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	Drawn
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
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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, an 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 v t	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Porto (C)	34	24	8	2	58	11	+47	56	Qualification to Champions League first round
2	Benfica	34	17	12	5	62	23	+39	46	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
3	Boavista	34	16	12	6	45	27	+18	44	Qualification to Cup Winners' Cup first round[a]
4	Sporting CP	34	18	8	8	56	26	+30	44	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
5	Vitória de Guimarães	34	14	13	7	46	35	+11	41

Results by round[]

Matches[]

Taça de Portugal[]

European Cup[]

First round[]

Second round[]

Group B[]

Pos	Team v	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Barcelona	6	4	1	1	10	4	+6	9	Advance to final
2	Sparta Prague	6	2	2	2	7	7	0	6
3	Benfica	6	1	3	2	8	5	+3	5
4	Dynamo Kyiv	6	2	0	4	3	12	−9	4

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	Total		Primeira Divisão		Taça de Portugal		European Cup		Supertaça
				Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
1	GK	POR	Manuel Bento	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1	GK	POR	Silvino	9	-5	1	-1	6	-3	1	0	1	-1
1	GK	POR	Neno	44	-30	34	-22	0	0	9	-7	1	-1
2	DF	POR	António Veloso	49	0	32	0	6	0	9	0	2	0
2	DF	POR	José Carlos	42	1	29	1	5	0	6	0	2	0
4	DF	BRA	William	28	4	18	3	4	0	4	0	2	1
4	MF	POR	Rui Bento	37	0	24	0	4	0	7	0	2	0
4‡	DF	POR	Pedro Valido	4	0	1	0	1	0	1	0	1	0
5	DF	POR	Paulo Madeira	47	4	32	1	4	2	9	1	2	0
5	MF	SWE	Stefan Schwarz	28	0	16	0	3	0	9	0	0	0
6	MF	POR	Paulo Sousa	32	1	23	1	5	0	3	0	1	0
6‡	MF	RUS	Vasili Kulkov	30	5	19	3	3	1	6	1	2	0
6	MF	POR	Hernâni Neves	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
7	MF	POR	Vítor Paneira	44	3	29	0	5	2	8	1	2	0
8	MF	SWE	Jonas Thern	42	3	27	2	5	1	8	0	2	0
8	MF	POR	António Pacheco	41	11	27	7	5	2	8	2	1	0
9	FW	POR	Rui Águas	18	6	14	5	1	0	3	1	0	0
9‡	FW	RUS	Sergei Yuran	35	15	21	6	3	1	9	7	2	1
9‡	FW	POR	João Pires	2	0	1	0	0	0	1	0	0	0
10‡	MF	POR	Rui Costa	32	4	21	4	3	0	7	0	1	0
11	FW	SWE	Mats Magnusson	30	11	22	9	4	2	3	0	1	0
11	MF	BRA	Isaías	40	17	26	12	5	0	8	5	1	0
11	FW	POR	César Brito	37	13	23	7	6	2	7	4	1	0

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[]

Bibliography

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