It was the cruellest of jokes. Even with the reverberations from the 5-0 walloping they took at FC Porto earlier in the season still quietly rumbling away in the back of their minds, Benfica fans were still willing to forgive the previous week’s capitulation at the Estádio da Luz which had allowed Porto to saunter away with the title. After all, Benfica held a 2-0 lead from the first leg of what appeared to be a redeeming Cup semifinal tie. Porto had to score three times if they were to humiliate O Glorioso for the second time in two weeks. Yet somehow, a Radamael Falcao mishit deflected its way past the hapless Roberto and sealed the completion of what Porto coach André Villas Boas called “complete domination”. It wasn’t just a defeat for a club like Benfica. It felt like annihilation.
According to a recent poll, Porto fans derive their identity as supporters from their club’s on-pitch success; they are proud because their team accumulates trophies and smashes records. Theirs is a pragmatic dogma, a relentless chopping at the legacy of Benfica’s past. Sporting fans, meanwhile, are motivated by a sense of indefatigability. The poll found that Benfica’s city rivals are able to fill their stadium because fans see support for their faltering, penniless club as an act of defiance. As for Benfica themselves, it would appear that around 60% of the Portuguese population worships their idea of grandeza—‘greatness’. Benfica’s title win last year saw greater celebrations than when Portugal reached the final of Euro 2004 on home soil. A popular scarf which can be bought from the club shop reads ‘Maior Que Portugal’—‘Bigger Than Portugal’.
With Porto back in control on the field, Benfica’s ‘greatness’ is rooted in something else. It rises from beyond the limits of mere sport, taking its power from outside the stadium, outside reality, in the memory and collective consciousness of fans raised on a notion of Benfica as, well, ‘BENFICA’. It is a non-specific sense of grandeur, yet it is far from being a delusion. In the 1960s, the club could well claim to be the greatest in the world but, as the emblem of tiny, politically marginalised and geographically-challenged Portugal, its memory has been pressed into near-obscurity. Though ‘BENFICA’ did not lose its international prestige until the mid-nineties and remains the most supported club in Portugal—it has even overtaken Barcelona as the club with most paying members in the world—its success is woven into the fabric of a nation which is struggling to awaken from the nightmare of history.
James Joyce’s Ulysses is an apt comparison, I believe. As the Enlightenment forged the idea of history as the inevitable unfolding of progress, Portugal’s own history was unravelling, the cult of Sebastianism sapping at the intellectual energy of a country trapped in perennial decline. Stephen Dedalus is ‘taught’ that history is the movement “towards the manifestation of God”; Portugal could not and cannot relate to the idea of history as a positive force for progress. Each and every step is a step taken by the global elite to whom the formerly great Portuguese find themselves tied; each and every step is a step away from destiny. It is much the same with Benfica.
Yet while Benfica’s grandeza is that of Portugal—more than that of Portugal, in fact—the similarities end there. For Benfica’s history is not a Romantic absolute. Though it finds its much of its concrete expression in statues of Eusébio and the grainy footage of the European Cup wins in the 1960s, ‘BENFICA’ is not (and could not be) limited to one era. What President Luís Filipe Vieira’s marketing strategists appear to have grasped is that ‘BENFICA’ is transcendence through multiplicity. In other words, like all great modern ideas, its greatness lies in the multiplicity of itself: it is at once the grand old club of lore, with an irreplaceable history, and the modern expression of the qualities which lit up that past—attack, power, glory. All great clubs are founded on illusions—it is illusion, and hope, which makes supporters pay to go and watch the games, to scream, to cry, to laugh. Should Porto’s revolving door of trophies grind to a halt, their fans would lose their illusion. Benfica’s illusion, however, is complex, at once burdened and enhanced by the past. If Porto were to hold a mirror up to the game as they interpret it, they would see trophies and medals. Benfica would see a thousand interconnected images of masses of red, a Eusebio goal, a Rui Costa pass. Benfica’s mirror is Joyce’s cracked looking-glass.
The trouble with ‘BENFICA’ is that the image needs success to sustain itself. While it is rather a convenient get-out for when Benfica don’t win (so long as they don’t win in a glorioso fashion, naturally), the Benfica idea is, inevitably, reliant on fresh flashes of glory. When glory isn’t forthcoming, the result is harrowing; whilst Porto’s relentless pursuit of trophies is a quest which must, like their squad, face a complete renewal with each new season, Benfica’s grandeza implies a state of permanence which leads to utter despair when things go wrong. So when those upstarts from Porto have the audacity to win at the Estádio da Luz twice in two weeks to take the league and a place in the cup final, it doesn’t just hurt. It shakes the very foundations that the club is built upon.
Augusto Neto strings thirty passes together and hits the post at www.soccerlens.com.
