Benfica’s appearance in tonight’s Europa League final against Chelsea brings to mind our last European campaign, that of 2009-10. In the group stages, we’d come up against Benfica. It was, as they say, never going to easy. However, it was with mounting horror that I realised, as the game approached, that it was going to be very hard indeed...
There have only been a handful of times in my life when I’ve watched a game and found myself in raptures over someone I’d hardly even heard of before. A 17-year-old Shearer playing for Southampton, and Drogba playing for Marseilles against Newcastle are two that spring to mind. More recently (October 2009), I watched Argentina’s World Cup qualifying match against Uruguay and found myself thinking: "That Argentinian left winger is absolutely fantastic. He is genuinely world class. What’s his name? Angel di Maria? Never heard of him." I had no idea which club he played for but, only eight days later, I found out: Benfica. “Oh shit,” I thought... Then I thought the same thing over and over again.
I love a bit of exaggeration, me, but when I say our injury situation was catastrophic, I am speaking the unadorned truth TEN senior players out injured. Look at the Match Report for the teamsheets and list of unavailable players: Gosling at right-back – that’s bad.... Hibbert at centre-back – that’s worse... Distin at centre-back – that’s fine, looks like the crisis is over. Coleman at left-back – that’s... oh shit! As we know now, Seamus has come on really well in the last few years but still he hasn’t got a left foot to speak of. Back then, he was even worse on his weaker side – and he was making his debut!
If you take a look at our subs bench for that game, you will see it was mainly made up of young lads who would go on to ply their trade in the lower leagues: Wallace (Tranmere), Baxter (Oldham), Akpan (Crawley Town/Reading), Agard (Yeovil/Rotherham). So... no Plan B then!
I don’t think I realised at the time how many good players Benfica had. Put it this way: they brought on Coentrao after 77 minutes. The current Real Madrid left-back couldn’t even get a place in their starting XI. At centre-back they had Luiz, now at Chelsea. In midfield they had Ramires, also now at Chelsea, plus Javi Garcia, bought for big money by Man City last summer. Then they had (and still have) Pablo Aimar, a brilliant Argentinian attacking midfielder. Up front: another ace Argie, Saviola, now at Pellegrini-managed Malaga, and Cardoza – then under-rated, now widely acknowledged as one of the best strikers in Europe. Di Maria? He’s now at Real Madrid, of course. Not a bad team, to be fair.
Well, sometimes things turn out better than expected. Other times they turn out even worse. In this case, it was the latter scenario – we were beaten comprehensively. I won’t give the scoreline as there is still a little bit of me that likes to pretend it didn’t happen. "Er, what didn’t happen?" That sort of thing.
We eventually went out of the competition to Sporting Lisbon, winning 2-1 but conceding a disastrous late penalty in the home leg, then getting trounced 3-0 at the Estádio José Alvalade, Lisbon. The lowlight of that second game was a lumbering performance by Senderos which was evidently inspired by Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation in ‘Jason and the Argonauts’ – in particular, the giant bronze man, Talos – a hefty unit, for sure, but hardly fleet of foot. When I think back on our 2009-10 European campaign, that’s the image that always comes to mind... take a look:
.
Reader Comments (49)
Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer
2 Posted 15/05/2013 at 18:47:18
I sneaked out of work early, excited about a genuinely high profile European game for once and watched it in a bar with, looking back, a few too many Portugeuse lads round my way in London. There's a Benfica supporters pub round the corner too, hopefully no Blues ventured in there that night?!.
My bro had enough of the jeering (people soon worked out who the Toffees were) and left at 3-0, I stayed till the bitter bitter end. we never looked like even scoring a consolation. Was it a crocked Yak and Jo up top? Christ.
Was in the Park End for the return grop game and in many ways that was just as bad!
It was an aggregate 11-2 to the two Lisbon teams over 4 games that season. Cheers Moyesie!
RIP Ray Harryhausen by the way.
3 Posted 15/05/2013 at 19:23:18
We got battered, and were flattered with the 0-2 scoreline.
