After sixty years and eight final defeats, Benfica’s European curse may finally be cracking 

Every year when Benfica leaves Europe, a message arrives from a friend to remind me of the Bela Guttmann curse. It pings the phone with added urgency as they approach a trophy.

They have been one of the truly big names of European football from the start, although in this century they have come to be admired more often for their prolific academy, scouting network and transfer system.

Joao Felix, Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo and Enzo Fernandez all came through the Lisbon club and will be on the other side of the draw when the Champions League resumes on Tuesday.

Benfica, who have already dumped Juventus, joins the rest of the Italians. And perhaps they are quietly taking their chances in a quarter-final against Inter Milan, who struggled past Porto in the last round.

But we have to start with the curse. Guttmann was a talented player and pioneering thinker born in Budapest and among those responsible for the rise of Austrian and Hungarian football between the wars.

As a Jew, he survived torture in Nazi labor camps before taking his coaching skills around the world. In the first of two spells at Benfica, his team won consecutive European Cups with Eusebio, in 1961 and 1962.

Then he asked for a raise, was snubbed, and resigned saying they wouldn’t conquer Europe again for another hundred years. At least that’s the legend. Or is it a myth? Some people think he said 30 years.

Indeed, it is quite possible that he did not say such a thing at all, but the story gained momentum when Benfica lost European Cup finals to Inter, AC Milan and Manchester United in the 1960s, and another in 1988, beaten by PSV after penalty kicks. .

Two years later they were again in the final against Milan. The match was in Vienna, where Guttmann is buried, and Eusebio is said to have visited his former boss’s grave and begged for forgiveness on behalf of the club. Milan won 1-0.

Benfica also lost in the UEFA Cup final to Anderlecht in 1983 and in the Europa League finals against Chelsea in 2013 and Sevilla in 2014.

They remained a Portuguese powerhouse, extending their enviable reputation for creating brilliant young footballers at the academy and five regional talent centres, employing around 200 staff to train over 500 players, nearly a fifth of them on a residential basis, at a cost of £10 million a year.

But even the UEFA Youth League proved elusive. Benfica lost three finals in the first seven years of the competition which started in 2013.

Until last year, when everything changed. In the final of the Youth League, they overtook Red Bull Salzburg with six thanks to a hat-trick from Henrique Araujo, a 21-year-old striker who has been loaned to Watford since January. Finally, they brought home another European trophy.

Sixty years after Guttmann cast his curse and maybe it’s cracked.

Fortune served up a soft draw in the last 16 with Club Brugge in this season’s Champions League as they beat Juventus home and away and drew twice with Paris Saint-Germain to win a group that also included Maccabi Haifa.

Roger Schmidt’s team scored seven goals over two legs against Scott Parker’s Belgians, avoiding the favorites in the draw.

They will be confident. The sale of Fernandez to Chelsea in January does not seem to have affected their form. Just as Darwin Nunez’s sale failed to do last summer, with Goncalo Ramos – another academy graduate – stepped into the void.

Benfica is seven points clear of the top in Portugal, having lost just twice in 41 games in all competitions this season. Friday’s home defeat to Porto was only their second of the season after a 3-0 league defeat at Braga in the first game back after the World Cup.

From here it is a giant step towards winning the Champions League. Of course it is.

They would have to race past Inter and probably Napoli, Italy’s brilliantly runaway leaders, for a final against Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City or Chelsea. But Benfica’s eagle soars, the phone has yet to ping. Maybe fate is on their side again and what a story that would be.

Palmer completes London Marathon despite heart palpitations

Carlton Palmer ended up in hospital with palpitations after running the Sheffield half marathon last month. But Palmer, who helped raise more than £5,000 for Cavendish Cancer Care, is back in training and, having been given his all by the doctors, was determined to complete the London Marathon as planned the week of Sunday to raise money for Mencap.

The 57-year-old still looks as slim and fit as he did when he racked up the miles in midfield for Sheffield Wednesday and England, but has promised friends he will ‘jog and walk’ – and ‘stop straight away’ if he feels comfortable. not feeling well. Look for Carlton’s Just Giving page to support him: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/Carlton-Palmer1

The Derby connection of the tragic Zambia star

This month marks 30 years since the Zambia national team plane crashed into the sea off the coast of Gabon, wiping out a brilliant generation of talent and everyone else on board, including their coach, Godfrey Chitalu, a legend of the African football, nicknamed Ucar.

Ucar’s epic goalscoring feats were revived when the Zambian FA challenged Gerd Muller’s record of 85 goals scored in a calendar year, after it was broken in 2012 by Lionel Messi. They claimed that Chitalu had scored 107 in 1972, the same year as Muller’s best.

A lesser known story is that Tommy Docherty tried to sign him for Derby County. Docherty had made a link when, as Aston Villa boss, he signed Zambians Emment Kapengwe and Fred Mwila from Atlanta Chiefs in the US in 1969.

Kapengwe and Mwila became the first Zambians to play in English football, but only played in a handful of head-to-head matches. Docherty continued with Villa en route to Division Three.

When the Doc showed up at Derby a few years later, he asked Kabwe Warriors about the chance to sign Ucar, only to be told that Zambia’s president, Kenneth Kaunda, would not allow him to leave the country.