Sebastianism is a name given to a belief, which persisted in Portugal well into the nineteenth century, that King Sebastian, who disappeared in battle during a doomed military campaign in North Africa, would return to lead the nation back to its fifteenth-century glory. Portugal’s government, according to some, appears to believe it even today.
by Augusto Neto · May 13, 2011
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this is perhaps the worst post I’ve read on this blog.
@anon Agreed. The notion of Portugal (and Benfica) being only about nostalgia is a beaten cliché. True, but the post didn’t add much to it.
Benfica’s inner grandness is almost impossible to define.
I tried it here:
http://decadentalley.wordpress.com/2011/03/11/a-clubs-ethos/
…it is not as elegant as Augusto’s prose, I made an attempt to define the club’s ethos as a ‘thing in itself’.
There’s a league in Portugal?
@grama I think you have misunderstood the article. Nowhere did I try to claim that Portugal is all about nostalgia. I made the point (quite clearly, I feel, though obviously people have the right to disagree) that Portuguese history is inextricably bound up with that of Europe, to the detriment of Portugal itself; however, the article was not about Portuguese history, nor was it an attempt to paint Benfica as a club which is all about nostalgia.
Our relationship with our past constitutes a large part of who we are. Indeed, my use of Joyce as a comparison was intended to help me promote the issue of history as burden.
This article represents all that is respulsive about Benfica and Benfiquistas. Even though they were humiliated in thir own stadium twice in two weeks (with a humilation away to FC Porto earlier in the season), these results could never be brought into question. Therefore, Benfica and Benfiquistas have to find something, some glimmer of hope to try to convince themselves that they are still the best team in Portugal. What could they use? The only thing that they have, their history. Images of European Cups from over 50 years ago, or of a “Rui Costa pass” or maybe the fact that they have more fans. Just admit that the best club in Portugal at the moment is “those upstarts from Porto” and you might not look like the obtuse Eusebio-crazed fans that you are.
Good to see commenters taking Brian’s warning against hate to heart…
I don’t follow Portuguese soccer very closely, so I found this article very enlightening
@James D I agree — I’m only familiar with the dashing Porto narrative of this year, so this piece provides me with useful contextual information. And foregrounding for the Europa final.
I really liked this article too although I didn’t agree with it (I’m not in or from Portugal, what the hell would I know though? etc). In my opinion the past can only remain relevant for so long and I really admire FC Porto even if they have created a boring monopoly.
The article didn’t deserve to blind lashing out that it received, although at least Philip explained his position.
I think a couple of the responses to this article show the depth of the rivalry between the top clubs in Portugal. This is a place where club shops getting smashed up has become almost weekly news; on nearly every trip the Benfica squad bus has taken North over the past few years, it has been stoned by Porto fans. However, the article was not supposed to be a thesis on Benfica, more an illuminating guide to the attitude of the fans of this hugely paradoxical club.
There’s a great story about the time Sven Goran Eriksson coached his first ‘Classico’ at Porto’s old das Antas stadium. Sven met Porto President Pinto da Costa and, after exchanging pleasantries, asked why his squad had been locked out of their dressing-room while Porto had been allowed in theirs. The Porto chief supposedly replied ‘Mr Eriksson, you have a lot to learn. This is war. Welcome to Portugal’. There is bitterness and envy on both sides, and history (not nostalgia) plays a crucial part.
I am a Benfica fan. The type of fan that cries, screams and smashes pieces of furniture when we lose a big game.
Having said that I would like to state that Porto, this year, has been superior beyond dispute. Just overwhelmingly superior. They played much better than anyone else, their midfield of Fernando, Belluschi and Moutinho was delightful to watch at times.
However, no matter how many European silverware Porto collects, to me, and to a few million persons, Benfica is simply the Greatest. One of the greatest in the World actually. The Glorious One.
I agree with Humberto that history is a big part of that feeling of unworldly greatness, but it doesn’t tell the whole story.
@Augusto Neto Well said.
@James D Couldn’t agree more James. It’s a shame that an article as well written as this is simply derided as being “the worst” or simply “a beaten cliche”.
Whilst discourse and disagreement is paramount in the type of conversation RoP’s posts instigate, what benefit is there in comments like those from @anon and @grama? *frustrated*
Thanks Augusto for a lovely read and thanks to the aforementioned for only serving to reinforce (as if it was needed) the previous references on this site to hyperpartisanship.
