Jorge Jesús, DT champion of the Copa Libertadores 2019 with Flamengo, left Benfica due to disagreement with the squad

The Portuguese Jorge Jesús and Benfica reached an agreement for the termination of the coach’s contract, after a few days in which the relationship between the coach and the rest of the squad was complicated.

In a note sent to the Portuguese Securities Market Commission (CMVM), since the club is a public limited company, Benfica has made public the contractual termination.

The Portuguese sports media explained that Jorge Jesús tried to remove veteran player Pizzi from the squad and, apparently, the rest of the players would have opposed the coach’s measure, a fact that would have filled the difficult situation.

This was followed by a meeting between President Rui Costa and the technician, which has concluded with the agreement for the termination of the contract, which was valid until June 2022.

According to the club, Nelson Veríssimo, coach of Benfica B, will take over the first team, which will face Porto on Saturday, in one of the most anticipated classics of the season.

After the meeting between the technician and the president, Jorge Jesús told reporters that “this project came to an end”, since, as he indicated, it arrived (in the summer of 2020) “thinking it was a solution and not a problem. ”.

For his part, Rui Costa publicly thanked “Jorge Jesús’s dedication” and wished “the best” to both him and his coaching staff.

Benfica, qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, is third in the league, 4 points behind Porto and Sporting.

In the last 15 days, the fans Benfica from the stands showed his disagreement with the coach who, in addition, had held meetings with the leaders of Flamengo, vice president Marcos Braz and the club’s executive director, Bruno Spindel.

Jorge Jesús won the Brazilian League and the Copa Libertadores with Flamengo in 2019, but after the meeting in Lisbon he would not have reached any agreement with the Brazilian club.

For this reason, the Flamengo leaders would have advanced with the hiring of Portuguese coach Paulo Sousa, current Poland coach.

However, the deal is not yet closed, as the Polish Football Federation (FPF) disagrees with Sousa’s termination.

Some Portuguese media have published in the last hours that Jorge Jesús could be the next coach of the Brazilian Atlético Mineiro, where the forward Hulk plays. (D)