Bruno

Stronger than usual? Only Salvio missing. But if Ola John and Gaitan play in the wings that shouldn't be a problem, identical quality but different styles.

This are the players chosen to face Newcastle (5 mins ago) Artur Moraes and Paulo Lopes; André Almeida, Maxi Pereira, Luisão, Garay, Roderick and Melgarejo; Matic, Enzo Perez, Gaitán, Ola John, Urreta, Aimar and André Gomes; Cardozo, Lima and Rodrigo.

In the last 4 years (since Jorge Jesus took charge as this is "his" team) we are the 7th best performers in european games (UEFA Ranking, not bullshiting ). A victory against Newcastle, even if we get eliminated in the end (1-0W, 0-2L, for example) is enough to make us 6th. Ahead of Inter, Arsenal, Valencia, Milan, Lyon, Schalke, Porto, etc. And every dutch team. It's not a once in a season thing. The team is being consistent; two quarters and one semi final last three seasons + quarters so far this season. In this 4 years we played two dutch teams. PSV in the Europa League and Twente in the CL qualifiers. 4 games, 2W, 2D (4-1; 2-2; 3-1; 2-2;). There's no denying the amount of talent you have btw. That's why we bought Ola John and supposedly Djuricic as well. Sulejmani is being linked with us as well, but I read some Ajax fans saying he's a fat bastard Portuguese and dutch share many virtues and difficulties, I agree. (and I'm glad the Pardew's discussion is over; the man rate us higher than even I do since we have no Aguero's in the bench and he still gets attacked ffs )

Pardew rated us very high: saying that we were one of the best teams in Europe, favorites, etc. The rest is portuguese press™, as I stated before.

Newcastle United FC ‏@NUFCOfficial The #NUFC fans will be in the top tier of this stand at the magnificent Estadio da Luz on Thursday night

Alan Pardew: "We'll have played two of the best teams in Europe, I think, in Manchester City and Benfica this week." Portuguese press headlines: "Alan Pardew: If Benfica played Premier League they would be in 10th place". http://i.imgur.com/334FLr3.gif Btw, Shola is certainly good but he's no Alan Kardec.

Not really, you guys seem to be well informed. The beer is stronger and cheaper as you may know by now. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/benfica-vs-newcastle-united-travel-advice Im trying to google map this so i can plan metro stops etc. Which stops would you use for both Rossio Square and Bairro Alto? Where are you coming from? Which station? Bairro Alto - Baixa-Chiado station (googled this one) Rossio Square - Rossio station You can use this to plan it / see the itinerary http://www.metrolisboa.pt/eng/ You can see where you have to change metro (if necessary), color of the lines, etc. It's really easy, I use it on a regular basis to go to college when trains aren't available.

Yea. Traded for David Luiz (plus 25M€). Arnesen spoke of him about a week ago.

Not really, you guys seem to be well informed. The beer is stronger and cheaper as you may know by now. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/benfica-vs-newcastle-united-travel-advice

Shearer 9 (don't know his nickname in this forum) found a member of serbenfiquista.com in Faro, when checking in to the hotel

It was intended. There's only one United, or am I wrong? We faced a really severe financial crisis not much time ago. We still have a lot of debt (as most clubs; don't really know how's Newcastle doing). To buy a player for 3M€ was a real challenge 7 or 8 years ago. Fortunately we are improving, but portuguese clubs still need to sell in order to keep themselves competitive. To put it in perspective, we receive 8M€/year for our TV rights. 8M€. The contract expires this year and we refused a 22M€/year from the same company (imagine the money they have been doing for almost a decade thanks to this atrocious contract...). We bought Premier League broadcasting rights in Portugal instead, Brasileirão as well, and we'll keep our home games and make BenficaTV premium. Around 7,5-10€/month for Benfica home games and Premier League, plus some extra games. No other club done that so far, manage their own TV rights. Portuguese clubs really need to be creative and efficient in order to survive. We now have consistently positive turnovers (20M€, 25M€, etc) but we need to sell, scout, find some bargains, sell, etc. Hopefully this new TV rights deal will help change that a bit.

South american refs aren't available in the Europa League are they? Then I guess we are screwed.

Apparently Manchester University are interested in Nemanja Matic. Either in this summer or the next I believe he's the next really big sale. 30M+ €. Looking at their current squad he would fit perfectly. In the last three years only: Matic - Witsel - Ramires - Di Maria. World class midfield. Such a shame we aren't rich as fck in order to keep this guys longer.

Aye you are expecting some goalrain from Cisse. It's going to pour on you Surely Cardozo will also be looking to keep his record against english opposition (7 matches, 7 goals). It will be interesting.

10-16ºC, expecting some rain this week. Hopefully not much.

I would say 40k is more likely. There were 47k against Celtic. Enjoy your visit to Portugal, robm!

I would say we lacked some composure in crucial moments. Of course Barça and Chelsea aren't soft opposition but we threw away too many chances. And you defend with 10 men if needed so it won't be a walk in the park. Btw, who's back for this game? Krul? Haidara? Tiote? Santon?

Thanks, problem solved. Yea, as I was saying, our european campaign this year been ok so far, but we had the responsibility to progress in that group. We are doing good in the Europa League (specially against Bayer, quality side), but we had to do better in the Champions League. 1W 1L against Spartak (Celtic won both) 1W 1D against Celtic (nicely done) 1L 1D against Barcelona (Celtic did better) We needed to win at Camp Nou in order to progress and we lacked the composure to do it. Many missed chances. Last year we had a way better run in CL. 1st in our group (Manchester University 3rd), eliminated Zenit and then gave Chelsea a run for their money in the quarters, while playing with 10 most of the game in London. Once again, missed way too many chances during both legs. Benfica 0-1 Chelsea statistics http://www.abload.de/img/ae5feb.jpg Chelsea 2-1 Benfica statistics http://www.abload.de/img/bbbdvef4.jpg I believe we'll struggle to score against you, like we did against them. One of the best attacks against one of the best defenses. Should be interesting.

That's what I did take heart from. The European record isn't invincible. Saying that, it includes Barcelona We lost to Spartak. They're the russian Sunderland (shit gets censored).

Agree.

Bayer? Bordeaux yes, definitely very limited, but Bayer not really. They're currently 3rd in Bundesliga, close to Dortmund and ahead of Schalke. I would say they are the 2nd/3rd best team we played so far this season. Barcelona / Bayer or Porto. But all of this is futurology. I hope Newcastle comes to Lisbon inspired and provides a good match. I'm certain you have talent enough to compete at this stage of Europa League.

I don't care about what managers say, but regarding Rio Ave. Sporting 0-1 Rio Ave Rio Ave 2-2 FC Porto Rio Ave 3-0 Sporting Rio Ave 2-1 Sporting Rio Ave 1-1 SC Braga This season they drawn against Braga and Porto, beaten Sporting 3 times. Far for crap. Aren't Sporting s**** though? Yea, it's more because of Braga and Porto. Glad to see everyone knows Sporting is shit Portuguese teams have shitty players (compared to the average Premier League squad) but fortunately we have good managers / coaches. Otherwise we couldn't compete with any of you. Still a team with Ben Arfa, Cabaye, Sissoko, etc would play for 3rd every year in our league and potential winner every now and then (more potential winner than Sporting anyway). Different realities.

I don't care about what managers say, but regarding Rio Ave. Sporting 0-1 Rio Ave Rio Ave 2-2 FC Porto Rio Ave 3-0 Sporting Rio Ave 2-1 Sporting Rio Ave 1-1 SC Braga This season they drawn against Braga and Porto, beaten Sporting 3 times. Far for crap.