Bottomline is (and so many times forgotten) we should be talking of shields not teams. Benfica is the greater SHIELD in Portugal, ever and forever. It’s not about who’s the best team. Sometimes Benfica has the best team, a lot of others doesn’t. That’s what football is about, right? There’s only one winner in the end. Portuguese supporters have a lot of difficulties living with this conundrum…
Benfiquistas usually say that Benfica never loses, sometimes it just doesn’t win. And we are ok with it, because even if it loses its Grandeza (and yes it is rooted in the past as all Grandezas are) is always there, waiting for the supporter to cling on. This (in my view) is not a negative thing. I even think that’s exactly the main reason Benfica is so hated (and it is, don’t anyone doubt it) by all the other portuguese teams. They’ll never get there, they’ll never rise to that level. And that’s a lot to digest I presume… FCPorto/Sporting/and-now-Braga? could win whatever they want but they’ll never get to see this (http://anauel.blogspot.com/2010/05/dimensao-e-de-tal-ordem-que-ate-assusta.html).
(The particular reasons as to why FCPorto will never get to be a respectable shield around Portugal or the world should have no place in this post… really. That’s the only donwer with this text, it really shouldn’t mix FCPorto’s trophys and medals with Benfica’s Mística. They’re not comparable, they’re not two sides of the same mirror. That’s almost offensive… Every FCPorto’s medal (from the last 3 decades) is tainted with doubt and suspicion, mind you. And exclusively due to their supporters fault, because medals is all they care… because grandeza/mística is what they lack…)
@Rich Pye Let me add a more reasoned criticism: there’s nothing wrong with this piece but it doesn’t offer a lot of insight either. Jack Rabbit’s piece does.
The cover art/design is very nice, though. It was considerate of the artist to choose a scene also depicted on Sebastian’s Wikipedia piece rather than something more obscure.
@Augusto Neto I second Alan – very well said. Hope you keep contributing – the more leagues represented here the better.
when i was in college i started studying portuguese. i was fortunate enough to go to school in a city that had a sizable portuguese immigrant population, and so, when i had the time, i would walk a couple miles down the road and watch benfica matches in the local casa do benfica.
i am from scots-irish descent, my family has been in america for about 300 years, and nobody in my family speaks portuguese except me. and yet, by going to that casa do benfica i fell in love with the club. i’ve been a sócio for 5 years, i pay my dues every 6 months, even though i haven’t been back to portugal since 2006.
porto fans may not like it, philip quite obviously doesn’t, but there IS something about the club. i actually don’t think it’s a history thing, though. i also don’t think it’s a success-based thing, either. i think it’s a social thing – the casa do benfica phenomenon is where the greatness of the club exists in my eyes. for so many people outside of the country, supporting benfica is one of the ways (and i would like to stress it is only ONE of the ways) they maintain their portuguese identity, whether the team wins or loses. football-wise, porto is a better team (at the moment). but no club means as much to the millions of portuguese who have left the country, or who weren’t even born there but define themselves as such. it’s not REALLY about watching the team win, although that is, quite obviously, preferred. rather, it’s about doing something as a community. it’s as if they are saying, “i may live in toronto or san josé or new bedford or johannesburg, but i am engaging my portuguese identity by supporting benfica with other self-defined portuguese people.” (and the occasional white-boy such as myself.)
of course fc porto is the best team in portugal. nobody is disputing that. but just because they are the best doesn’t mean they are the most important.
Great post, and nice evolution on the comment thread. I’m a Sporting Lisbona fan, and though I claim no unbiased view on this whole Benfica vs. Porto discussion, I’d like to add a couple of thoughts:
– Benfica’s supporters behaviour does border on dillusion. They claim, and hinge, on a greatness that just isn’t there anymore. Characterizing Porto as ‘upstarts’ is a clear symptom of this. For the past thirty years, Porto has been the only team that still makes the Portuguese Liga relevant on the european scene.
– Benfica’s performances mirror its supporters bipolar behaviour. There is no middle ground. They are either playing ‘fantastic attacking football a la Benfica’ or they’re rotting away in miserable football hell, either because they have an unworthy coach / players / board. Often, neither is true. Most of the time they are just beaten by a better Porto, in terms of club organization, transfer policy an on field .
– nevertheless, Benfica’s phatos is probably the best characterization of Portugal. Clinging to old glories and living off unrealistic sense of expectations – most Benfica supporters I know boasted that this year, besides winning the League title again, they’d be serious contenders on the Champion’s League. A Sporting fan would never say such a thing, and a Porto fan, well, they did win it twice in the last 25 years. And this is why Porto inspires so much respect on every pitch they play in Portugal, contrary to what has been said here,
There is some truthness to Benfica’s claim that they are more than a country, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not without some hint of pathetic dellusion.
@JCM If they had entered the CL with their entire ’09-’10 squad, including Ramires and Di María, maybe they could have. (I know Porto lost Meireles themselves.)
