The old one-two

The old one-two

As the dust settles on Benfica’s title triumph, PortuGOAL’s Benfica correspondent Marco Lopes looks back at a somewhat unspectacular but ultimately hugely satisfying season for the Eagles.

31 years is a lifetime in football.

It’s a period in which careers commence and conclude; players grow from young, restless lambs to men with ageing boots and tired jerseys; managers develop from tactical pioneers to refined conductors.

 

But fans? Fans are different. They’ll remember most things as long as they’ve been watching. True, on the surface, the energetic stalemate in Guimarães wouldn’t typically rank highly as a game to reminisce for many Benfiquistas. The game was competitive and revealing of the organisational discipline and supervised fortitude that Rui Vitoria’s team have displayed throughout the 2014/15 Liga campaign.

But for some of those Benfiquistas memories would have been triggered of Shéu, Nené, “O Pequeno Genial” Fernando Chalana, and their storied teammates of the early 80s era, as well as the imagery of the meek but erudite Swedish manager that led the team from the sidelines.

That team was the core of the last bicampeonato that the Eagles enjoyed. In the subsequent years, especially into the 90s, the team’s inability to win one title was derisive, let alone two in a row. It was hardly poetry, but the recent 0-0 draw against Vitória Guimarães spoke words over a season where an old habit of winning consecutive titles was finally rediscovered.

False starts

Given how the season will conclude, Benfiquistas could be forgiven for raising several eyebrows at the idea that a team that lost 6 of its 8 pre-season friendlies would lift the title the following May. The 5-1 defeat to Arsenal in the Emirates Cup felt like a juvenile lesson in football. The summer brought its own malaise; the title winning team of 2013/14 was brutally deconstructed with the departures of Oblak, Siqueira, Garay, Matic (albeit already halfway into that campaign), Rodrigo and Markovic, with useful squad options like Cardozo, Andre Gomes and Ivan Cavaleiro also taking their leave. In the space of months, Benfica lost 6 obvious first teamers and useful depth. The long-term injuries to Fejsa, Sílvio and Amorim effectively extended the effect.

Predictably, Porto strengthened intelligently. It will take some convincing for Portistas to accept the claims by Pinto Da Costa of this side’s quality relative to previous sides, the president claiming it was their strongest squad in 30 years, but that doesn’t mean it didn’t have obvious advantages over their rivals in red. Some of their signings appeared far more convincing. As the season progressed, the likes of Óliver Torres, Casemiro, Tello and Brahimi shined brightly, along with a resurgent Quaresma, and the established talents of Alex Sandro, Danilo, and Jackson Martínez.

It didn’t seem too apparent that Benfica’s summer business was appropriately matched to the Dragões. There were some signings that raised intrigued eyebrows – the hype surrounding Anderson Talisca an obvious one – but it wasn’t explicitly clear that players like Eliseu, Samaris and Jonas would come close to matching or beating their fierce rivals.

Winning ugly is still winning

It’s these contextual factors that make this title victory incredible, and even improbable. But without taking too much away from Benfica, there’s an argument to suggest Porto themselves weren’t as ready as they considered. Many of the new legs were young prodigious talents, bereft of the gruelling experience that a Liga campaign asks of its leading characters. Despite this, Porto this season performed quite well, with its defensive numbers holding up extremely well given the last few seasons. With a game to play, 2014/15’s Porto managed to keep clean sheets in 67% of its Liga matches, conceding just 0.4 goals a game, the best average in the last 6 seasons.

There is a decisive story in that statistic though. Lotopegui’s side had a knack for failing to score in critical games – even when just a single goal was needed. Their thumping victories over Arouca, Rio Ave, Gil Vicente, Paços and Estoril were heavily undermined by the goalless draw at home to Boavista, and the consistent failure to find the crucial 2nd goal against Guimarães, Sporting, Nacional and Belenenses (all away).

This contrasts in many respects with the Eagles. This year’s champions have shaped up to be the best defensive unit in the Jorge Jesus era. This is no mean feat considering the challenges with both Eliseu and Jardel positionally in the season’s initial weeks, not to mention the labour pains of moulding Andreas Samaris into the team’s new defensive midfielder in the absence of Fejsa. While their defence was marginally more porous than Porto’s, Benfica proved crucially better at winning uglier, and there were many critical examples of this. The long range winners by Eliseu vs Boavista, Talisca vs Rio Ave; the early goals followed by grinding containment in the early wins over Gil Vicente and Nacional; the scrappy winner by Lima vs Estoril.

Big-game solidity

Benfica ensured they got results in their massive games, too. The huge equaliser in injury time by Jardel vs Sporting defined him as a cult hero. After losing twice to Braga, the 2-0 victory in March at the Luz against the same opponents was as season-defining a performance as you’d find.

And for all the challenges in the squad (there were still further ones, with Enzo Pérez choosing a celebration muted departure in poor taste in January), Benfica managed to discover their key players as the season developed. The signings of veterans Júlio César and Jonas proved inspired as both players delivered big time on their experience. Seasoned campaigner Nico Gaitán produced some of his best football for the club, with his counterpart on the opposite flank Salvio producing an equally prolific season for the club. Maxi Pereira and Luisão’s reliability was aided by the surprising effectiveness of players shifted into new roles. The story’s a bit tired, but it’s astounding that Jorge Jesus was once again able to convert players within one season into new midfield roles, even if Samaris and Pizzi aren’t of the same quality as Matic and Enzo Pérez.

There’s something quixotic in this. After all, it was easy to initially condemn Benfica’s season as a disappointment due to crashing out of Europe before Christmas, but context may well favour the Eagles. A stronger squad than this one wasn’t able to get the better of Zenit last season; add the resilient Monaco, who were only bested by finalists Juventus, and the tactically astute Bayer Leverkusen, and Benfica’s group can (and should) be contextualised as the toughest Jorge Jesus has had to navigate in years – with his weakest squad in years too.

Doubts quelled

By that point, few would have expected Benfica to sustain a title charge, and at several moments the doubters looked about to be proven right. There were many matches where Benfica didn’t always have the command of every moment, every battle on the pitch; Sporting appeared to have the measure of them in direct confrontations, Porto’s number of technical wizards certainly presented a salient test, and there were various moments of clear doubt in certain matches, especially against Braga, Belenenses and Guimarães.

It’s not the most quixotic of Liga victories; yet it wasn’t the Benfica of 2012/13 whose obvious quality was betrayed by final results. The squad doesn’t possess the overwhelming stars in several positions, and yet losing their best player from 2013/14 in January didn’t destroy the momentum – it arguably improved it. The team wasn’t pretty overall, but produced some scintillating football sporadically. Benfica’s 34th title is the first back-to-back championship in over 30 years – and for all the style and great goals along the journey, it should be remembered for the tireless industry and tactical maturity the team displayed at critical times of the season.

Because more than anything, it’s that quality that inched them to the top of the podium.

By Marco Lopes (for more from Marco follow him on Twitter @Footy_MarcoL)

Related: Ten reasons why Benfica won the league