was invaded by Russia and had to shutdown operations temporarily.

Benfica do have a trump card in negotiations with Shakhtar as the Ukrainian club have yet to pay the full €17M from their summer acquisition of winger Pedrinho from the Lisbon side. Benfica are hoping that they will be able to unlock the early form of Neres with Ajax before he suffered a severe knee injury that saw him miss almost all of the 2019/20 season. Benfica are not alone in their pursuit of Neres, as Italian giants Juventus have also had their name linked to the player.

Benfica prepared to do what it takes in final four games

With just four games remaining in Benfica's season, the club looks to go out in strong form, while the club still has a slim chance to finish second in the league and get the automatic spot in the Champions League group stage. Benfica would need a bit of help in achieving this outcome as they currently trail Sporting by six points and do not hold the tiebreaker if the two clubs end up level on points at the conclusion of the final four weeks of play.

Benfica will also have their eye on making sure that Darwin Nunez wins the league's golden boot as the 22 year old Uruguayan currently sits atop Portugal with 25 goals which currently gives him a seven goal lead over closest rival, FC Porto's Taremi. If Darwin were to reach the 30 goal mark he would be the first in Portugal to hit that plateau since Benfica's Jonas did so during the 2017/18 season.

Benfica will have a different look next season from the manager off the pitch to the players on it but with four games left in the season we might as well all sit back and enjoy what is left before the summer hiatus.

Montpellier left back linked with Benfica move

Benfica have their eye on their potential player replacement for Alex Grimaldo this summer and that player is current Montpellier left back Mihailo Ristic according to reports coming out of both Portugal and France. Benfica is set to finally cash in on their current left back and are like the option of adding Ristic who will become a free agent during the summer.

The 26 year old Ristic joined French side Montpellier in the winter of 2019 from Russian club Krasnodar and has appeared in 28 games this season across all competitions for Montpellier, scoring twice while setting up another two. The Serbian International has also been capped 7 times by his nation, the last coming in a friendly against Hungary in March.

Benfica lay major dent in Sporting title hopes

Benfica look to have handed their cross town rivals Sporting a major blow in their aspirations to repeat as Portuguese League Champions after a 2-0 victory at the Estadio Jose Alvalade yesterday. Benfica kept their slim hopes of finishing second alive with the victory closing their gap on their Lisbon rivals to six points with four league games remaining but Sporting currently holds the tiebreaker if the clubs finish level on points. 

Darwin Nunez continued his hot form scoring the opening goal and his league leading 25th of the season while setting up the second goal late in the game. Benfica's final four games of the season will see them face Maritimo and Pacos Ferreira on the road, while they will host Famalicao and current league leaders FC Porto at the Estadio da Luz.

Benfica look to make millions from summer sales

The football season is coming to an end and for us Benfica fans their is nothing left to look forward to until next season kicks off with the club out of every competition left and with no chance of capturing the league title for a third consecutive season.

Benfica are set for big changes this summer with the clubs most important move bringing in a new manager with a new vision to get this club back on track and that man looks set to be announced shortly in current PSV manager Roger Schmidt. Look for the club to make the announcement of the over the coming weeks as they look to have their manager in place before the summer transfer window gets underway.

Benfica's next steps will be a major overhaul of the clubs current players, look for Valentino Lazaro, Soualiho Meite and Nemanja Radonjic to all return to their respective clubs without Benfica exercising their buy options on all three players loans. Benfica will then commence the sale of many of the clubs current players as they look to hit the €150M mark in summer moves.

The six players most likely to depart the club this summer include:

Benfica show fight in draw with Liverpool

Benfica say good bye to the Champions League from the quarter-final stage after an exciting two legs against Premiership side Liverpool as they fall 6-4 on aggregate after drawing the second leg 3-3 earlier today. Benfica's poor first half in the first leg looks to be the major difference in this encounter and has myself and other Benfica fans wondering why this club does not show the same hustle and vigor during league action.

Benfica needed to get the opening goal after falling 3-1 to Liverpool in the first leg but another opening corner kick goal from Konate opened the scoring for Liverpool. Goncalo Ramos would then bring Benfica level going into the half. The second half say a pair of goals from striker Firmino give Liverpool a 3-1 lead but Benfica did not quit and goals by Yaremchuk and Darwin Nunez brought the game level once again with eight minutes remaining.

A brilliant Allison save just minutes later after the Benfica equalizer kept the Lisbon side from going ahead as the Liverpool keeper denied a Darwin Nunez bullet from going in on the lower left side. Nunez would score again in injury time but his goal would be ruled off side for the third time in the game but this time VAR would not over rule the linesman's call siding with the officials on two of the three Darwin markers in the game. Benfica get set to face city rivals Sporting on Easter Sunday as they hope to put a dent on the Lions title hopes.

