1995–96 S.L. Benfica season

Benfica
1995–96 season
President Manuel Damásio
Head coach Artur Jorge
(until 9 September 1995)
Mário Wilson
Stadium Estádio da Luz
Primeira Divisão 2nd
Taça de Portugal Winners
UEFA Cup Third round
Top goalscorer League:
João Pinto (18)
All:
João Pinto (23)
Highest home attendance 50,000 vs Porto
(23 March 1996)
Lowest home attendance 4,000 vs Chaves
(9 March 1996)
Home colours

The 1995–96 season was Sport Lisboa e Benfica's 92nd season in existence and the club's 62nd consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football, covering the period from 1 July 1995 to 30 June 1996. It involved Benfica competing in the Primeira Divisão and the Taça de Portugal. Benfica qualified for the UEFA Cup by coming third in previous League.

After failing to renew the title in the past season, the club brought in several players during the transfer market, with Ricardo Gomes, Valdo, Calado and Marcelo assuming regular starter roles. However, the club lost all of his more historic players as the case of Neno, Vítor Paneira, Isaías and César Brito. With the animosity around Artur Jorge increasing, poor results in September caused his departure. Despite an irregular season in the league, various winning streaks helped the team reach their second-place finish by 23 March, after a home win against Porto. In the Portuguese Cup, a strong performance from Marcelo throughout the competition, who finish as the tournament top scorer, guided the team to the final, where João Pinto delivered the trophy after scoring a double.[1]

Season summary

The second season of Artur Jorge started with much more distrust over his abilities. From the large number of signings in the year before, only a handful prove noteworthy, and Tavares and Nelo even showed a complete inability to play for a big club.[2] Despite that, more exits followed, with a 28-year-old Vítor Paneira, and the club league topscorer in the year before; Isaías, causing the most anger.[3][4] Benfica signed mostly in Portugal, as with the league top goalscorer, Hassan, but also searched in Europe, bringing Valdo and Ricardo Gomes, back from France.

The league start was not ideal, as the team dropped four points in three match-days, leading to Artur Jorge being sacked after the build up of fan pressure.[1] The club then selected Mário Wilson as his replacement. Benfica slowly started collecting wins over the following weeks, but after the defeat against FC Porto in the Clássico of 5 November, the distance to the league leader increased to eight points.[5] In Europe, the ended their campaign, after being knock out by Bayern Munich, with Klinsmann scoring six goals, in what the press dubbed 'Cataklinsmann'.[6][1]

In November, with Porto putting on a strong campaign, the club set eyes on closing the distance on the second place, occupied by Sporting.[5] At the end of January, Benfica reach the second place for the first time, after João Pinto led the club past Vitória Guimarães.[1] In the following month, a strong performance by Marcelo, allowed the club to progress through the Portuguese Cup semi-finals after beating Vitória de Guimarães.[7] However, February did not go as well in the league race, with the club spending two weeks on the fourth place.[8]

In March, Benfica received and beat Porto, with João Pinto scoring the winning goal, as he have done in Guimarães.[1] With this win, the club re-assumed the second place, which would be its final league position, finishing the season six points ahead of Sporting, but an eleven behind Porto, which had the title wrapped up nearly a month before.[9] In April, with only the Portuguese Cup to compete for. Marcelo continued his goalscoring record on the national cup, scoring a double in overtime for the semi-final against Leiria.[7] On the 18 May, in the 1996 Taça de Portugal Final, João Pinto scored two against Sporting in a 3–1 win, with the club conquering its twenty-third Taça de Portugal. The celebrations were nonetheless cancelled due the death of Sporting supporter, after being accidentally hit by a lost flare.[1]

Competitions

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Overall record

Competition First match Last match Record
G W D L GF GA GD Win % Source
Primeira Divisão 26 August 1995 12 May 1996 34 22 7 5 57 27 +30 064.71 [10]
Taça de Portugal 1 December 1995 18 May 1996 6 5 1 0 12 2 +10 083.33 [10]
UEFA Cup 12 September 1995 5 December 1995 6 3 1 2 10 11 −1 050.00 [10]
Total 46 30 9 7 79 40 +39 065.22

Primeira Divisão

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Porto (C) 34 26 6 2 84 20 +64 84 1996–97 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2 Benfica 34 22 7 5 57 27 +30 73 1996–97 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round 1
3 Sporting CP 34 19 10 5 69 27 +42 67 1996–97 UEFA Cup First round

Source: Primeira Divisão
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Benfica 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
GroundHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAAHAHAAHAHAHAHAHHAH
ResultDWDWWLWWWLDWWWWWDLWWWLDWWDWWWDLWWW
Position10764353334443333344224432322222222

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

Matches

Taça de Portugal

UEFA Cup

First round

Second round

Third round

Friendlies

Player statistics

The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below, as well as staff member Artur Jorge (manager), Zoran Filipovic (assistant manager) and Mário Wilson (manager).[10][16]

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 1995-96 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.

