What is RSS?

Benfica Champions League post-mortem

Failure or dawn of a bright future?

For a few minutes last Wednesday evening the Estadio da Luz was buzzing with energy, firstly from the fine performance that so narrowly failed to defeat reigning European champions AC Milan, and secondly from the prospect of Benfica going to Shakhtar Donetsk for the final group game still with a chance of qualifying for the last 16 of the competition.

That was before the news came through of Massimo Donati’s last-gasp goal in Glasgow which put Milan through and eliminated the Eagles, leaving them with the prospect of winning in the Ukraine just to manage the consolation prize of a UEFA Cup place.

Fast forward a week and it’s mission accomplished. Benfica – replete with head warmers – pulled off a considerable coup by winning, relatively comfortably, in sub-zero conditions against a Shakhtar side who not only would have made the knockout stages of the Champions League had they won the match, but who looked so impressive when winning in Lisbon back in the second group game.

There were hugs among the Portuguese, and quiet satisfaction, at the final whistle, but no outright jubilation.

Camacho regret

Cut to Jose Antonio Camacho in the press room and you could get a sense of why that was. Camacho lamented that ‘none’ of his side’s opponents in the group had been superior to them, and he looked back particularly on the away game with Celtic as an opportunity missed.

It’s not hard to see his point – they certainly had the chances in Glasgow, just as they had against Shakhtar back at the Luz, with the two goal hero in Donetsk, Oscar Cardozo, being more than a little culpable on both occasions.

Despite having largely conquered the goalscoring difficulties that plagued the opening weeks of their season, Benfica again failed to make their domination tell against Milan last week. Missing chances was ultimately the story of their Champions League campaign.

That said, there are a lot of positives that Camacho can take from the campaign. Over the space of just a few months Camacho has developed a young, hungry squad – a known strength of his from his first spell in Lisbon – who are improving rapidly. Players on the periphery at the start, like Cardozo, Freddy Adu and Augustin Binya (despite his red card against Celtic) are coming into their own.

In fact, the side that gave Gattuso, Seedorf and friends the run-around last week are virtually unrecognisable from the players who were given a lesson at the San Siro in the first group match.

So what’s your view? Did Benfica do as well as could be expected in a tough group, or should they be going through to the last 16 instead of Celtic? Give your opinion using the form below.


Related: Shakhtar 1-2 Benfica - match report
Related: Shakhtar 1-2 Benfica - match reaction