Sporting expecting €30M from Joao Mario move to Benfica

Benfica midfielder Joao Mario is caught up in Sporting's dispute with Inter Milan after his move to Benfica last season after he and Inter Milan agreed to rescind the players contract. Sporting has included the €30M they expect to receive from Inter Milan who they believe circumvented their agreement when the club sold Joao Mario to Inter in 2016.

Sporting included the €30M clause in the deal to prevent the Italian club from selling Joao Mario back to a Portuguese club, which they state that both Inter and Joao Mario agreed to at the time of sale. Benfica have been excluded from the current turmoil as the situation makes its way through the judicial system.

Benfica look to continue perfect start to season

Benfica will go into the weekend looking to maintain their perfect start to the season when they travel to Famalicao Saturday for a league game. Benfica under the guidance of new manager Roger Schmidt have won all five of their league games to start the season and have also won all their five games in the Champions League which includes four qualifiers.

Benfica's longest winning run in all competitions is 18, which happened between December 12, 2020 and March 2, 2011. Benfica's longest league winning run was 29 games which occurred in the 70's from April 9, 1972 to March 11, 1973. The club still holds the European record for most games unbeaten in all competitions when from December 22, 1963 to February 14, 1965, Benfica went 48 games without suffering a loss.

Benfica open Champions League with a win

Benfica kicked off their Champions League campaign with a convincing 2-0 victory over visiting Maccabi Haifa, as the Eagles maintained their perfect start to the season under new manager Roger Schmidt winning their first ten competitive games. Benfica scored a pair of second half goals just four minutes apart in their victory with Rafa Silva and Alex Grimaldo finding the back of the net for the club.

Benfica will now travel to Italy to face Juventus next week in what many believe to be a battle for second spot in the group and a chance for a place in the competitions round of 16 next year. Juventus are coming off a 2-1 loss to group favourites PSG and will not be in a welcoming mode as they will look to end Benfica's current run. Benfica and Juventus are set to battle at the Allianz stadium on September 14.