No. Pos Nat Player TotalPrimeira DivisãoTaça de PortugalUEFA Cup
AppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
1 GK Belgium Michel Preud'homme 45-3733-246-26-11
2 DF Brazil Paulo Pereira 110700040
3‡ DF Brazil Ricardo Gomes 3742945030
4 DF Portugal Hélder Cristóvão 4323126060
5‡ DF Brazil Paredão 121812020
6 MF Portugal Paulo Bento 4032926051
7‡ MF Portugal José Calado 2201404040
8 MF Portugal João Vieira Pinto 422331186451
9‡ FW Morocco Hassan Nader 1481061032
10‡ MF Brazil Valdo Filho 3963046032
11‡ MF Romania Basarab Panduru 1941531031
13 DF Portugal Dimas Teixeira 4133026051
14‡ DF Portugal Marinho 2411813030
15 FW Brazil Aílton Delfino 50400010
16‡ DF Brazil King 10000010
17 DF Portugal Pedro Henriques 1901602010
18 MF Portugal Edgar Pacheco 3122124060
19 MF Portugal Bruno Caires 2301604030
20‡ MF Bulgaria Ilian Iliev 2411915000
21‡ FW Brazil Luiz Gustavo 1401400000
25‡ FW Brazil Marcelo 39132776561
22 MF Portugal Daniel Kenedy 3022213051
23‡ MF Angola Paulão 2031832000
24‡ GK Portugal Fernando Brassard 2-42-40000
26 DF Portugal Nélson Veríssimo 30300000
27 MF Portugal Maniche 20000020
30‡ FW Argentina Mauro Airez 2832404300

Transfers

[17]

In

Entry date Position Player From club
July 1995 AM Valdo Filho Paris SG
July 1995 CB Ricardo Gomes Paris SG
July 1995 CM José Calado Estrela da Amadora
July 1995 ST Marcelo Tirsense
July 1995 RB Marinho Sporting
July 1995 ST Hassan Farense
July 1995 CM Ilian Iliev Levski Sofia
July 1995 AM Basarab Panduru Steaua Bucureşti
July 1995 FW Mauro Airez Belenenses
July 1995 RW Paulão Vitória Setúbal
July 1995 GK Fernando Brassard Gil Vicente
July 1995 CB Paredão Tirsense
July 1995 FW Luiz Gustavo Belenenses
July 1995 ST Aílton Delfino São Paulo

In by loan

Entry date Position Player From club Return date
July 1995 CB King Farense 30 June 1996

Out

Exit date Position Player To club
July 1995 GK Neno Vitória Guimarães
July 1995 LB António Veloso Retired
July 1995 CB William Bastia
July 1995 FB Abel Xavier Bari
July 1995 CB Paulo Madeira Belenenses
July 1995 CB Paulão Vasco da Gama
July 1995 CB Carlos Mozer Kashima Antlers
July 1995 CM José Tavares Boavista
July 1995 RW Amaral Felgueiras
July 1995 RW Vítor Paneira Vitória Guimarães
July 1995 CM Nelo Boavista
July 1995 AM Mario Stanić Club Brugge
July 1995 CM Rui Esteves Belenenses
July 1995 ST Edílson Palmeiras
July 1995 ST Claudio Caniggia Boca Juniors
July 1995 FW Isaías Coventry City
July 1995 ST César Brito Belenenses
December 95 ST Aílton Delfino São Paulo

Out by loan

Exit date Position Player To club Return date
July 1995 ST Akwá Alverca 30 June 1997
December 95 AM Basarab Panduru Neuchâtel Xamax 30 June 1996

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Tovar 2012, p. 540.
  2. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 532.
  3. ↑ "Paneira e a seleção: "Se eu tivesse ficado no Benfica..."" [Paneira and the national team: "If I stayed at Benfica..."]. Mais Futebol (in Portuguese). 14 May 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Isaías ataca Artur Jorge: "Chegou para destruir o Benfica"" [Isaías attacks Artur Jorge: "He arrived to destroy Benfica".]. Sapo Desporto (in Portuguese). Planeta Benfica. 22 August 2013. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  5. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 542.
  6. ↑ "Cataklismann". Diário de Noticias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 12 March 2017.
  7. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 545.
  8. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 543.
  9. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 544.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Tovar 2012, p. 547.
  11. ↑ "South Africa: United Bank Challenge Soccer". itnsource.com. 27 July 1995. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  12. 1 2 Martín Tabeira (4 October 2006). "Parmalat Cup". RSSSF. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  13. ↑ "Momentos de uma carreira". Público (in Portuguese). 11 May 2008. Retrieved 22 March 2017.
  14. ↑ "El Madrid, finalista en apuros" [Finalist Madrid in trouble]. El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish): 18. 19 August 1995.
  15. ↑ "Romario fue demasiado para el Benfica" [Romario was too much for Benfica]. El Mundo Deportivo (in Spanish): 26. 20 August 1995.
  16. ↑ "Squad 1995/96". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 17 September 2015.
  17. ↑ "Transfers". Thefinalball.com. Retrieved 22 March 2017.

Bibliography

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