The bottling at Sporting Lisbon was my first realisatiion that Moyes wasn't good enough, and the was a big game bottle, and I realised at that moment that a new manager was needed if we were to move forward.
4 Posted 15/05/2013 at 19:28:14
11 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:10:18
12 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:11:58
You watch Chelsea win though - FSW is one lucky manager!
13 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:16:14
Part of me wants Chelsea win just to see if Terry turns up in his kit again. Tosser.
15 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:25:45
16 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:29:44
18 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:43:26
19 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:49:23
And we'll done Kev Johnson for putting something fresh up on the site to reflect on, think we all need it, it's going to be a long few weeks.
20 Posted 15/05/2013 at 20:50:59
21 Posted 15/05/2013 at 21:40:18
22 Posted 15/05/2013 at 21:40:43
23 Posted 15/05/2013 at 21:42:07
24 Posted 15/05/2013 at 21:43:41
25 Posted 15/05/2013 at 21:45:37
26 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:00:42
Sad for Benfica... Eusebio didn't look pleased. Want to give him a hug!
27 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:04:36
Mind you at least Moyes will get to see what one looks like now!
Boom boom...! Sorry....
29 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:23:59
30 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:21:32
31 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:30:54
SAF gone
RAFA going
Bayern if they win CL - manager retiring
Swansea - Laudrup - probably will stay
Wigan - Martinez will probably not be there next season.
32 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:28:30
Regarless, I apologised then, and I'll apologise again, I just couldn't help it. Sorry.
33 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:39:26
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/how-david-Moyes-and-the-god-squad-infuriated-a-former-teammate-with-their-christian-faith-8614379.html
34 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:35:36
Benfica were unlucky there. Mind you, I do like Lampard. That bloke has got a shot on him! Mata is pretty good too.
38 Posted 15/05/2013 at 22:48:18
Not for the money or the glory but for my goal celebration
Which would be running to the crowd, pulling up my shirt to reveal "God simply does not exist!" written on a t-shirt.
Something which would give many (including whatshisname) the shits and something I'm really disappointed nobody has yet done
Imagine doing it for the first time?
Paxman: "Well all Ruane is claiming that if footballers can show their faith in God, he is equally entitled to show his lack of faith, you're saying atheists DON'T have the same rights?"
F.A official: "Well Jeremy (sweat)...I um...think you're..erm..over simplifying things...a...little..." (tugs at collar)
39 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:05:10
Eugene - or how about 'That One's For Satan!'.....? Might ruffle a few feathers.
Its a bit like Luiz's 'I Belong to God' (I think that's what it was) declaration tonight.
'Erm, no you don't....' says Roman Abramovich.
40 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:19:13
41 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:14:36
While I was researching the article above - I didn't just do it off the top of my head, you know! - I came across a quote from Coleman. He described his debut at the 'Stadium of Light' (which is what I originally called it, but MK/LL changed it to the properly Portuguese version) as "surreal". Hmph, people think everything is surreal these days. Literally surreal. But I digress...
My suggestion, then, is a surrealist slogan, based on the work of Magritte, namely: "That was not a goal".
42 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:26:14
43 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:24:56
44 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:30:06
"That was not a goal". You see what I did there?
45 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:23:30
I still think it would be a great idea, just to baffle away supporters.
Picture the entire Park End standing, pointing at the way support and chanting...
"APPLES, APPLES, A CLOUD, A FISH, A PIPE! APPLES, APPLES..."
As for the misuse of surreal, see Irony and awesome.
True - a feller in a shop in NZ was giving me change and said "You haven't got the three cents have you?"
When I produced the coins he said "Awesome"
I said "You know, should you ever get to the top of Everest, or see the Pyramids, you're going to be fucked for an adjective"
He just looked at me like I was a twat.
Which was Ironic....or not.
46 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:29:07
47 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:35:09
48 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:33:56
As for "iconic", I think we'll find that it is currently being haggled down to "I vaguely recognise it". See our new club crest for further reference...
49 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:38:57
50 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:33:55
A favourite expression of my (late) mam.
