Benfica authorize Otamendi to appear at the Olympics

Benfica has authorized captain Nico Otamendi to participate in the Summer Olympics during the off season according to reports from Argentina. Benfica and the Argentinian Football Association have held discussions and an agreement was made with Benfica, who gave the green light for this to happen.

Otamendi will also likely represent Argentina in the Copa America taking place before the Olympics, with the Copa taking place between June 20 to July 14 and the Olympics from July 24 and August 9. This will leave the 35 year old with little to no rest days, depending on the performance of Argentina in the two tournaments. 

 

Atalanta win gives Benfica direct entry to Champions League

Atalanta did Benfica a favour by defeating Torino 3-0 earlier today and locking a spot in Serie A's top four. The victory hands Benfica a direct entry into next season's Champions League and a minimum of about €40M that the club can put into their coffers.

Since Atalanta won the Europa League earlier this week, it gained automatic entry to next season's Champions League, but by guaranteeing a top 4 spot in Serie A, the Europa League spot now becomes vacant and goes to the best ranked club in the Champions League qualifying stage, which is Benfica.

The direct entry will adjust Benfica's off season plans as they can now focus on strengthening the club, with the group stage only kicking off in September as opposed to playing two rounds of qualifying, which would have commenced in early August.

The revamped Champions League format will see all clubs that qualify for the group stage play a minimum of eight games now, two against clubs in pots 1, 2, 3 and 4. The top eight clubs out of the 36 clubs advance automatically into the round of 16. While the clubs that finish 9th to 24th play a two leg playoff for a spot in the round of 16. 

Clubs that finish 25th or lower are eliminated from the competition and have no entry into the Europa League. Benfica will be seeded in pot 2 when the draw takes place on August 29th.

Angel di Maria set to return to Argentina

Angel di Maria's time at Benfica looks like it will be one and done, according to reports from Portugal's sports dailies. The Portuguese press is reporting that Di Maria has a verbal agreement in place to return to his childhood club, Rosario Central, amid for just six months.

Di Maria has always stated that his dream would be to finish his career at Rosario, but an event in March, when the 36 year old winger received threats to himself and his family if he were to return to Argentina, put those thoughts in doubt.

Di Maria is said to have had a change of heart and is once again open to returning to Rosario but he would do so alone, with his family moving to Miami to live. Di Maria is also demanding that heavy security be provided by Rosario for himself and that he will live in Buenos Aires, a full 300 km away from Rosario.

Benfica President Rui Costa is still set to meet Di Maria next week to discuss the winger staying at the club for another season, but a social media post by his spouse stating that she and Di Maria will miss Otamendi and his spouse has set the rumour mill of departure on overdrive.