@JCM I think you and a few of the others here have misunderstood my use of the term ‘upstarts’. I was trying to convey the attitude of Benfica fans towards those from Porto through the eyes of a neutral – the article was not written for a Portuguese audience.
Again, this shows the bitter partisanship which exists in the Portuguese game. What’s so fascinating about Portuguese football is that when you read articles in the press, or watch a news report, you immediately search for bias. There are simply no neutrals – you either support Benfica, Porto, or Sporting. Indeed, a better way of putting it might be: you are either pro-Benfica, or ‘anti’ (just look at the bizarre phenomenon of Braga fans, for whom Benfica was like a second club until the past few years, mysteriously turning from friends to the bitterest of enemies of the Lisbon club).
I wrote an article about the ‘greatness’ of Benfica without trying to pass judgement. I simply presented the facts, and tried to illuminate them with what was actually quite a critical view of Benfica. A British author can write about, say, Manchester United and face much less criticism because in Britain, you can easily be a neutral. The author might support Aston Villa, or West Ham, or MK Dons – anyone. The rivalry at the top of Portuguese football is so intense, however, that it splits the entire country apart.
@Augusto Neto That’s so true… The first thing Portuguese supporters do as they start reading a piece about football is search for bias… (Brian Phillips’s hyperpartisan thesis should be mandatory at portuguese playgrounds!) It’s quite a terrible thing. As it is the either pro or anti Benfica way of seing things (as you can well see in JCM text).
And, sadly, I see we’re still debating matches, medals and trophys…
@JCM I’m a Benfica supporter with season tickets and I have lots of friends that are Benfica fans as well. Not once I heard anyone this year stating that we could win the CL. Only Jesus (our coach) said it and sadly believed it… Only a fool could had believed it as well. In my view that was precisely the main reason for our debacle this year in all fronts… The arrogance. But that arrogance is not Benfica’s (as so many times mistakenly we hear), is Jesus’s arrogance. It’s Jesus incapacity to read/understand/respect Benfica’s greatness (it’s not easy to manage such a club). And it’s our (the supporters) cross to bear…
And, mind you, Porto doesn’t inspire that much respect in every pitch, it inspires fear. Which is quite a different thing.
@Carlos Vieira Reis The problem is that Portuguese football, like the country’s culture and history as a whole, is so marginalised by Europe’s economic powerhouses that only success in the Champions’ League and, to a much smaller extent, the Europa League, can ever really bring the clubs to the attention of those in England, Italy, or Germany (in Spain, obviously, there is much more of an awareness).
It’s a peculiar phenomenon, because Portugal can easily claim to boast the world’s best manager in Mourinho, its best player in Ronaldo (though this is much more debatable), one of the five or ten greatest players ever in Eusebio, and some of its most beautiful stadiums. Portuguese clubs boast fifteen major European finals between them and the national team has comfortably sat in the world’s top ten for around a decade. Because this success is so disproportionate to the country’s size, however, its successes become appropriated to the point where they’re barely viewed as Portuguese at all (there’s a wonderful article on this here http://www.runofplay.com/2011/02/02/ronaldo-and-the-thief-of-culture/).
The result? The ‘Benfica’ idea means nothing outside of Portugal, while Porto are genuinely viewed as the biggest club in the land by casual viewers in England, France etc. Because of the sheer size of Benfica, it is often said that the club comes to represent a national ideal, but this is not what the article was trying to portray.
@Augusto Neto You say a couple of things in that last comment, Augusto, that I don’t agree with. First, you note that Portuguese football has been marginalised as its culture and history. Is it really any more marginalised than other European countries with a similar population, like Belgium or Austria?
Nor do I agree that awareness of Portugal in Spain is, presumably because of geographical proximity, any higher than it is anywhere else. In fact, I’d say it’s actually lower, because it’s based not on any direct knowledge or experience but on mere pseudoxenophobic diss-the-neighbours stereotypes of the “Portuguese women have moustaches” or “I desperately want to go to Portugal; I really need some new towels”[1] kind. Right now, you are just as likely to meet a Spaniard who has been to Morocco, London, Paris or Berlin as one who’s ever set foot in Portugal (unless they live very close to the border). To borrow the central concept of China Mièville’s The City and the City, Portugal may share a peninsula with Portugal, but it is generally “unseen”. Getting back to football itself, Digital + (Spain’s Sky-platform equivalent) shows half a dozen matches every weekend from the EPL, Serie A and Bundesliga, and often a couple from the Eredivisie and Brazilian state championships, as well, but you won’t get to see a Portuguese team in action until they happen to be drawn against a Liga club in a UEFA competition. Only football in France – Spain’s “auld enemy” – is as roundly ignored here.
