Pressure mounts on Jorge Jesus as Benfica struggle to ignite

This was not in the script. At least the script hypothesised by Benfica president Luís Filipe Vieira when he went all out to lure Jorge Jesus from his hugely successful stint in Brazil as Flamengo coach.

“Welcome back! With you we hope to regain our complete hegemony of Portuguese football and we want to win in Europe,” were the words proffered by Vieira at the official unveiling of the experienced coach in August. JJ himself, modest as ever, promised: “Benfica will play triple what it has done. We will destroy our opponents.”

Five months down the line and the promises are sounding hollow. A meek exit from the Champions League in the qualifiers, a sound beating by Porto in the Super Cup and erratic form in the Liga have got Benfica supporters asking awkward questions of the club’s hierarchy and manager. Given the upcoming schedule, it is no exaggeration to say January could well be a make-or-break month for Benfica’s 2020/21 season. 

The backdrop to Jorge Jesus’ return

Back in August the enthusiasm that accompanied the return of Jorge Jesus, who had revolutionised the club’s fortunes in his first trophy-laden 6-year spell in charge, was not unanimously shared. Many of the club’s fans had not forgiven Jesus the original sin of crossing the Lisbon divide and walking out to sign for rivals Sporting in the summer of 2015.

In the acrimonious aftermath of that messy departure both parties threatened to sue each other and a war of words ensued throughout the subsequent season, which turned particularly ugly in relation to JJ’s successor in the Benfica dugout, Rui Vitória. Jesus claimed: “I am the brains” behind any lingering Benfica success and he refused to consider Vitória a colleague of his profession saying of Vitória “that is no coach”. Vieira vowed that “Jesus would never again be Benfica coach while I am president.”

The Eagles and their new manager would have the last laugh, however, as Benfica’s dominance of Portuguese football extended beyond Jesus’ tenure and JJ ultimately failed to turn around the ailing fortunes of Sporting.

Vitória’s initial success, though, did not last and he was replaced by Bruno Lage, whose career at Benfica followed a similar path. An impressive start, clawing back a significant points-deficit to beat Porto to the championship, was followed by terminal decline. By the end of the 2019/20 season FC Porto had firmly re-established themselves as top dogs in Portugal, winning the league for the second time in three years, and completing the double after bettering Benfica in the Portuguese Cup final despite playing most of the match with ten men.

Porto usurping Benfica from the throne as kings of Portuguese football was especially hard to swallow given the fact the northerners had overtaken their rivals from the capital despite being straight jacketed by strict monetary restraints. Falling foul of UEFA’s financial fair play rules, Porto coach Sérgio Conceição has had to build his team with recalled loanees, non-expensive South American imports, returning veterans and academy players.

Vieira had seen enough. Having patched up his relationship with Jorge Jesus and conveniently forgotten that “never again” promise, the president made it his goal to entice the 66-year-old back to the Estádio da Luz. After leaving Sporting with just one Super Cup and one Taça da Liga trophy to show for his three years in charge, Jesus had meanwhile restored his reputation thanks to a spectacularly successful year at Flamengo, where he guided the Brazilian giants to their best season for three decades, practically cleaning up the domestic trophies, winning the Copa Libertadores and pushing Liverpool all the way in the FIFA Club World Cup final.

Credited with bringing a new mentality to the country’s club football having built a swashbuckling, high-octane, attacking team, similar to his best Benfica sides, JJ had his mojo back. With Brazilian football at his feet, Jesus was now garnering the kind of global acclaim he had always yearned. In normal circumstances it would have been impossible to prise him away from his pedestal in Rio de Janeiro, but the chaos brought by the pandemic played into Benfica’s hands, with Jesus happy to dodge the crippling effects of coronavirus on Flamengo, Brazilian football and Brazil itself.

Benfica’s 2020/21 

The fanfare surrounding JJ’s return was augmented by exciting news that Uruguayan superstar Edinson Cavani was being lined up to join the new-look Benfica. The chase of the former PSG striker ultimately proved fruitless, but the fanbase remained enthused as close to €100 million euros were spent to strengthen the squad. 

Brazil international Everton Cebolinha, young Uruguayan striker Darwin Núñez, German forward Luca Waldschmidt and experienced Belgian central defender Jan Vertonghen were the most high-profile names arriving in the Portuguese capital, and most local analysts and pundits immediately installed Benfica as favourites to win the Liga NOS. 

Things could not have got off to a worse start. A 2-1 defeat in Greece against PAOK in the first official match of the season meant no Champions League football and a massive hole in Benfica’s finances. As a consequence, centre-back Rúben Dias was sold to Manchester City, with former Porto man Nico Otamendi coming in the opposite direction, but a run of seven straight victories in all competitions, during which a whopping 22 goals were scored, suggested Jesus was quickly building a formidable outfit. The Eagles sat top of the league with a 100% record after five rounds. 

Any thoughts Benfica would speed off and out of sight were then rudely jolted by successive Liga NOS defeats against Boavista and Braga, sandwiching a somewhat fortuitous draw against Rangers in the Europa League. Benfica conceded 9 goals in those 3 matches, and the defence has looked suspect ever since, the error-prone Otamendi a significant downgrade on Dias, while Grimaldo and Gilberto are both full-backs who attack better than they defend. 

A succession of poor performances and eked-out victories in the Liga finally caught up with Benfica as a 1-1 draw against Santa Clara in the Azores on Monday saw the club drop to third place in the standings, behind Porto on goal difference and four points adrift of leaders Sporting.  

Even more galling, when Porto easily overcame Benfica 2-0 in the delayed Super Cup contested two days before Christmas, it was the fourth successive victory for the Dragons over their hated rivals. The LFV-JJ dream ticket definitively was not on track.

While not a full-blown crisis, confidence in Benfica lifting the championship title has been considerably eroded by the evidence of the opening months of the campaign. Everton has singularly failed to live up to his expensive price-tag and erstwhile burgeoning reputation. After a bright start, Darwin and Waldschmidt have gone off the boil, and the team’s attacking game has been ponderous. Moreover, and unusually for a Jorge Jesus team, the defence has been brittle. 

Nevertheless, Benfica undoubtedly have high-quality personnel at their disposal, Jorge Jesus has proven on multiple occasions he can forge winning teams and it would be foolish to rule the Lisbon giants out of contention for silverware this campaign.  

January could well prove the pivotal month in the whole season with crunch games for Benfica in the Liga, as well as the concluding Final Four phase of the Taça da Liga (Portuguese League Cup).

Benfica’s January schedule

08/01 

Tondela (h)

Liga 

12/01

Estrela (a)

Portuguese Cup 

15/01

FC Porto (a)

Liga 

20/01

Braga* (neutral venue)

Portuguese League Cup 

24/01

Nacional (h)

Liga 

31/01

Sporting (a)

Liga 

*should Benfica beat Braga, they will play Sporting or Porto in the final on 23/01

Away games at Porto and Sporting in the league, not to mention a potential further match against either one in the Taça da Liga final, and an encounter against Braga will give a good indication as to where this Benfica team is heading. 

Come out of those games with nothing and the Jorge Jesus project will start to look like a fiasco, and may seriously undermine the position of president Luís Filipe Vieira, recently re-elected largely on the back of the re-recruitment of JJ and the promise of a return to winning football. On the flip side, should Benfica finally click, they could conceivably go into February top of the table and with a trophy in the cabinet. A big month awaits. 

By Tom Kundert

Related: Two decades later, can Sporting win the Portuguese title?