1991–92 S.L. Benfica season

Benfica
1991–92 season
President João Santos
(until 24 April 1992)
Jorge de Brito
Head coach Sven-Göran Eriksson
Stadium Estádio da Luz
Primeira Divisão 2nd
Taça de Portugal Semi-finals
European Cup Group stage
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira Runners-up
Top goalscorer League: Isaías (12)
All: Isaías (17)
Highest home attendance 90,000 vs Porto
(22 March 1992)
Lowest home attendance 15,000 vs União da Madeira
(3 May 1992)
Home colours

The 1991–92 season was Sport Lisboa e Benfica's 88th season in existence and the club's 58th consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football, covering the period from 1 July 1991 to 30 June 1992. Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Divisão and the Taça de Portugal, and participated in the European Cup by winning the previous league.[1]

Entering the season as defending champions, the third year of Sven-Göran Eriksson was less successful than before. During the transfer season, Benfica lost two important players – Ricardo Gomes and Valdo to Paris Saint-Germain. As new signings, the club brought in Russians Vasili Kulkov and Sergei Yuran, and promoted youth graduates Paulo Madeira and Rui Costa to regular starters. In the league race, Benfica competed with Porto until January, when a three-point gap opened, and a subsequent home loss against them two months later, ended hopes of retaining the title. Still, the team made history when it defeated Arsenal in Highbury to qualify for the new format of the European Cup, now with a group stage.

Season summary

In his fifth year at Benfica, Swedish manager Sven-Göran Eriksson had to rebuild a new eleven, following the departures of Ricardo Gomes and Valdo to Paris Saint-Germain.[2] After two seasons as back-up, Paulo Madeira had its breakthrough season alongside William, amassing 47 appearances, second-best in the squad.[3] To replace Valdo, Eriksson opted for the 19 year-old, Rui Costa, which had just returned from a successful loan spell at AD Fafe.[4] Benfica also made a few signings, notably Vasili Kulkov and Sergei Yuran, both internationals for the Soviet Union.

Benfica entered their league campaign with a home loss to Boavista. In the following weeks, they recovered the lost ground, and finished September in fourth place, only a point from first.[5] In the same month, the team started their European Cup run with a 10–0 win on aggregate over Hamrun Spartans.[6] On 3 November, Benfica draws the first Clássico of the year, at Estádio das Antas, as the two teams were now matched in second. Three days later, in the second round of the European Cup, Benfica visited Highbury and knocked Arsenal out of the competition, with a 3–1 win, in part due to the individual efforts from Isaías, who bagged a double.[7] It was the first time since 1961–62 that the club defeated a team from England, and granted a spot on the newly created group stages of the tournament.[7] November ended with mixed results, they were joint-first on the league, but lost their European Cup opening game against Dynamo Kyiv.[6]

In December, the team collected two wins and two draws in the domestic league, making them trail Porto by a point at the New Year.[8] Similar situation happened in Europe, after a home draw to Barcelona, they were last at their group after the second match-day.[6] However, in the other competitions, they opened the Portuguese Cup with a win and beat Porto on the first leg of the Supercup.[9] In January, three win less match-days that spread from 29 December to 19 January, which included a second loss to Boavista, increased Porto's gap to three points on the title race, while on the second league of the Supercup, a one-nil loss, postponed the trophy decision until September.[8]

After a fruitful February, in which the team bagged 9 points out of 10 possible, they entered March still chasing Porto who retained the same lead.[10] After a second home draw in the European Cup, on 4 March against Sparta Prague, Benfica postponed the league match of 15th, to better focus in the return leg to Czechoslovakia. However the contend ended in another draw, and the three points in four match-days, Barcelona qualified for the final, as they had seven points.[9] On the following Sunday in a decisive game for the title race, a 89th-minute goal from Ion Timofte gave Porto a 3–2 win at Estádio da Luz and increased their lead to five points.[10] As consolation, the team beat Sporting de Espinho by 6–0 win in the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup, thus ensuring a third game against Boavista, on the semi-finals.[6]

April ended any hopes of a silverware, as competitions dropped in succession. Despite recording a first win in the European Cup on 1 April, the closing match of the competition, at the Camp Nou, began a dark spell. With a 2–1 loss to Barcelona on the 15th, Benfica started a win less spree that cost them the two remaining competitions.[9] On Saturday the 18th, the team draws to Farense at home.[11] Four days later, Boavista knocks Benfica out of the Portuguese Cup final, beating them for a third time in the season.[6] Next in consecutive away games, Benfica loses to Beira-Mar on the 26th and then awards the title to Porto on the 30th, after losing to Desportivo de Chaves, the delayed game from March.[11] Benfica ended in second, 10 points away from Porto, with nine points dropped at home, from two losses to Boavista and Porto, and draws to Estori-Praia, Penafiel, Torreense, Salgueiros and Farense. Eriksson departed to Sampdoria at the end of season.[7]