In Spain, Futre and Figo’s Portugueseness is on a par with Davor Sukor’s Croatianness, Hugo Sánchez’s Mexicanness or Mesut Özil’s Turco-Germanness: an irrelevance. They’re just viewed as great players shipped in by Madrid clubs, where from nobody much cares. As for Eusébio, I’ve seen him rated far more highly in the UK than in Spain (probably because of his European Cup encounters with Manchester United). Here I’d position him on a plinth roughly the same height as those of Bobby Charlton, Franz Beckenbauer, Michel Platini, Marco Van Basten, Roberto Baggio or a whole clutch of post-Pele/Garrincha Brazilians like Zico, Romário, Rivaldo and Ronaldinho – I definitely dispute that he’d make most people’s Top 10. (I’m reporting what I see, not what I personally believe, by the way.)
Finally, from a Spanish perspective I’d even dispute your claim that Jose Mourinho is “easily […] the world’s best manager”. Greatness and trophy hauls tend to be kept apart in Spain, and although Mourinho’s achievements are obviously acknowledged, he is not generally (i.e. outside the Bernabéu and its sphere of influence) rated any more highly than Alex Ferguson, Guus Hiddink, Fabio Capello, Ottmar Hitzfeld or Marcelo Bielsa among current managers.
____________
1. According to Spanish lore, Portugal’s most notable contribution to human history has been its ability to manufacture of cheap but good-quality towels. (No, me neither.) Indeed, the most hurtful insult that Sevilla fans could come up with to greet Cristiano Ronaldo’s visit to the Sánchez Pizjuán the other week was “Cristiano vende toallas.” He didn’t get it either, until his Spanish teammates explained it to him. The other one he gets is is usually “Ese portugués / Hijoputa es“, where I suspect the only reason for the inclusion of his nationality is the easy rhyming opportunity that it sets up.
@Archie_V Archie, with regards to the marginalisation of Portugal, my answer is quite complex, perhaps too complex for typing into a comment, but here it goes:
– purely from a footballing perspective, the marginalisation of Portuguese football, particularly over the last two decades, has been extremely disproportionate to that of Belgium or Austria (we may as well include Romania, Bulgaria, Sweden etc etc). Countries like these receive less attention because their national teams and national leagues are hopelessly behind those of the elite; Portugal’s record in recent international competitions, however, is comparable to that of Holland (whom they have beaten time and again in competitive games over the last decade), whilst the success of Portugal’s top clubs, whilst nothing like that of England or Spain, is certainly on a par with that of, say, France. Apart from diving and cheating, Portuguese football is not considered to have much of an identity beyond Cristiano Ronaldo’s hair gel. To me, that is a disproportionate level of marginalisation towards a country which has produced two World Players of the Year, a Champions’ League Winner and now a Europa League winner in the past decade alone.
– I don’t really want to go into the cultural aspect as this is supposed to be a football discussion, so all I shall say on the matter is that the state of Portugal is one of the oldest in the world – much older than, for instance, Austria, which was, for centuries, a part of large Empires. The argument becomes extremely complex here, so I’d rather not pursue it.
Turning to the Spanish view of Portuguese football, I would suggest that the vast quantities of Portuguese players and players from its league moving into Spain might tell a different story. Spain my not broadcast Portuguese matches, but it certainly feels the influence of Portuguese players and coaches.
Which leads me onto Mourinho. Perhaps it’s because his first season in Spain is the first in his entire career which might be considered a ‘failure’, but the man’s record until this season – his unluckiest by far – is utterly impeccable. Again, I could write an entire article on his methodological innovations and his role in the development or appropriation of the ‘modern’ 4-3-3, but I think that based purely on his results, it’s difficult to find a greater ‘winner’ in the game.
Of course, if you’re a romantic, you might prefer the principles of Arsene Wenger, the loyalty and consistency of Sir Alex Ferguson, or even Pep Guardiola for being in charge of such a fabulous team; but then that’s a whole new argument.
@Archie_V Oh, and the towel thing is hilarious. In Portugal, there’s something equally bizarre – the idea that Spanish olive oil is the worst in the world. The fact that 80% of the olive oil sold in Portugal is Spanish in origin can be interpreted in many different ways here…
As for the insulting chants towards Ronaldo, the first time I really noticed it was in the Madrid derby. Did Atleti fans forget about Tiago?
@Augusto Neto Point taken about Austria and Belgium’s irrelevance in recent decades, but have Portugal been punching above their weight or rather have countries of a similar size been underperforming? (A genuine question: I have no idea.)
