1994–95 S.L. Benfica season

Benfica
1994–95 season
President Manuel Damásio
Head coach Artur Jorge
Stadium Estádio da Luz
Primeira Divisão 3rd
Taça de Portugal Quarter-finals
Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira Runners-up
UEFA Champions League Quarter-finals
Top goalscorer League: Isaías (14)
All: Edílson (17)
Highest home attendance 60,000 vs Porto
(2 October 1994)
Lowest home attendance 10,000 vs Marinhense
(4 December 1994)
Home colours
← 1993–94 1995–96 →

The 1994–95 European football season was the 91st season of Sport Lisboa e Benfica's existence and the club's 61st consecutive season in both Portuguese football and UEFA competitions. The season ran from 1 July 1994 to 30 June 1995; Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Divisão and the Taça de Portugal. The club also participated in the UEFA Champions League as a result of result of finishing first in the Primeira Divisão in the previous season.

After winning their latest title, Benfica made significant changes to its squad and management. It sacked Toni and replaced him with Artur Jorge. In the transfer market, the club was far more active than the past seasons. It signed over a dozen players with Michel Preud'homme, Dimas Teixeira and Paulo Bento becaming regulars. They were joined by two loans, Claudio Caniggia and Edílson, both would be the top-scorers of the team. In the departures, fan favourites like Rui Costa or Schwarz were sold, while others like Rui Àguas, Kulkov, Silvino and Hernâni Neves were released.

On the pitch, Benfica started the season by losing the 1993 Supertaça to Porto. In the Primeira Divisão, they started winning, but quickly lost their plot. In the Champions League, Jorge led Benfica to the knockout stage after coming first in their group. As the season progress, Benfica performance stabilised and starting early December, they rack up over ten wins in a row. This allowed them to close distances to leader Porto, and progress to the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup.

In late February, in the decisive stage of the season, Benfica slipped again in the Primeira Divisão, and were eliminated in the other competitions. Til the end, Benfica could only win about half of their remaining fourteen match-days, finishing in third place, 15 points behind Porto. In their last match of the season, they lost another Supertaça to Porto.

Season summary

In the post-season of a title winning year, Benfica made the surprise choice of releasing Toni, who had been closely associated with the managerial position since assuming the assistant position to Sven-Göran Eriksson in 1982.[1] To replace him, the club chose Artur Jorge.[1][2] The Portuguese manager was known for the eight titles won at FC Porto, notoriously, the 1986–87 European Cup, plus had just led Paris Saint-Germain to their second league title in history, in the past season. With the club still in financial despair, they were forced to sell important players to gather funds. Rising star, Rui Costa was sold to Fiorentina, reportedly because they offer more money than Barcelona.[1][3] Schwarz joined Arsenal for 1.8 million pounds,[4] and others left the club, either for disciplinary reasons as with Kulkov and Yuran,[5] or old age, like Rui Àguas.

The club sought reinforcements mostly indoors, like Paulo Bento and Dimas, with a few arriving from abroad, with Preud'Homme and Caniggia gathering the most expectations.[1] The season began with the replay match of the 1993 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, ending in another loss on the penalty shoot-out, similar to the 1991 edition. On the league campaign, the situation was better, as Benfica racked up three straight wins; however a loss against União de Leiria on 18 September, put the team behind on the title race by two points.[6]

"As title-holders, Benfica transforms himself in three months, and for the worst. The new board led by Damásio sacks Toni, the title winning manager and sells Rui Costa and Schwarz. From the many alternatives put at the disposal of Artur Jorge and his assistant, Zoran Filipović, only three work: Preud'Homme, Dimas and Paulo Bento. Edílson, Stanić and Caniggia show some talent, offsetting the flops, Tavares and Nelo. Conclusion: third place in the league, without winning to either Porto, or Sporting – even losing both games against Sporting, something that only happened three times before, in 1939–40, 1952–53 and 1953–54. As an end note, double elimination on the quarter-finals: by Vitória de Setúbal on the Portuguese Cup and by AC Milan on the Champions League. In the Supercup, Porto lifts the trophy in Paris."

