With Benfica, Ajax will not exactly meet a club where tranquility reigns in the eighth final of the Champions League. Despite the fact that the Portuguese superpower managed to hibernate at the expense of Barcelona in the billion-dollar ball, the position of trainer Jorge Jesus is under discussion. The experienced trainer would have a difficult relationship with president and former star player Rui Costa and some of the supporters Jesus would rather lose than get rich despite the success in Europe.
There is no more tangible example of the dissatisfaction of the fans of Benfica than the website devolverjesus.com. In recent weeks, Jesus has been linked with a return to Flamengo, where he previously ran between 2019 and 2020 and won the Copa Libertadores, among others. The Brazilian top club got rid of trainer Renato Portaluppi last month after the lost Copa Libertadores final against Palmeiras. If Flamengo actually removes Jesus from Lisbon again, some of Benfica’s supporters would not be particularly sad about it.
On the website devolverjesus.com, literally translated as ‘give Jesus back’, the coach from Lisbon to Rio de Janeiro can be clicked. With every ten clicks, Jesus comes one kilometer closer to Rio de Janeiro. He has already traveled 6130 kilometers, which means that more than sixty thousand people have already clicked. Jesus has already reached the east coast of Brazil and only has a short distance to travel. By the way, if you click twice in a short time, the website will give you a warning: “Are you Rui Costa? Take it easy…”
Since Rui Costa was elected Benfica’s new president in July, there has been a lot of speculation about Jesus’ future as a trainer. Luis Filipe Vieira brought Jesus back to Benfica in the summer of 2020, where he had previously worked successfully for six years, including winning three league titles. Jesus and Vieira were good friends and the trainer was given a free hand under the chairman to go about his business. However, Vieira was forced to give way last summer after eighteen years at the helm, after he was arrested in a large-scale investigation into money laundering and tax fraud.
Under Vieira’s successor Rui Costa, Jesus has considerably less credit. The former Portuguese international had worked as a sporting director for 13 years before he was elected chairman of Benfica and in that capacity there were already small cracks in the relationship with Jesus, although the trainer himself calls their relationship “friendly and professional”. His second term as trainer of Benfica is not yet a resounding success. Last season Benfica failed to reach the group stage of the Champions League after PAOK Saloniki was too strong in the third qualifying round. The adventure in the Europa League then ended in the second round after a diptych with Arsenal.
Rui Costa, former player of Benfica, Fiorentina and AC Milan, among others, has been chairman since last summer.
That there was already speculation about the future of Jesus at Benfica last season, was partly due to the performances in their own country. As Águias finished third in the Primeira Liga, nine points behind Sporting Portugal, which won the championship for the first time in nineteen years. A disappointing result, especially since Benfica invested no less than 99 million euros in the selection after Jesus’ return in the summer of 2020 with the arrival of, among others, Darwin Núñez (for 24 million from Almería), Éverton (for 20 million euros from Grêmio ), Pedrinho (acquired from Corinthians for 18 million euros), Luca Waldschmidt (acquired from SC Freiburg for 15 million euros) and Nicolás Otamendi (acquired from Manchester City for 15 million euros). However, this was offset by the departure of Rúben Días to Manchester City, who brought in 68 million euros and largely covered the transfer expenses that summer.
Of the players brought in a year and a half ago, Pedrinho (for 18 million euros to Shakhtar Donetsk) and Waldschmidt (for 12 million euros to VfL Wolfsburg) already left last summer, while Arsenal took over youth exponent Nuno Tavares for 8 million euros. At the same time, the selection was further strengthened last summer with, among others, Roman Yaremchuk, João Mário, Valentino Lazaro and Soualiho Meïté, on which a total of 25 million euros was spent. It turned out to be enough to make it to the group stage of the Champions League, after successively eliminating Spartak Moscow and PSV in the preliminary rounds. Benfica finished second in a group that included Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Dynamo Kiev.
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The position of Benfica during the game with Famalicão, which was won 1-4 last weekend.
However, the European hibernation has not relieved the pressure on Jesus. During the last group match in the Champions League, white handkerchiefs were displayed in the stands of the Estádio Da Luz. “I’m not used to that, especially at Benfica. But this is the reality. I have to make sure that the team continues to win, that’s all I have in hand,” said Jesus. The current place in the Primeira Liga ranking explains the dissatisfaction of the fans, because they are four points behind both number two Sporting and leader FC Porto. Sporting – from whom Ajax still won 1-5 and 4-2 in the group stage of the Champions League – dealt a sensitive blow last month by winning 1-3 on a visit to Benfica.
On paper, Benfica has the most valuable squad of the Portugal. In that respect, Núñez is the big eye-catcher. Jesus previously assured that the 22-year-old Uruguayan striker will ever become the most expensive-selling player in club history, meaning he will have to earn more than the €126million that Atlético Madrid paid for João Félix in 2019. “He was Benfica’s most expensive purchase. If there is no new pandemic, he will also become the most expensive-selling player in club history. He’s going to be a world-class player. Unfortunately, we will soon lose him,” said Jesus. With 14 goals in 19 official games, Núñez, who has previously been linked to Barcelona, Manchester City and Juventus, along with Rafa Silva, is among the most dangerous attackers in Benfica’s selection.
In the striker of his 3-4-3 formation, Jesus generally chooses between Swiss international Haris Seferovic or Ukrainian international Yaremchuk, acquired from AA Gent last summer for seventeen million euros. The wings will then rotate with Silva, Núñez, Pizzi and Everton. The midfield is home to two well-known names with Julian Weigl and João Mário, while Alejandro Grimaldo (left) and Diogo Gonçalves or Gilberto (right) usually play on the wings. Valentino Lazaro, who has been hired from Internazionale, can also play on the right wing, but the Austrian international has been struggling with injuries since his arrival to Portugal.
With Odysseas Vlachodimos, Benfica has an extremely reliable goalkeeper, who almost single-handedly kept PSV out of the group stage of the Champions League. The Greek usually has an experienced defense in front of him, consisting of Jan Vertonghen, Otamendi and captain André Almeida, who were brought in on a free transfer in 2020. The latter is now playing again, because Lucas Veríssimo is out of circulation with a cruciate ligament injury. Otamendi was also alleged to have had a conflict with Jesus. “That controversy is a lie,” the 33-year-old Argentine defender responded to those rumors. “I have no problems. And if there had been any problems, we would talk them out internally. But that is not the case.”
Yet claimed Goal last week that there is increasing dissatisfaction with Jesus within the player group. So it remains to be seen whether he will sit on the bench in February or March during the diptych with Ajax. Rui Costa would already have a replacement for Jesus in mind with Nélson Veríssimo, the current trainer of the second team. “Will I be on the bench at the next Champions League match? I’m not thinking about that now,” said Jesus last week, before the draw. “Maybe we will have Real Madrid as an opponent. Then I say: we will continue.” It was not Real Madrid, but Ajax. And for the team from Amsterdam, Benfica provides good memories, because in the group stage of the Champions League of the 2018/19 season, the Johan Cruijff ArenA won 1-0 and drew 1-1 in Lisbon. Then the Champions League season finally ended in the semi-finals. In that regard, a promising parallel beckons.