I have noticed, though, that the disdain for the Portguese league is shown most notably by the players and coaches itself. It may be a false impression, but it seems they can’t wait to get out of the thing. Cristiano went to England when he was 18, Luis Figo to Barcelona when he was 22, and as soon as Mourinho had won an international trophy he was off too, never to return (and with no desire to return except eventually to end his career by managing the national team, by his own account). And Carlos Quieroz hasn’t coached a Portuguese club for fifteen years. Compare this with Holland. Even after managing half a dozen teams abroad as well as spells coaching the Dutch and Korean squads, Hiddink returned to PSV for four years before setting off again on his travels, while Ronald Koeman also returned to the Eredivisie after leaving Benfica.
If the Portuguese league is undervalued, don’t you think it’s its own stars who are doing most of the undervaluing?
@Archie_V I genuinely believe that Portugal is much more competitive as a footballing nation than its economic and political situation would imply because the attitudes towards football in the country are unique to Western Europe. However, this again is worthy of an entire book, let alone a response on here; that football is a national sport in Portugal to an even greater extent than Spain or Italy might be due to its political history, its economic situation in the 20th century, chance, or a combination of these and many other factors. The fact is, however, that you hear questions in the street, in bars, coffee shops, barbers, anywhere, that you wouldn’t hear anywhere else. Try to imagine the following conversation starters between two people who have never met in, say, England:
“So, United hammered Wolves in the end – did you see the game?”
“Are you United, Chelsea or Arsenal?” (imagine there being no alternative)
I’d love to expand on the peculiar attitude towards football in Portugal but I’m afraid I’d need more than an article in which to do so…
However, what I can say in answer to your question about Portugal punching above its weight is that particular circumstances have allowed and are allowing the game to flourish there well beyond the limits imposed on it by the economic weakness of its clubs and the country as a whole:
1. The concentration of power in the country’s top three clubs (lwho are looking as though they may become a top two, with Sporting dropping closer to Braga and Guimaraes in terms of on-pitch success and economic muscle) means that theseteams can take their pick of talent from within the league, dominate economically and secure the cream of European revenue. Result: Porto and Benfica in particular are always in a position to match the best teams in Europe.
2. The country’s cultural tie to Brazil has, over the years, allowed an unprecedented amount of talent to flow into the country. Portuguese clubs are ideal stepping stones for Brazilian players looking to break into Europe’s elite leagues, offering an easy cultural transition, decent conditions and greater exposure. These conditions are increasingly luring the booming Argentinian market too – see Lisandro Lopez, Lucho Gonzalez, Pablo Aimar, Javier Saviola, Angel di Maria. Porto’s current starting eleven typically features SEVEN South Amerians; Benfica’s has EIGHT.
3. Portuguese coaches and coaching staff are among the world’s best. Benfica manager Jorge Jesus claimed around a year ago that tactical and physical methodologies used in Portugal are at least five years ahead of anywhere else in Europe; it’s a bold claim, but Portugal’s current generation of managers – Mourinho, Villas Boas, Domingos Paciencia of Braga and many others certainly support that claim. A clear example was a Europa league tie in which Jorge Jesus’ Braga hammered Harry Redknapp’s then high-flying Portsmouth 3-0. Portuguese teams are meticulously drilled. This is why Braga can now beat Sevilla, Arsenal and Liverpool; it’s why Porto beat Villareal 5-1 and have arguably had the easiest path to a European final in history.
4. Extremely efficient youth production is finally allied to a semblance of decent club management; Porto are a model for Portuguese clubs trying to accept the reality of their role on the world stage which is, essentially, to produce raw talent and buy it up, in bulk, from within Portugal and Latin America, then form a great team, inflate players’ market value and sell them on.
5. The national team has adapted to the demands of the game. Phil Scolari, for all his faults, instilled a pragmatism (some say fighting spirit, others say willingness to cheat) which had previously been lacking in the national side which has lasted since the end of his tenure. Portugal, in lieu of Luis Figo, Rui Costa or Paulo Sousa, now appears to produce far more uncompromising centre-backs and functional all-purpose midfielders than flashy wingers or playmakers. The job just gets done.
Players leave the Portuguese league because, put simply, the wages aren’t – and never will be – high enough. Players like Ronaldo leave because they can make astronomical sums of money compared to in their home country. Porto’s wage bill, for example, is smaller than West Ham’s. Benfica’s isn’t much bigger. With regards to the examples you brought up:
– Carlos Queiroz hasn’t returned to Portugal because nobody would have him. His appointment as national manager was met with a lukewarm response at best because his pedigree as a head coach is poor. He will never be forgiven for failing to qualify his Golden Generation of players for a senior World Cup and his team’s displays in 2010 were mediocre.
– Guus Hiddink, as we all know, loves a challenge. This is a man who has taken on South Korea, Russia, and a struggling Chelsea in recent years. His return to Holland has to be seen in this context.