— Rui Miguel Tovar on the season events[1]

Benfica could not regain any point back over October, ending the month with a four points disadvantage to leader Sporting.[6] Although the domestically, the season was not going according to the club best hopes; in Europe, the track record was much better, with a spot on the next phase secured with one match to spare.[7] Already approaching New Year, the odds in the renewing the title race were further diminished, with a loss in Alvalade expanding the gap to the leader by a point.[8]

The first months of 1995 were the teams best throughout the season, as they reduced the distance to the league leader, Porto, to only three points by Match-day 20 after an eight-game winning streak.[8] However, in the next two months, at the deciding part of the season, the club dropped more points to Leiria, and then lost four times in six games, re-opening the gap to Porto to twelve points, finishing any hope of renewing the title.[9] In the other competitions, the prospect was the same, Benfica was knock-out of the Champions League by A.C. Milan,[7] and on the Taça de Portugal, by Vitória Setúbal.[10]

The final games of the season were only spent securing a place in the next year European competitions, having the bitter taste of losing both games against Sporting, for a fourth time in history, the first since 1954.[1] The Derby de Lisboa on the 30 of April was also controversial because of the irregular dismissal of Caniggia by referee Jorge Coroado; causing the match to be repeated on 14 July (2–0 win for Benfica), and then annulled on FIFA order.[1] After finishing the league fifteen points behind them, as they regained the title back, Benfica met Porto on the replay of the 1994 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira in Paris, which was left unresolved from early in the season. The northerners won one-nil and took home their eight Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira.[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 21 August 1994 28 May 1995 34 21 5 8 60 30 +30 61.76 [11]
Taça de Portugal 4 December 1994 12 April 1995 5 3 1 1 18 3 +15 60.00 [11]
UEFA Champions League 14 September 1994 15 March 1995 8 3 4 1 9 7 +2 37.50 [11]
Supertaça 17 August 1994 20 June 1995 4 0 3 1 1 3 −2 00.00 [11]
Total 51 27 13 11 90 44 +46 52.94

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira

1993 Edition

1994 Edition

Primeira Liga

League table

Pos
 Team
 Pld
 W
 D
 L
 GF
 GA
 GD
 Pts
Qualification or relegation
1 Porto (C) 34 29 4 1 73 15+58 62 1995–96 UEFA Champions League Group stage
2 Sporting CP 34 23 9 2 59 21+38 55 1995–96 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup First round 1
3 Benfica 34 21 5 8 60 30+30 47 1995–96 UEFA Cup First round

Updated to games played on 2014.
Source: Primeira Divisão
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored
1 Sporting qualified for the Cup Winners' Cup as Portuguese Cup winners
(C) = Champion; (R) = Relegated; (P) = Promoted; (E) = Eliminated; (O) = Play-off winner; (A) = Advances to a further round.
Only applicable when the season is not finished:
(Q) = Qualified to the phase of tournament indicated; (TQ) = Qualified to tournament, but not yet to the particular phase indicated; (RQ) = Qualified to the relegation tournament indicated; (DQ) = Disqualified from tournament.

Results by round

Round12345678910111213141516171819202122232425262728293031323334
GroundHAHAAHAHAHAHAHAHAAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAH
Result W W W L W D L W W W D W L W W W W W W W D W L L W L L W D L W W W D
Position 1 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3 3

Last updated: 26 June 2013.
Source: FootballPortugal.net
Ground: A = Away; H = Home. Result: D = Draw; L = Loss; W = Win; P = Postponed.

Matches

Taça de Portugal

UEFA Champions League

Group Stage

Group C
Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
Portugal Benfica 633095+49
Croatia Hajduk Split 622257−26
Romania Steaua Bucureşti 613276+15
Belgium Anderlecht 604247−34

Knockout stage

Quarter-finals

Player statistics

The squad for the season consisted of the players listed in the tables below, as well as staff member Artur Jorge(manager) and Zoran Filipovic (assistant manager).[13][11]

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 1994-95 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.

