Lord of Greenery

Chapter 146 Qualifying Opponent

Naples' results are very good, but not many people pay attention to it from the outside world.

This kind of ignorance is probably a good thing for the Naples players.

Because there are no media reporters to disturb, the players can prepare for the final round of the Europa League qualifiers with peace of mind.

Naples' opponent has long been settled, and it is Benfica from Portugal.

The first game was held in Sao Paulo, Naples' home court.

Facing the Benfica fans who came from afar, the Naples fans also received them "warmly and friendly".

Honking horns and setting off firecrackers in the middle of the night to keep people from sleeping, and blocking buses to stop them from walking are all commonplace things.

The real "ultimate move" of Naples fans is to make a big banner and a big sign.

The banner read "You will never win the European Championship again!"

The billboard reads the name "Gutman".

When the commentators saw such a banner, they began to explain the history of the Benfica club.

Benfica used to be a wealthy team in Europe. The most famous player it trained was Eusebio, the only one in Portugal who can compete with Ronaldo in history. Not long ago, the famous Fiorentina and Milan star Rui Costa was also born in Benfica.

The reason why Benfica is a giant is also very simple, because Benfica has won the Champions League twice.

It must be stated that Arsenal has never won the Champions League, neither has the current Chelsea, Dortmund has only one, and the current Serie A overlord Inter Milan has only two.

Then, the current Lyon has not even entered the final, and the future Paris Saint-Germain and Manchester City also have not entered the final.

It can be said that in a positive sense, Benfica performed very well in the Champions League.

However, in the opposite sense, Benfica's performance is equally good.

While they won 2 Champions League titles, they also won 5 runner-ups!
This "terrible" result is the same as the current Juventus.

The former Serie A overlord also won 2 championships and 5 runner-ups.

And in the future, they will continue to win the runner-up and occupy the undisputed dominance of this alternative list.

It is worth mentioning that the two dominant teams in the European and Asian Cups both had debacles.

For example, Juventus, their first Champions League champion, played against Liverpool at its peak.

In that game, Platini, who was still a player, relied on a controversial penalty kick to beat Liverpool with one goal.

After scoring that penalty, Platini smiled for the camera.

This is nothing, winning the Champions League is one of the most glorious moments for every professional player.

But the problem is that the Heysel tragedy happened at that time.

In the case that Liverpool has been asking to terminate the game, the referee did not stop the game when the opponent had no intention of fighting.

39 fans died afterwards, all Italians.

And Platini is still laughing!

Juventus' second Champions League championship may not be clean, because at that time Juventus was caught in a ban on drugs.

Considering the phone calls that will happen in the future, the Juventus club is really hard to say in terms of personal morality.

Benfica is better in this respect, it is better to say that their problems are not so serious.

Having said that, I have to talk about Bella Gutman, the most outstanding head coach in Benfica history.

He created the 424 formation, and Brazil won the World Cup in 1958, using Gutman's tactics.

After that, Gutman came to Benfica. In the 60-61 and 61-62 seasons, he won the Champions League twice in a row, breaking Real Madrid's five consecutive championships.

Guttman wanted a higher salary because of his outstanding performance in leading the team, but the board of directors refused.

In a panic, Gutman chose to resign and said, "Within 100 years, no Portuguese team can win the European Championship twice. Without me, Benfica will never win the European Championship!"

The "curse" in the first half of this sentence has been cracked by Porto's two Champions League wins.

But the second half is still in effect today.

After he left, Benfica reached the Champions League final 5 times and the Europa League final 1 time, all of which were lost.

In Li Ze's history, Benfica will reach the Europa League final twice in the future, and then lose both.

It can only be said that some things in this world are really evil.

Or maybe it's just a coincidence.

In any case, the shadow of "Gutman's Curse" hangs over Benfica. They want to change their fate against the sky, and they don't know when they will wait.

"You will never win the European Championship again" written on the banner of the Naples fans, that is the same thing.

"Benfica may not be able to win the European Championship, but it's easy to beat Napoli!"

The Benfica fans were outraged.

No matter how Benfica declines, it is not something Naples can mock.

The most glorious time for Naples was when Maradona was there.

But even Maradona failed to lead Naples to the Champions League.

Although it is said that the UEFA Cup he led the team to win was no worse than the Champions League at the time.

But helplessly, the current fans only recognize the Champions League champion.

Although it is a shame that Benfica won the Champions League runner-up 5 times, Naples, which has not even entered the Champions League final, is not qualified to mock Benfica!

After a "polite" discussion of each other's club histories, it was almost time for the match to begin.

Li Ze glanced at Benfica's lineup, and saw two familiar people.

Di Maria, the mvp of the 14 Champions League final, Reyes, who died in a car accident in 19, and David Luiz, who was sitting on the bench.

The current Reyes has already won the league championship in Real Madrid, so he is considered a famous player rather than a genius.

Di Maria has not yet joined Real Madrid. Although he is Argentine, he is a genius cultivated by Portugal.

As soon as the game started, the rhythm was controlled by the Benfica players.

Standing in the front court, Li Ze always felt that this scene seemed familiar.

The team seems to lose to the opponent in rhythm control every time, so he can't catch the ball a few times in the frontcourt.

However, Li Ze can also see that Benfica's control of the rhythm and the technical level of the players are really higher than Naples.

Rather, Benfica's technical level is really better than most Serie A teams!

Portugal's football itself is Latinized football, which has trained many technical talents.

What's more, South Americans seem not to be restricted by foreign aid in Portugal, and because of the close ending style, many players from Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay will play in Portugal.

After playing for a period of time, they will get Portuguese citizenship and then transfer to the five major leagues, as is the case with Di Maria.

It shows that Benfica is a technical team and Portugal is a Latinized football. There is also an obvious proof——

Reyes chose to come to Benfica.

As Arsenal's once high-profile talent, Reyes escaped from the Premier League for fear of vicious fouls.

Since then, Reyes has seen through his own weaknesses.

He will not fight physically in the fierce league.

In front of the highly skilled Benfica, Naples was in trouble.

(End of this chapter)