My perspective on Benfica and their victories over Liverpool and Manchester United 1259

poo

-- Compal-Superbock

(This post was written about 10 days ago)

I watch all of Benfica's games and frankly I'm embarbutted to see them reach as far as they have. I'm embarbutted for Portuguese football and to a degree embarbutted for Liverpool and Man Utd and English football in general.

I don't believe those 2 clubs' followers and English fans in particular have any idea how embarbutting this is. It's natural for a losing side to want to elevate their conquerors to the Moon and praise them to the heavens and make them as great as possible so that they can claim to have lost to a great team. Whta is your reasoning?

That you lost to the Benfica of EusZbio, Coluna, JosZ Torres and Sim>es? That you lost to the Benfica of Chalana, Veloso and Paneira?

Don't delude yourselves, this Benfica side in 2006 is more balanced than any Benfica of the last 10 years but in no way is it any way, shape or form a more formidable side than the Benficas of the last 10 years and there's a reason why that Benfica was invisible in the CL during the last decade. It's not Benfica that has gotten better but rather the English sides that have become mediocre and turning a blind eye to it won't change the fact. I only wish you could see Benfica play week after week, this is quite possibly the weakest, most mediocre side to reach the Champions League quarter-finals in the last decade, like I said, I'm perplexed and embarbutted.

Before anybody mentions that Benfica are the reigning Portuguese Champions I just want to say they were Champions with 65 points out of a possible 102, which was the record lowest points ammased by a Portuguese League Champion in 75 years.

Check the results, table, fixtures, etc, Benfica week in and week out gets humiliated in the Portuguese league, they are lucky not to be 6th, they lose to relegation sides like Guimar I think the fact that Man Utd and Liverpool lost to this Benfica is a testament to how much weaker (particularly Man Utd) is to just 3-5 years ago. Make no mistake the Man Utd of 2002-03 was already on the downward cycle compared to the late 90's but even that team would have beaten this Benfica who is a a mediocre team and in 4 games played Vs the 2 English clubs is was clear to see they won fairly, not with luck which can only allow me to reason that both English clubs aren't top clubs.

Chelsea lost to Barcelona but in all honesty losing to Barcelona is an honour compared to losing to Benfica circa 2006 who is just an average side at best.

I hope Benfica will now face a competitive team and if they do they will be exposed. When Porto dominated Europe for 2 years I was happy for them because they played good football and deserved their luck and good fortune but this Benfica won in a battle to see who was less mediocre them of Liverpool and Man Utd.

I repeat, the temptation will be to praise this Benfica side who beat you in order to make yourselves feel better but in time (hopefully very soon) the team that beat both top English clubs will be exposed in Europe (like it is in the Portuguese League). I'm still amazed at how Liverpool and especially Man Utd managed to lose to this Benfica team, a balanced team but about an uninspired as it gets.

Seeing Benfica win 2-0 at Anfield is as embarbutting as watching somebody get an award for something they don't deserve just because the competition is so bad. Benfica deserved to win but not because they are a great side but more of a testament at how poor Liverpool is particularly in the last 3 months or so. I think top clubs like Liverpool and Man Utd should really look in the mirror for reasons as to why they can't beat Chelsea, it's not their money or their coach but to a large extent it's they themselves who simply have fallen on hard times and their team's quality (or perhaps their competitive drive) just isn't what it was a few short years ago.

It's ironic in a way to see Liverpool go out Vs a mediocre team like Benfica and suffering 3 goals from them because Liverpool didn't deserve to win last year's CL and for the record neither did Milan, Liverpool was just less mediocre than Milan back then much like Benfica was less mediocre than Liverpool now.

I hope you guys have acess to the Portuguese Superliga and get to watch Benficas' games, you'll be in for a shock at the performances of the team that beat you both.

I'm Portuguese, I should be happy, but like I said, I'm embarbutted to see a Portuguese team win only because 2 English powerhouse managed to be more mediocre than them.

Porto won to European finals on merit. Sporting reach the UEFA Cup final on luck Benfica is in the CL quarter-finals to show how weak it's competition has been thus far.

Time will show how right I am about this Benfica side, I hope they face a stiff test soon.

Man Utd fans in particular should worry because their team's competitive edge in Europe has dropped dramatically in just 3 short years and that has nothing to do with Chelsea or the Glazers or whatever the usual scapegoat is. In my opinion this Man Utd team is not that inferior in talent to MU teams of the recent past but the ambition just doesn't seem to be there. No one man is worth a team but this Man Utd for as many shinny toys as it has in Ronaldo, Rooney, Ferdinand etc seems lacking the presence of a prime Roy Keane, that more than anything seems to be the missing ingredient, that ambition, that pride, that competitve hunger of which Man Utd seems to be lacking these days.

I like Carragher, Hyppia, Hamann and Alonso very much but seriously how does this Liverpool team get so many clean sheets in the Premiership and then suffers 3 goals from this Benfica side? Have you seen Benfica's ofense in the Portuguese league? I know I can't reason it this way but how the hell is it Benfica can't score against relegation Portuguese sides and then scores 3 Vs the reigning European Champion?

Frankly this Liverpool would lose to Porto, Sporting, Braga and Boavista and I wouldn't count out Leiria and Nacional Vs them either. Think I'm kidding then just watch the teams I mentioned.

I don't like Sim People used to joke how Liverpool had won the CL with Traore in their team, well the new joke is how Benfica managed to beat Man Utd and and Liverpool with a player like Beto in their XI?

P.S. I hope Sissoko is doing well and can recover his vision 100%.

I'll be curious to see how much praise is heaped upon Benfica and how quickly they will fall appart the moment they face a Barcelona, AC Milan or Lyon.

AndrZ