German Jinxes

Apparently, Portuguese giants Benfica have a poor record in Germany. They’ve played 15 games on German soil and lost 11 of them. They’ve never won any of them. They’ve only scored 13 goals.

However, that also shows that they’ve been playing in Europe for long enough that they’ve had 15 opportunities to play in Germany. Their pedigree is undeniable. Dieter Hoeness scored a hat-trick against them 27 years ago, when he was at Bayern Munich. Only three years ago they were in the quarterfinals of the Champions League. Benfica are a team with History.

But what of their present?

At the moment, okay, if not great. They squeaked by second-division Penafiel on penalties in the Portuguese cup after a 0-0 draw last Sunday, and missed a chance to go top of the league the week before that with a 1-1 draw to Leixões. On the other hand, they’re unbeaten in the league and knocked a decent Napoli out of the UEFA Cup to get the chance to play us.

They’re managed by one of my favorite names in football, Quique Sanchez Flores, formerly of Valencia. He was hired by former Benfica and Portugal great Rui Costa, who returned to his first club in 2006 and was promptly moved upstairs as Director of Football on retiring in 2008. (They also managed to poach Rafa Benitez’s long-term assistant to help out as well.)

While the names on the roster may not be quite as illustrious as they were in Benfica’s heyday, they’re still pretty noticeable. Those who follow Serie A might remember David Suazo, who was the subject of a massive fight between the two Milan clubs before ending up at Inter. Perhaps he should have gone to AC Milan, as he didn’t quite settle there and is now on loan at Benfica. Also on loan is Jose Antonio Reyes, from Atletico Madrid. Reyes is a talented player who hasn’t quite settled anywhere after leaving Sevilla, but he’s already scored two goals in six appearances for the Portuguese. They’re captained by veteran Portugal striker Nuno Gomes, who’s backed up by veteran Brazilian defender Luisão. Oh, and Pablo Aimar is staying in Lisbon with an injury.

And what about us?

There are doubts over Andriy Voronin, who’s got a muscle problem with his thigh. If he doesn’t recover in time it’s likely that Marko Pantelic will reappear in the Hertha lineup. But if Voronin makes it, Lulu says that the team that played against Stuttgart will play.

Benfica are the favorites here, but that may work for us. Our away record shows that we’ve developed some ability as a counter-attacking side, managing to get results when it’s the other team dictating play and scoring goals against the run of it. If Benfica come at this underestimating us, we could yet get something out of it.

Category: europe

Tags: benfica, europe, home

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