David Neres will undergo knee surgery for extended absence

Benfica have lost winger David Neres for an extended period of time due to an injury to his meniscus in his left knee. The injury happened in yesterday's league game against Casa Pia, and will see the 26 year old go under the knife to repair the damage.

There has been no timeline given for the recovery time that Neres will need before he can return to action, but the injury is similar to the one sustained by Goncalo Guedes last season, which saw Guedes miss four months of action.

Neres is a big loss to a club that continues to struggle to score goals this season, having dropped points once again yesterday due to a lack of finish around the goal. He joins right back Alexander Bah and midfielder Orkun Kokcu in the infirmary.

Benfica celebrate 20 years at the Luz with mural

On the day the Estadio da Luz celebrated 20 years, Benfica unveiled a new mural celebrating their most outstanding 20 players from the first two decades of the stadium opening as selected by the club's fans. 

Ederson, Jan Oblak, Nelson Semedo, Andre Almeida, Ezequiel Garay, Luisao, Ruben Dias, Nico Otamendi, Alex Grimaldo, Pablo Aimar, Rui Costa, Angel di Maria, Nico Gaitan, Eduardo Salvio, Simao Sabrosa, Rafa Silva, Oscar Cardozo, Nuno Gomes, Joao Felix and Jonas were the players chosen by the fans.

Ten players were present for the unveiling of the mural led by club President Rui Costa. Benfica's Estadio da Luz was opened on October 25, 2003 and was built from scratch as the main stadium of the Euro 2024 tournament being held in Portugal.

 

What is wrong with Benfica in Champions League?

Benfica's struggles in the Champions League this season hit an all-time high when they lost for the second time at home in the competition to keep a perfect record that no one wants to have. Benfica will now be known as the only club to be drawn from pot one in the Champions League to have gone with zero goals and zero points in their first three games of the group stage.

Benfica's chances to advance out of the group stage are currently slim and could be none when they face Real Sociedad away in Spain after suffering a flattering 1-0 loss at home to them just yesterday. Benfica have looked like a shell of last season's club that made a run to the quarterfinals, which some would say that a series of unfortunate events saw the club exit to last years finalists.

But what has happened to the club that has looked terrible in the competition? Looking at the players that currently remain with the club, you have Joao Mario and Rafa Silva, who are a shell of the players that put fright into clubs last season. The pair scored 11 goals between them.

The lack of usage of a true defensive midfielder has also proved costly, as the pair of Orkun Kokcu and Joao Neves are a far cry from last seasons generals Enzo Fernandez and Florentino, who commanded the middle of the field.

For all the accolades that Kokcu and Neves get for their league play, one needs to sit in place of Florentino, who, for reasons unknown, has fallen out of favour with his pig-headed bench boss Roger Schmidt.

Benfica have also failed to replace departing striker Goncalo Ramos, as the trio of Petar Musa, Casper Tengstedt, and Arthur Cabral have yet to step up and provide the pressure up front that Ramos became famous for.

The left back position is also a glaring hole in the squad, as the exit of Alex Grimaldo has cost the club some attacking flare, and the free kick specialist was also known for timely goals, which current replacements Juan Bernat and David Jurasek provide neither.

Benfica have three games to correct the ship, but an advancement from group play may be out of the club's hands at this point in the competition, they can only take it one game at a time and hope for a return to form quickly, but I won't hold my breathe, and neither should you at this juncture.