She also descibed anyone under 30 as a 'snot-nosed bit of a kid'.
Anyone over 30 was 'a big hairy-arsed lump of a feller'
Oh and everyone on telly was 'that friggin get'.
I can't be sure but I have a feeling Co Roscommon wasn't big on finishing schools.
51 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:44:47
52 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:45:06
53 Posted 15/05/2013 at 23:52:28
I had it in my head that we'd been very unlucky in drawing tough teams in Europe, but I'm not sure that's actually true. VIllareal, yes, that was nightmarishly unlucky. They were one of the best teams in the world that year! But then we went out of the EUFA Cup to Dynamo Bucharest (or suchlike, I'm researched-out to be honest!), who were hardly worldbeaters. Our losses to Benfica weren't actually decisive, except we qualified as runners up in the group so missed out on an easier knock-out tie. If I recall rightly, Sporting Lisbon actually reached the final that year, so they were a decent side. But, as you say, if it hadn't been for a last minute cock up at Goodison, we could have beaten them. Fiorentina? Good side, but not great, and we failed by a whisker. Then there was a Standard Liege side which included Fellaini; they beat us 4-3 over the two legs. Again, a good side, but not great. I'm not sure we have been unlucky, when I look at it properly.
54 Posted 16/05/2013 at 03:48:40
When I first moved to Torono, I lived with two blokes from Roscommon. One was a sweetheart, the other, a complete lying scumbag. The schism helped me realise there are different people around, no matter how close they hail from.
55 Posted 16/05/2013 at 04:51:47
I wouldn't even have him in the top 10 strikers in Europe, I mean seriously there are far better than him. Even his strike partner, who can on a sub tonight scored far more goals than he has this season, and lets be honest the portuguese league is a bit of a joke compared to any of it's neighbours. That being said though, the night they murdered us, they would have murdered anyone.
56 Posted 16/05/2013 at 04:51:47
I wouldn't even have him in the top 10 strikers in Europe, I mean seriously there are far better than him. Even his strike partner, who can on a sub tonight scored far more goals than he has this season, and lets be honest the portuguese league is a bit of a joke compared to any of it's neighbours. That being said though, the night they murdered us, they would have murdered anyone.
57 Posted 16/05/2013 at 09:17:07
I stayed with a mate who lives in Lisbon & also took in the Benfica match earlier in the week. Sporting were not doing well in the league & were under the cosh from their own fans. All week on the local radio we could hear how the expectation locally was that this English Premier League team would come & wipe the floor with them, they'd got out of jail with a flukey away goal, people weren't bothered about going the match, etc.
It was a bit of a shock to see our team largely sitting back, barely crossing the halfway line & seemingly happy to hand the initiative to Sporting. By the time the match was over we'd made them look like Brazil!
58 Posted 16/05/2013 at 11:35:16
I don't agree that the Portuguese league is "a bit of a joke" though. Whatever the brilliance or otherwise of individual players, I think they regularly produce really skilful, coherent teams who do well in European competitions.
59 Posted 17/05/2013 at 01:45:09
Which would be running to the crowd, pulling up my shirt to reveal "God simply does not exist!" written on a t-shirt.
or how about 'That One's For Satan!'.....?
as non-atheist-Catholic and having laughed out loud (LOL'd) at the T-shirt ideas, even sharing them with my wife I thought they were so damn funny...
I feel like I have to go to confession now.
Guilty Catholics... ugh.
Classic Ts. I actually own a company that prints uniforms and T-shirts. I'd print those giggling. Classically clever. If you happen to see them on a website someday, the answer is no.
No royalties whatsoever for you two. Keeping the money for myself.
And then I'll go back to the confessional...
60 Posted 17/05/2013 at 22:14:16
Might need to think of some more accessible slogans......
61 Posted 19/05/2013 at 03:35:44
Full of optimism.
It was indeed a really poor performance. My 83 ysAr old mother got surrounded by riot police after the game Which put the lid in a forgettable night .
Add Your Comments
In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site.
Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site.
1 Posted 15/05/2013 at 17:41:41