1985–86 S.L. Benfica season

Benfica

1985–86 season
President	Fernando Martins
Head coach	John Mortimore
Stadium	Estádio da Luz
Primeira Divisão	2nd
Taça de Portugal
Cup Winners' Cup	Second round
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira	Winners
Top goalscorer	League: Manniche (14) All: Manniche (21)
Home colours
← 1984–85 1986–87 →

The 1985–86 season was Sport Lisboa e Benfica's 82nd season in existence and the club's 52nd consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football, covering the period from 1 July 1985 to 30 June 1986. Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Divisão, and the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, and participated in the Cup Winners' Cup after winning the Taça de Portugal in the previous season.

In the new season, John Mortimore replaced Pál Csernai after the Hungarian underperformed at the helm. Only major signing was Rui Águas, but Benfica fought to kept a trio composed of Carlos Manuel, Diamantino Miranda and José Luís from leaving. In the league, Benfica started in erratic shape but quickly settled and racked up several consecutive wins. They ended 1985 in first place and having the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, their second Supertaça. In the first months of new year, Benfica kept their first place, while knocking out Porto and Sporting from the Portuguese Cup. In April, the season took a dramatic turn when Benfica lost at home to Sporting and were matched in first place by Porto, who confirmed their title a week later. Nonetheless, Benfica finished the month by lifting their 20th Taça de Portugal against Belenenses.

Season summary[]

Benfica started the new season with a change in leadership. The performance under Pál Csernai in 1984–85 was disappointing, so it was only expectable that he would be replaced.^[1] In late April, John Mortimore, was selected as his replacement.^[2][3] The club made some adjustments in the transfer window but the biggest signing was Rui Águas.^[4] The summer story instead revolved around the contract extensions for Carlos Manuel, Diamantino Miranda and José Luís.^[5][6] Particularly, Carlos Manuel, who was rumoured to move to Braga.^[7] In July, all three agreed terms and signed their extensions, ending the impasse.^[8][9] The pre-season began on 11 July,^[10] with three preparation games scheduled for late July.^[11] Benfica then took part in the regional Taça de Honra and in the Lisbon International Tournament, winning both.^[12][13][14]

The league campaign started with the Clássico with Porto, with Benfica losing 2–0.^[15] The next week, Benfica defeated Marítimo by 9–0, and then lost again, now with Vitória de Guimarães.^[16] They followed that with a draw against Vitória de Setúbal.^[16] On the third weekend of September, Benfica opened the new third tier of Estádio da Luz, taking advantage of the week off from the first round of the Cup Winners' Cup. Because of the Heysel Stadium disaster, their opponent, Manchester United was banned.^[17][18][19] In October, in their debut in Europe, Benfica eliminated Sampdoria.^[20] Domestically, the league had much improve and by 25 November, Benfica was only a point shy of first place.^[21] In early December, Benfica drew in Antas and won their second Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, after having previously beat them by one-nil at home.^[21][22] On 21 December, Benfica drew with Sporting, which levelled the Big Three at the top with 22 points.^[21] Closing the year, Benfica defeated Boavista and lapped the first round of the league in first place, after recovering five points since September.^[21]

After an event-less January, in which Benfica retained their one-point lead over Sporting;^[23] in February, Benfica faced Porto again, this time for the round of 16 of the Taça de Portugal, winning 2–1. Meanwhile, in the Primeira Divisão, they added another point in their lead over their closest competitors.^[23] In March, Benfica was eliminated of the Cup Winners' Cup by Dukla Prague,^[24] while in the Portuguese Cup, they thrashed Sporting by 5–0 in the quarter-finals.^[25][26] They finished the month with a replay of the match with Salgueiros, which had been postponed in February because of the pitch conditions. They drew 1–1 and lost points in title race.^[26]

In April, Benfica received Sporting in what was labelled the D-Day for the league.^[26] Despite leading the league for most of second round, they lost 2–1, which allowed Porto to catch them in the first place, with a better head-to-head record.^[27] Mortimore said: "Sporting had two chances and converted them both, we had lost the league".^[27] On the last day of the campaign, Porto beat last classified, Sporting da Covilhã and won the league, while Benfica lost in Bessa with Boavista.^[27] Benfica reacted in the best way and qualified for the Taça de Portugal Final, where they defeated Belenenses to lift their 20th Taça de Portugal.^[28][29][26] After the win, Manuel Bento said: "The bastards won the Cup after all". He also approached the loss of the league title with: "forces too powerful took away our title."^[29]

Competitions[]

  Win   Draw   Loss   Postponed

Overall record[]