– Ronald Koeman’s stock was at rock bottom when he left Benfica. The fact that he arrived at the club in the first place rather than a ‘top’ European club shows how his career was not at his strongest point and, despite a fantastic Champions’ League run, he was actually a poor Benfica manager. The club scraped a third-place finish in the domestic league and, without the pressure to perform in mammoth European ties (the fulfillment of ‘grandeza’, what else?), played an abject, conservative game. Where else could Koeman go after that?
I’m not sure if your claims to ‘unbiased’ thoughts on this whole matter are honest or ironic. A Benfica fan writing a text (what does it matter if it is destined to an English or Urdu speaking audience?) about the club’s ‘grandeza’, dismissing criticism on behalf of their club affiliation? Either you back up your claims with scientific data, or you accept that opinion pieces are by definition opinion pieces, and there is no such thing as objectitivy or non-bias in either stance.
@JCM Who said that I support Benfica?
@Augusto Neto Yes, one can tell easily you’re not…. ;D
@Carlos Vieira Reis Had I published the article under the name of, say, John Smith, would that have inspired a different response?
Once more, the questioning of the article’s source reveals a particular brand of partisanship which can make Portuguese football, with its public mud-slinging and relentless bias, exciting, bizarre and, at times, irritating.
What is clear, however, is that to write about Benfica in anything less than the most derogatory of terms is akin to claiming them as one’s club; surely there can be no greater proof of a club’s greatness and depth of support than that?
Perhaps the article was just poorly-written; I felt I took quite a harsh view of the Benfiquista mentality. Whilst acknowledging the obvious popularity of the club, I tried to write about the painful and demeaning flipside to the particular illusion adhered to by the fans of Portugal’s biggest club. To me, the article does not read like a celebration.
@James D I share your sentiments in both cases.
And it’s nice to see light on something else for a change.
@Augusto Neto Now you lost me…
When i saw the title on the post, i thought the text would be about a different thing altogether.
To me, as a Benfica fan, this particular game that Augusto recalled – the lost semi-final, at home Vs. Porto – was a watershed moment.
This season, if FC Porto win both Europa League and Portuguese Cup, they will surpass Benfica’s number of titles. More than that, Porto now leads the head-to-heads between the two clubs.
Thirty years ago, this would be unthinkable!
This is a sysmic shift in historical terms. It’s something i can’t quite yet process in my mind. Benfica is the greatest club in Portugal, with larger attendances, more fans, larger TV share, and so on, but, Porto is now the most succesfull club in Portugal.
A club like Benfica was built on this idea of grandeur (Grandeza, as stated here before), but the reality is that Porto are now bigger (in pure sporting terms).
It’s a fenomenon that is not exclusive to Portugal. In England, Liverpool had to watch powerlessly as Manchester United overtook their record number of titles; in Spain, Real watch Barcelona win, and win, and win, and are unable to respond; in Italy, Juventus keeps stumbling around looking for the days of old, when the “Vecchia Signora” ruled the sport.
This clubs, Benfica, Real, Liverpool, Ajax, to name just a few, are clubs that play with the weight of history on it’s shoulders. Be it the weight of the “Terceiro Anel” and the ghost of the “Eusebio years; the “Di Stefano teams” and “the 5 European cups in a row”; “The Kop” and “Shankly”; “Cruyff”, “Van Basten”, “total football”, etc…
History, at the same time, makes this clubs great and unreasonable. It’s what makes us, the fans, dellusional in our relation to the club. Demands are made based on Historic criterias, not current reality. Any success is wildely celebrated as the return to “the Golden Eras”, and defeat is all the more depressing, because, history made this club winners, not losers, so losing is an historic aberration.
Trouble is, as it happened this season, in Portugal, history is forever changing. How do we change with it? How do we accept change?
@joao jorge The fact of Porto surpassing the amount of titles is extremely important – although Benfica’s terrible record in cup finals does play a part here. However, the most extraordinary element here is that Benfica’s sheer size means that economicallym, they are still in a strong position to reverse Porto’s acendency. This is why I argued that history is a burden to the club – not just to the players who have to deal with feverish expectation on the pitch, but to those managing the institution itself; the pursuit of ideals and glory seem totally at odds with the pragmatic approach taken by Pinto da Costa at Porto over the last two decades.
@Augusto Neto Agreed, though the same could be argued about a number of other clubs in Europe. History does not win games, we all know. But can it help lose them?
Meu Deus, tantos paninhos quentes…
Guys, allow me a little update…
Last night FCPorto won the EuroLeague. Another trophy. Another record. In Lisbon the silence was deafening. No one shouted, no car honked. I dare to say that silence was also heard in Faro, Beja, Funchal, Mealhada, Covilhã, Viseu, Bragança…
@Carlos Vieira Reis …and Braga?
