Benfica coach takes “new boss bounce” to the extreme
Bruno Lage
A
t the turn of the
year, Benfica fans
had all but written
off the season. A
limp 2-0 defeat at
Portimonense saw
the Eagles drop to
fourth in the standings, with Porto way
ahead of them at the summit.
Cue the sacking of Rui Vitoria and
the entrance of Bruno Lage, with the
B-team boss put in temporary charge
of the seniors while president Luis Filipe
Vieira tried his best to persuade Jose
Mourinho to return to the club where he
had started his career as a head coach.
However, Vieira’s failure to bring
Mourinho back to Portugal proved a
blessing in disguise.
The turnaround under Bruno Lage
was immediate and spectacular, both
in terms of results and the quality of
football played.
Remarkably, just two months later,
Benfica had rocketed to the top of the
table on the back of nine straight wins in
the league, culminating in an outstanding
display at Porto and a first league victoryat the Estadio do Dragao for almost a
decade. Without a single reinforcement in
January, he had got his side playing bright,
enterprising, joyful, attacking football – in
stark contrast to his predecessor.
The comparison between the two
coaches in the biggest matches is
particularly striking. Bruno Lage won
three out of four games against Sporting
and Porto, compared to Vitoria’s three
wins in 16 classicos. To put it another
way, the new man clocked up as many
victories against the toughest domestic
opposition in two months as Vitoria
managed in three and a half years.
“We’ve gone top but it doesn’t change
our aim – which is to win all our games
and continue to work hard until the
end of the season to achieve our main
objective: to win the championship,” said
the scorer of the winning goal against
Porto, Rafa Silva.
Silva is one of a host of players who
have been utterly transformed under the
new boss. Brazilian midfielder Gabriel
Pires was considered an expensive flop
after his signing from La Liga outfitrenowned Seixal academy into the first
team. The supremely talented Felix is
hogging the headlines, but Francisco
Ferreira, Florentino Luis and Gedson
Fernandes are other exciting prospects.
Setubal native Bruno Lage insists on
sharing the platitudes with which heLeganes, while Andreas Samaris had
rarely convinced. However, the pair have
formed an admirable partnership at the
base of the midfield in Bruno Lage’s 4-4-
2, the solid platform enabling the likes of
Haris Seferovic, Silva and brilliant
teenager Joao Felix to wreak havoc
among opposition defences.
“We know exactly what we have to
do, and this gives us tranquillity in our
day-to-day work and in the matches,”
added Silva, lifting the lid of what is the
most obvious explanation behind the
extraordinary impact of the coach.
Having worked in Benfica’s youth set-
up for 15 years, interrupted by spells in
the United Arab Emirates and England
(as assistant to Carlos Carvalhal), Bruno
Lage knows exactly what each player is
capable of and what role gets the best
out of them. He has shown an ability to
transmit his message perfectly.
It came as no surprise, therefore, that
he managed to seamlessly integrate
several graduates from Benfica’sHeadliners
Winner...Benfica’s
Rafa Silva scores
against Porto“I want to thank my players...because
they are making a coach out of me”
Bruno Lage