Competition	First match	Last match	Record
			G	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Win %	Source
Primeira Divisão	24 August 1985	20 April 1986	30	21	5	4	54	13	+41	070.00	[30]
	17 November 1985	27 April 1986	8	7	1	0	26	2	+24	087.50	[30]
European Cup Winners' Cup	23 October 1985	19 March 1986	4	2	0	2	4	3	+1	050.00	[30]
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira	20 November 1985	4 December 1985	2	1	1	0	1	0	+1	050.00	[30]
Total			44	31	7	6	85	18	+67	070.45

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira[]

Primeira Divisão[]

League table[]

Pos	Team v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Porto (C)	30	22	5	3	64	20	+44	49	Qualification to European Cup first round
2	Benfica	30	21	5	4	54	13	+41	47	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
3	Sporting CP	30	20	6	4	64	20	+44	46	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
4	Vitória de Guimarães	30	16	8	6	51	29	+22	40
5	Boavista	30	14	8	8	44	29	+15	36

Results by round[]

Matches[]

Taça de Portugal[]

European Cup Winners' Cup[]

Second round[]

Quarter-final[]

Friendlies[]

^[33]

Player statistics[]

The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below, as well as staff member John Mortimore (manager), Toni (assistant manager), Eusébio (assistant manager).^[10]

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 1985-86 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.

No.	Pos	Nat	Player	Total		Primeira Divisão				Cup Winners' Cup		Supertaça
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	POR	Manuel Bento	43	0	29	0	8	0	4	0	2	0
1‡	GK	POR	Neno	2	0	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0
2	DF	POR	António Veloso	43	0	30	0	8	0	3	0	2	0
2	DF	POR	Minervino Pietra	17	0	14	0	2	0	0	0	1	0
3	DF	POR	António Oliveira	43	2	29	2	8	0	4	0	2	0
3	DF	POR	Álvaro Magalhães	41	1	27	0	8	1	4	0	2	0
4	DF	POR	Samuel Quina	39	0	27	0	7	0	4	0	1	0
4‡	DF	POR	Vítor Duarte	1	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
5	DF	POR	António Bastos Lopes	17	0	11	0	1	0	3	0	2	0
5	DF	POR	Carlos Pereira	1	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
6	MF	POR	José Luís	15	3	10	3	3	0	2	0	0	0
6	MF	POR	Carlos Manuel	35	8	25	7	5	0	4	1	1	0
7	FW	POR	Nené	23	8	16	7	3	1	2	0	2	0
7‡	MF	POR		4	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF	BRA	Wando	32	5	21	1	8	4	1	0	2	0
8	MF	POR	Adelino Nunes	30	5	19	2	7	2	3	1	1	0
8	FW	DEN	Michael Manniche	40	21	29	14	5	6	4	1	2	0
9‡	FW	POR	Rui Águas	33	17	22	10	8	6	3	1	0	0
10	MF	POR		9	0	4	0	4	0	0	0	1	0
11‡	FW	POR	César Brito	6	1	2	0	3	1	0	0	1	0
11	MF	POR	Diamantino Miranda	43	8	29	4	8	2	4	1	2	1
11	MF	POR	Shéu	40	4	27	3	7	1	4	0	2	0

Transfers[]

In[]

Entry date	Position	Player	From club	Fee	Ref
24 April 1985	FW	César Brito	Covilhã	Undisclosed	[42]
3 June 1985	DF		Montijo	Undisclosed	[43]
12 June 1985	FW	Rui Águas	Portimonense	Undisclosed	[4]
12 June 1985	DF	Vítor Duarte	União de Coimbra	Undisclosed	[4]
11 July 1985	GK	Neno	Vitória de Guimarães	Loan return	[44]

Out[]

Exit date	Position	Player	To club	Fee	Ref
4 April 1985	DF	Humberto Coelho	None	Retired	[45]
6 August 1985	MF		Portimonense	Undisclosed	[46]
14 August 1985	FW	Jorge Silva	Chaves	Undisclosed	[47]
21 August 1985	DF	Alberto Bastos Lopes	Penafiel	Free	[48]
22 August 1985	MF		Marítimo	Free	[49]

Out by loan[]

Exit date	Position	Player	To club	Return date	Ref
14 August 1985	GK	Silvino	Aves	30 June 1986	[47]
August 1985	MF		Portimonense	30 June 1986

Notes[]

References[]

Bibliography

• Tovar, Rui Miguel (2012). Almanaque do Benfica. Portugal: Lua de Papel. ISBN 978-989-23-2087-8.
• Miguéns, Alberto (2005). 100 anos 100 troféus. Portugal: Prime Books. ISBN 972-8820-34-8.
• Quidnovi, Redacção (2004). Sport Lisboa e Benfica: 100 Gloriosos anos; As Provas Nacionais 1. Portugal: Quidnovi. ISBN 989-554-102-3.
• Simões, António (1994). História de 50 anos do Desporto Português. A Bola. Portugal.