ATTN: BENFICA 101
out of many, one - club motto
I noticed a lack of Portuguese football and that made me sad because it is really quite awesome once you get into it. So I thought I'd pimp out my team aka Benfica (though the other two big ones are FC Porto and Sporting CP...I can answer questions on them too).
ANYWAY. Lets get onto the important parts. Ready? Good.
I guess we can get to the history and all the semi-boring stuff. Founded in 1906 they've won the league a grand total of 32 times, last year being the most recent. They hold a Guinness world record for the most paid members with like 200,000 or something ridiculous. Cos the team is pretty awesome like that. JS.
Some people will want to know who the past famous players are and I can tell you. The two most popular I guess you can say would have to be current ex-player turned sporting director Rui Costa. He's been a major part of the recent success. He is a badass:
The look of a man who would deal with the devil.
And current club captain though he doesn't play much but is still awesome, do not tell me otherwise. Nuno Gomes:
Others include Joao Pinto, Simao Sabrosa, Tiago Mendes, Angel Di Maria, Chalana, Antonio Veloso (Miguel Veloso's dad), Ricardo Gomes, and the most famous of all, Eusebio. He's a part of the club still and a massive hero.
The club symbol is an eagle named Vitoria, she flies around before every home match and it is pretty awesome. Top that.
Click to viewkind of awesome.
Okay onto the team/manager/stadium. Benfica plays in Lisbon, Portugal at the Estadio da Luz.
I WANT TO LIVE HERE OMG.
Current manager, is the ever amazing and super badass Jorge Jesus and his hair:
GOALKEEPERS:
our main goalkeeper at the moment is Roberto:
I only used this picture for his itty bitty baby girl and creeper!Pablo Aimar LOLOLOL.
Julio Cesar
Jose Moreira
DEFENDERS:
Since Nuno doesn't play very often our captain is Luisao
followed by David Luiz, both of them making up our central defense:
Fabio Coentrao, he was epic at the world cup. Also our left back.
Fabio Faria, our other CB. LOVE.
MAXIMILIANO PEREIRA! He cracks me up.
Luis Filipe
MIDFIELDERS:
Cesar Peixoto, he pissed Jose Mourinho off AND lived to tell the tale.
Airton, one of the 3948 Brazilians at the club.
Ruben Amorim, bffs with David Luiz. Nickname is Manz.
Javi Garcia!
Then we have the ever fabulous Pablo Aimar and his hair MY GOD. Does a bird live in there?!
Then Carlos Martins. I LOVE HIM. He's hilarious I just adore him. This was his 'Waka Waka' dance. Serious.
MY HUSBAND. FELIPE MENEZES. My best friend tells me he looks sleepy all the time, smh.
We only recently signed Nicolas Gaitan so I'm not sure about him. He looks promising though!
I FORGOT RAMIRES. HOW. I LOVE HIM. BAD FAN
FORWARDS:
This Oscar Cardozo, I love him, he scores a lot of goals, and is generally pretty amazing.
And the adorable Javier Saviola. AH.
Weldon.
Franco Jara. He has impressed me so much this pre-season.
Alan Kardec. He has really stepped up and started to score a lot in the pre-season I have a feeling he might be a regular next season.
Anyway, that's my boys and my team. If you have any questions you can ask. I enjoyed this and I hope you all did too.
AND SHAMELESS PROMOTION! I have a blog, with my best friend, that covers Portuguese football ------> fromthesideline.tumblr.com. FOLLOW.
sources: me, wikipedia, google, youtube