Competitions

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Overall record

Competition First match Last match Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win % Source
Primeira Divisão 17 August 1991 17 May 1992 34 17 12 5 62 23 +39 050.00 [3]
Taça de Portugal 15 December 1991 22 April 1992 6 4 1 1 14 3 +11 066.67 [3]
European Cup 18 September 1991 15 April 1992 10 4 4 2 22 7 +15 040.00 [3]
Supertaça 18 December 1991 29 January 1992 2 1 0 1 2 2 +0 050.00 [3]
Total 52 26 17 9 100 35 +65 050.00

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

Primeira Divisão

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Porto (C) 34 24 8 2 58 11+47 56 1992–93 UEFA Champions League First Round
2 Benfica 34 17 12 5 62 23+39 46 1992–93 UEFA Cup First round
3 Boavista 34 16 12 6 45 27+18 44 1992–93 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round 1

Source: Primeira Divisão
Rules for classification: 1st points, 2nd head-to-head, 3rd goals average
1 Boavista qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as Portuguese Cup winners
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results by round

Round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334
GroundHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAH
ResultLWWDDWWDWDWWDWWDDLWWWWDWWLLDWDLWDD
Position15966543433322222222222222222222222

Source: ForaDeJogo
A = Away; H = Home; W = Win; D = Draw; L = Loss

Matches

Taça de Portugal

European Cup

First round

Second round

Group B

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Spain Barcelona 6411104+69
Czechoslovakia Sparta Prague 62227706
Portugal Benfica 613285+35
Soviet Union Dynamo Kyiv 6204312-94

Friendlies

[12]

Player statistics

The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below, as well as staff member Sven-Goran Eriksson (manager) and Toni (assistant manager).[1][3]

Note 1: Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

Note 2: Players with squad numbers marked ‡ joined the club during the 1991-92 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.

No. Pos Nat Player TotalPrimeira DivisãoTaça de PortugalEuropean CupSupertaça
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1 GK Portugal Manuel Bento 0000000000
1 GK Portugal Silvino 9-51-16-3101-1
1 GK Portugal Neno 44-3034-22009-71-1
2 DF Portugal António Veloso 490320609020
2 DF Portugal José Carlos 421291506020
4 DF Brazil William 284183404021
4 MF Portugal Rui Bento 370240407020
4‡ DF Portugal Pedro Valido 4010101010
5 DF Portugal Paulo Madeira 474321429120
5 MF Sweden Stefan Schwarz 280160309000
6 MF Portugal Paulo Sousa 321231503010
6‡ MF Russia Vasili Kulkov 305193316120
6 MF Portugal Hernâni Neves 0000000000
7 MF Portugal Vítor Paneira 443290528120
8 MF Sweden Jonas Thern 423272518020
8 MF Portugal António Pacheco 4111277528210
9 FW Portugal Rui Águas 186145103100
9‡ FW Russia Sergei Yuran 3515216319721
9‡ FW Portugal João Pires 2010001000
10‡ MF Portugal Rui Costa 324214307010
11 FW Sweden Mats Magnusson 3011229423010
11 MF Brazil Isaías 40172612508510
11 FW Portugal César Brito 3713237627410

Transfers

[1]

In

Entry date Position Player From club
July 1991 FW Sergei Yuran Dynamo Kyiv
July 1991 MF Vasili Kulkov Spartak Moscow
July 1991 FW João Pires Estoril-Praia
July 1991 DF Pedro Valido Gil Vicente
July 1991 AM Rui Costa AD Fafe

Out

Exit date Position Player To club
July 1991 CB Samuel Quina Boavista
July 1991 LB Fernando Mendes
July 1991 CB Ricardo Gomes Paris Saint-Germain
July 1991 AM Valdo Filho
July 1991 FW Vata Estrela da Amadora
July 1991 FW Adesvaldo Lima Internacional

Out by loan

Exit date Position Player To club Return date
July 1991 AM Erwin Sánchez Estoril-Praia 30 June 1992

References

  1. 1 2 3 "Squad 1991/92". ForaDeJogo.
  2. ↑ "Ricardo Gomes e Valdo novamente lado a lado" [Ricardo Gomes and Valdo side-by-side again]. Record (in Portuguese). 4 September 2002. Retrieved 14 September 2015.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tovar 2012, p. 515.
  4. ↑ Malheiro, João (July 2006). Memorial Benfica 100 Glórias [Benfica Memorial, 100 glories] (in Portuguese) (Third ed.). QuidNovi. p. 124-125. ISBN 978-972-8998-26-4.
  5. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 509.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 Tovar 2012, p. 513.
  7. 1 2 3 Tovar 2012, p. 508.
  8. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 510.
  9. 1 2 3 Tovar 2012, p. 514.
  10. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 511.
  11. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 512.
  12. ↑ António Manuel Morais; Carlos Perdigão; João Loureiro; José de Oliveira Santos (1994). Benfica: 90 Anos de História (in Portuguese). SOGAPAL. p. 260.

Bibliography

  • Tovar, Rui Miguel (2012). Almanaque do Benfica. Portugal: Lua de Papel. ISBN 978-989-23-2087-8.
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