Bruno

The contract expires this year. We're currently negotiating. Some rumors about being Fly Emirates, but not sure yet. Good old text-without-a-box. That'll look slick as f***. Hope so. Not sure about the eagle but apparently you guys liked it.

The contract expires this year. We're currently negotiating. Some rumors about being Fly Emirates, but not sure yet.

Revealed some minutes ago. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-95s05Sbq1Zw/UVd-Wb61nmI/AAAAAAAAFVk/yBPssuLRqGA/s1600/benfica+home+2014+adidas+equipamento.jpg

Portuguese league is nowhere near Premier League. It would be comparable to the Championship, I would guess, without Benfica, Porto, Sporting and Braga. Despite that we're having consistent results since the new manager arrived. Still far from the "great Benfica" of the 60s, 70s, 80s and early 90s, but we're improving. Both domestically and in Europe. UEFA Team Ranking, http://www.abload.de/img/aai7jpb.jpg As I said, I expect a tight game. Even with your injured players. Don't know how many will be available in the 1st leg. I guess nobody knows yet.

Game just ended. 6-1. Now Newcastle. European games have a different aura for everyone, I wouldn't be too pessimistic before the kick-off. We are slightly favorites but that's pretty much it. More importantly, I hope some of you enjoy your visit to Portugal.

Benfica 6-1 Rio Ave (Enzo Perez, 81') Ola John will be great.

Benfica 5-1 Rio Ave (Lima, 76') 101 goals scored so far this season.

Benfica 4-0 Rio Ave (Lima, 49') Left foot strike. Nice one. edit: 4-1.

Done. 4-0 is enough?

I'm glad he's ok. He's vital. And our biggest transfer ever (13M€). Benfica 3-0 Rio ave (Lima, 41') Another great goal.

That's an indisputable truth.

Rio Ave are appalling, like a Championship or League 1 side. Would they beat us? They drawn against Porto and beaten Sporting. Don't know. In a good day?

Benfica 2-0 Rio Ave (Matic, 15') Too good.

Benfica 1-0 Rio Ave (Melgarejo, 11')

While that is true Celtic lost 2-1 and i don't know about you i would take a 2-1 right now tbh. Off-topic: Still don't know how we finished behind Celtic. The quality difference was considerable. Anyway, they had one chance against Barcelona and scored, we had 5 clear chances in Camp Nou and not even one goal. So fair-play to them. Benfica 2 - 1 Celtic statistics (UEFA) http://www.abload.de/img/aamnrze.jpg Barcelona 0 - 0 Benfica statistics (UEFA) http://www.abload.de/img/bbb14ocy.jpg On-topic: Individually, there's no doubt in my mind that you guys are superior to Celtic. They have Wanyama, Forster (tremendous in Estadio da Luz), maybe one or two more quality players. I could say Samaras, or Hooper, although I'm not a big fan. But overall, you've a far better squad. Still, two things to consider: Injuries, injuries and more injuries. Alan Pardew.

Benfica plays today at 20:30. Benfica - Rio Ave. Last game before Newcastle, obviously.

Not sure if Torres.

Shit. Almost.

Good luck guys.

I believe CL history is added to the previous version by standard, at least here in Portugal. But regarding Europa League I'm seeing it referred as if it was a different competition, yes. Maybe in some years that grows out of fashion.

Since the renaming/rebranding of the tournament presumably? Yea. Europa League.

I can't really say an accurate number. It will all depend on the 1st leg result and most importantly the impact of the name "Newcastle", which I think it will be considerable. Last time we played at Old Trafford there were a good number of "benfiquistas". You can search for vids, I would say about 4 or 5k. In Anfield Road there were many of us as well. But that is Champions League... in Europa League the name of the opponent is even more important. I would say a few thousand, 2.000 or 3.000. Not much more, not much less. In the other Europa League games this year, there were about 7-8k benfiquistas in Leverkusen and 10k in Bordeus. But these are areas with many portuguese citizens. In Lille, some years ago, there were something like 20k benfiquistas. France, Switzerland, Germany, Luxembourg... many emigrants. So yea, I would guess 2-3k.

Good player. One of the few I rate in Sporting's team (they're having the worst season in the clubs history). Very young, plays in the midfield, defense, even as a fullback. They are desperate for money, but the new president (elected this week) probably wouldn't like to sell one of the few worthy players right away.

We score almost in every game. At home, only Barça managed to get a clean sheet (0-2). More likely a 2-2 than a 0-0 for example, but you never know. Rubin would be the perfect opponent to break that record imo. If Cardozo scores, he becomes the player with the most goals for one team. Falcao is the 1st goalscorer in Europa League (Cardozo 2nd), but he played for two clubs (Porto and now Atletico).