No. Pos Nat Player TotalPrimeira Liga Portuguese Cup UEFA Champions League Supertaça
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
1‡ GK Belgium Michel Preud'homme 47 -41 31 -28 5 -3 8 -7 3 -3
2 DF Portugal António Veloso 37 0 25 0 2 0 7 0 3 0
2‡ DF Brazil Paulo Pereira 18 1 13 1 3 0 1 0 1 0
4 DF Portugal Hélder Cristóvão 33 4 21 3 2 0 7 1 3 0
4 DF Brazil William 19 0 13 0 2 0 3 0 1 0
5 DF Brazil Carlos Mozer 23 0 17 0 2 0 4 0 0 0
5 DF Portugal Paulo Madeira 28 0 17 0 4 0 3 0 4 0
6 DF Portugal Abel Xavier 33 3 22 3 2 0 5 0 4 0
6‡ MF Portugal Paulo Bento 29 0 20 0 5 0 3 0 1 0
6‡ MF Portugal José Tavares 34 6 20 2 3 2 7 1 4 1
7‡ MF Portugal Amaral 14 1 11 1 2 0 0 0 1 0
7 MF Portugal Vítor Paneira 38 5 24 3 4 1 8 0 2 1
8 MF Portugal João Vieira Pinto 39 6 24 4 5 1 7 1 3 0
9‡ FW Brazil Edílson 31 17 23 9 5 7 2 1 1 0
9‡ FW Argentina Claudio Caniggia 34 16 24 8 3 5 7 3 0 0
10‡ MF Portugal Nelo 36 0 23 0 3 0 7 0 3 0
11 MF Brazil Isaías 33 15 23 14 1 0 7 1 2 0
11 FW Portugal César Brito 11 1 6 0 0 0 2 0 3 1
12 GK Portugal Neno 5 -3 4 -2 0 0 0 0 1 -1
13‡ DF Portugal Dimas Teixeira 45 0 30 0 4 0 8 0 3 0
15‡ MF Croatia Mario Stanić 15 5 13 5 1 0 0 0 1 0
16‡ FW Brazil Clóvis 2 1 1 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
17 DF Portugal Pedro Henriques 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0
18 FW Portugal Edgar Pacheco 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
19‡ MF Portugal Rui Esteves 2 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
22 DF Portugal Daniel Kenedy 35 3 22 2 4 1 6 0 3 0
24‡ FW Angola Akwá 3 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
25‡ DF Brazil Paulão 7 1 4 1 1 0 2 0 0 0

Transfers

[14]

In

Entry date Position Player From club
July 1994 GK Michel Preud'homme Mechelen
July 1994 LB Dimas Teixeira Vitória Guimarães
July 1994 DM Paulo Bento
July 1994 CM José Tavares Boavista
July 1994 CM Nelo
July 1994 CB Paulo Madeira Marítimo
July 1994 RW Amaral Sporting
July 1994 AM Mario Stanić Sporting Gijón
July 1994 CM Rui Esteves Vitória Setúbal
July 1994 CB Paulão Grêmio
July 1994 FW Akwá Nacional de Benguela
August 1994 ST Clóvis Guarani
January 1995 CB Paulo Pereira Porto

In by loan

Entry date Position Player From club Return date
July 1994 ST Claudio Caniggia Roma 30 June 1995
July 1994 ST Edílson Palmeiras 30 June 1995

Out

Exit date Position Player To club
July 1994 GK Pedro Roma Académica
July 1994 GK Paulo Santos Penafiel
July 1994 CB Jovo Simanić Boavista
July 1994 CB Nuno Afonso Belenenses
July 1994 AM Aleksandr Mostovoi Strasbourg
July 1994 LB Stefan Schwarz Arsenal
July 1994 AM Rui Costa Fiorentina
July 1994 ST Rui Àguas Estrela Amadora
July 1994 DM Vasili Kulkov Porto
July 1994 ST Sergei Yuran
July 1994 GK Silvino Louro Vitória Setúbal
July 1994 CM Hernâni Neves
July 1994 RB Abel Silva
August 1994 ST Clóvis

Out by loan

Exit date Position Player To club Return date
July 1994 ST Aílton Delfino São Paulo 30 June 1995
January 95 CM Rui Esteves Birmingham City 30 June 1995

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Tovar 2012, p. 532.
  2. ↑ "Artur Jorge" (in Portuguese). Vedeta ou Marreta.
  3. ↑ "Rui Costa não foi para o Barcelona por amor ao Benfica" [Rui Costa did not went to Barcelona for love to Benfica]. Relvado (in Portuguese). 1 October 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "GUNNERS YEARS: Swede Schwarz signs on dotted line". Ham & High. 14 May 2009. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  5. ↑ "Estes russos são fogo" [This Russians are fire]. Correio da Manhã (in Portuguese). 3 April 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2015.
  6. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 533.
  7. 1 2 3 Tovar 2012, p. 538.
  8. 1 2 Tovar 2012, p. 534.
  9. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 535.
  10. ↑ Tovar 2012, p. 537.
  11. 1 2 3 4 5 Tovar 2012, p. 539.
  12. ↑ "Benfica 2-2 (3-4)g.p. FC Porto" [Benfica 2-2 (3-4)p.s. FC Porto]. ZeroZero. Retrieved 19 May 2014.
  13. ↑ "Squad 1994-95".
  14. ↑ "Squad 1994/95". ForaDeJogo.

Bibliography

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