Benfica travels north to take on Famalicao in Week 31 action as they look to build on last weeks impressive win over Boavista and continue the chase for top spot in Portugal as the season winds down. Nelson Verissimo will continue to manage the squad until seasons end on an intern basis and he has announced his second squad selection. Benfica will take on Famalicao tomorrow at 9:30pm WEST and will dress
20 players from the list below.
Keepers- Vlachodimos, Mile Svilar, Ivan Zlobin
Defenders- Tomas Tavares, Jardel, Ruben Dias, Ferro, Nuno Tavares, Andre Almeida
Midfielders- Chiquinho, Pizzi, Franco Cervi, Rafa Silva, Samaris, Florentino, Julian Weigl, Zivkovic, Gabriel
Forwards- Carlos Vinicius, Jota, Dyego Sousa, Seferovic
Benfica have added their name along with other European clubs who have interest in Barcelona's U20 French international Jean-Clair Todibo. Barcelona acquired Todibo from Toulouse in the winter of 2019 and loaned the center back to German side Schalke this past January were he appeared in 13 games across all competitions. Schalke declined to pick up the €25M buy option that was attached with the loan but Barcelona are still looking to move on from the youngster which could be had for around €18M. Benfica are weighting their options with the likely departure of current starting center back Ruben Dias during the summer transfer window and have also been linked to center backs Robin Koch of Freiburg and Ruben Semedo of Olympiakos.
Benfica who are looking for a manager to replace the departed Bruno Lage have been linked to a variety of available managers but the apple of Benfica President Luis Filipe Vieira's eye remains former Benfica man Jorge Jesus who is currently employed by Brazilian side Flamengo. Jesus managed Benfica from the summer of 2009 to the summer of 2015 leading the club to three League Titles, five League Cups, a Super Cup, a Taca de Portugal, two Europa League finals while managing to win 225 games from 321 managed games during his spell with the club. The stumbling block that Benfica face in acquiring Jesus is that he recently signed a new contract with Flamengo until the summer of 2021 that will pay him an annual salary of €4M but this has not stopped Vieira from sending club representatives to Brazil to discuss the possibility of bringing the 65 year old back home to Portugal. One of Jesus' main concerns with the current club is that he wants to have a squad that is competitive in Europe, Vieira will need to open the purse strings to appease the return of JJ.