Benfica ready to add Lille's Xeka to squad

Benfica are said to be currently in talks to bring home 27 year old Lille midfielder Xeka to the club next season as the Portuguese born midfielder will be out of contract at seasons end and be able to join the Lisbon side on a free transfer making a return to Portugal since departing back in 2017 according to reports from Portugal.

Xeka first joined Lille on loan from Braga during the winter of 2017 and made the move permanent for €5M in the summer of 2017. Xeka has appeared in 143 games across all competitions for the French club, scoring eight goals while setting up an additional seven. Xeka has not only played at Braga but also spent some time with Covilha at the senior level.

Benfica to return to Almeria for another striker

Benfica look to try their luck again this summer with a striker currently at Spanish second division side Almeria and hope to strike gold as they did in the summer of 2020 when they acquired Darwin Nunez from the same club. With Nunez set to depart for greener pastures this summer and Benfica ready to reap a windfall of cash for the sale of the 22 year old, the club is looking to acquire a replacement for the Uruguayan international.

According to reports coming from Italy, Benfica are in talks already with Almeria for the clubs current number one striker Umar Sadiq. The 25 year old was Nunez's replacement at the Spanish side and has scored 38 goals across all competitions since joining the club over the past two seasons. Almeria is also set to reap a windfall from Benfica's sale of Darwin Nunez based on an add on clause that will see them receive 20% of any future sale that Benfica make on the player. This itself should see the clubs want to work together once more.

 

Boavista striker almost guaranteed at Benfica

Benfica are preparing for the summer transfer window even with it still two months away as the club looks to strengthen itself to compete for next season. Benfica have accepted that they will be moving on from current striker and league scoring leader Darwin Nunez during the summer months as the 22 year old Uruguayan has caught the attention of many of Europe's top clubs in a move that should bring in a record haul for the Lisbon side.

Benfica are also said to be ready to move on from Swiss striker Haris Seferovic, while striker Rodrigo Pinho has gone through two injury plagued seasons and is not being counted on for next year. This would leave Benfica with only two striking options in youngster Goncalo Ramos and Roman Yaremchuk with a host of spots to fill on the squad up front.

According to reports in Portugal, Benfica have already set their sights on one league striker who has scored eleven goals and set up three across all competitions for Boavista this season, that striker's name is Petar Musa who is on loan from Slavia Prague. Musa's loan deal includes a clause that has already been automatically activated, when Musa hit the ten goal mark in February. Boavista are now on the hook to pay Slavia Prague €3.5M for the 24 year old Musa while Benfica monitor the situation closely and ready to act financially to assist Boavista with finalizing the move.

 

Benfica mistakes prove costly in Liverpool loss

Benfica went into their Champions League quarter-final encounter saying all the right things but once the game kicked off, Benfica looked afraid to get any attack going in the first half, a mistake that proved costly in their 3-1 defeat at the hands of Liverpool and now face the impossible task of traveling to Anfield next week and hoping for a positive result in the second leg encounter.

The Estadio da Luz was rocking as the game kicked off but Benfica got their first warning just nine minutes into the game as Salah's chance on goal was shot straight at Benfica keeper Vlachodimos. The game would remain scoreless for just eight more minutes as Liverpool would convert a corner when center back Konate who was left unmarked would smash a header into the Benfica net.

Benfica would get a break at the 23 minute mark but Everton's run on goal should have saw him do better as his shot would go wide into the netting from in close range. Liverpool almost doubled their lead just one minute later but a Luis Diaz attempt was turned aside by Vlachodimos once more as Liverpool's confidence grew.

Liverpool would then make the score 2-0 after a Taarabt pass attempt was intercepted in Benfica's half and a beautiful cross by Alexander-Arnold would see Luis Diaz head pass the ball to an open Sadio Mane who would tap the ball into a wide open goal. Luis Diaz would then come oh so close to scoring but his low shot would go wide of the bottom left corner. Vlachodimos would need to make another stop just before the half, this time to Mo Salah to keep the game within reach.

Benfica were lucky to go into the half down just two as the Lisbon side failed to get anything going and who's passing was piss poor all half.

Benfica set for Liverpool clash

Benfica will kick off their Champions League quarter-final campaign against English club Liverpool on Tuesday at the Estadio da Luz as the Lisbon side continues their UEFA campaign with the second leg of the quarter-final taking place at Anfield on April 13. 

Benfica go into this game coming off a disappointing road loss to Braga 3-2 on Friday, just about ending the clubs quest to finish in the top two places in the league as they currently trail second place Sporting by six points, which could rise to nine by the end of the day today. Benfica are hoping that a continued run in the Champions League will appease their fans from their terrible domestic season.