@Augusto Neto LOL
I see what you mean… But still I’m not that sure… ;D
@Carlos Vieira Reis
ahahah typical Portuguese “read between the lines” conversation!
Classic.
@Jack Rabbit Touché! 😀
It’s really true and sadly becaming a classic. And you want to know why? Because portuguese football is not played between the lines… oops, I did it again… ;D
@Carlos Vieira Reis Now THIS is the comment of a Benfiquista!
@Carlos Vieira Reis Hahah, the ever-present excuse of Benfica fans, even if you’re using it in jest. Although from what I heard, last year it was played in a certain tunnel.
Porto also won the Taça de Portugal, smashing Vitória de Guimarães 6-2. Benfica fans can go on and on about their greatness, but the fact is Porto has won more titles than Benfica. Maybe in the next clássico Porto supporters will sing Glorioso FCP.
@antpocas I tend to ignore most excuses made by football fans generally, but the ‘tunnels’ argument always gets me. Porto lost Hulk and Sapunaru for four months, yet even if they had won every single match between ‘the tunnel’ (where they lost to Benfica’s reserve midfield) and the end of the season, they would not have caught the Lisbon side.
I’m surprised the pettiness and downright bitchiness at the top of Portuguese football doesn’t make it into Observer’s Said and Done (http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2011/may/22/said-done-ordinary-court-valcke).
I would go as far as to say that Benfica are Portuguese’s football’s most petulant losers, whilst Porto are its least gracious winners.
@antpocas You haven’t been reading my commentaries since the beginning, that’s for sure. Once again you’re talking about medals and trophies. I am talking of an other quite different thing. A thing you probably can’t grasp… Otherwise you would be directing your energies towards your own club/president… Maybe one day you’ll free yourselves… 😉
Guys, allow me another little update…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J6KfXwnhdLk&feature=player_embedded
What we see in this video is exactly what I’ve been talking about. This is the huge difference between the two clubs. It’s really a very cultural thing. It’s not an epiphenomenon, it’s deep rooted and it’s quite sad to watch. It’s another record they breaking… kudos to them I guess…
(For the english speaking audience, well, just go to Google Translator and paste this line — SLB, SLB, SLB, Filhos da Puta, SLB — that’s what they’re chanting and I’m not in the mood to translate it…)
@Carlos Vieira Reis The fact that this comes from a Benfica fan shouldn’t cloud the essential reality it represents. I struggle to think of any country in the world other than Portugal where this sort of thing would happen.
Please remember, though, that the article is supposed to be about Benfica, not their provincial rivals. Whilst an understanding of the mentality and ethos of Porto is relevant, it is not the subject of the article.
@Carlos Vieira Reis Once again with the one sided view. Did you look for any youtube videos of Petit (former Benfica player) singing “Pinto da Costa, vai p’ro caralho” when they won the league away at Boavista?
@Philip you’re talking about one player, as opposed to an entire squad singing on a balcony along with their fans. I think Carlos’ point is entirely valid.
@Augusto Neto Haha. This is pointless.
@Philip No it’s not! Maybe one day you guys will be able to have pleasure in winning titles. I mean pleasure pleasure. Walk the streets immersed in the utmost joy (not rage, not anger) and with your friends in mind (not us). And that my friend is priceless, not pointless.
@Carlos Vieira Reis I certainly wasn’t angry when we won those 4 trophies this season and I had zero rage when we won the league without losing a game. Also, don’t give me that crap about Porto fans being happy when Benfica loses. I think you’ll find most rivalries work that way including Benfica fans being pleased when Porto lose. It shouldn’t take me long to find a picture of the banner that Benfica fans held up during the Portuguese Cup final in 2004 wishing Porto’s future opponents Monaco luck in the upcoming Champions League final…
@Philip Still not aware of the differences… Ok, then.
@Philip
You have to admit that was really funny!
1st banner said: “Good luck! After all you will be representing our colours”
2nd banner said: “Go Monaco!”
@Jack Rabbit Surely it is normal to want your rivals to lose? I won’t buy any Benfica fan telling me it’s only Porto fans who want Benfica to lose and never the other way around…
@Philip indubitably! Carlos and Humberto make the case that Porto’s modern identity is somehow rooted in a desire to overthrow Benfica as the dominant force in portuguese football. They have done that, quite spectacularly if I may add, and yet, perhaps because Porto’s modern identity is so deeply rooted in being the “antagonist” they haven’t really grown to that certain majestic stature that Benfica retains.
@Jack Rabbit I agre, but what else could Porto aspire to? They could never attempt to be the most Popular team in Portugal, so they went for the titles instead! I know which I would choose…
Apologies for the spelling and strange punctuation, I have had a few too many glasses of cold, refreshing, adult drinks.
@Jack Rabbit Well said. I rest my case.