O Benfica gets a bucket of cold water with elimination against Inter Milan in a season that was perfect until two weeks ago, in which it seemed to have the title of the Portuguese Championship in its pocket, with 10 points of advantage over Porto. At Champions Leaguehad delighted in the first phase, finishing first in a group that had Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, and running over Brugge in the round of 16 (7–1 on aggregate).
But in just fifteen days everything seems to have gone downhill after suffering two consecutive defeats in the Portuguese Championship, seeing the advantage over Porto drop to just four points, and now being out of the Champions League.
“The result of the first leg was fundamental. Today we played better and we could have left here with a victory”, declared top scorer Gonçalo Ramos, one of the disappointments of the quarterfinals for not having scored or having had great goal opportunities.
The team commanded by Roger Schmidt is also left without the possibility of avenging the team that lost the European final of 1989-1990 to Milan coach Arrigo Sachi 1-0 with a goal by Dutchman Frank Rijkaard.
That was the last time that Benfica was among the four best teams on the continent. More than 30 years for the two-time European champion (1961 and 1962) and one more elimination to increase the curse of Béla Guttmann, Hungarian coach who, after putting together the team that won the two ‘Ears’, left the club for not feeling valued by the Lisbon board, but not before declaring: “I curse you! Benfica won’t win the European Cup again for the next 100 years!”.
There are less than 40 years left for the spell to end.
Source: Gazetaesportiva
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