Re: SL Benfica Supporters Thread (BEEENFICAAA CAMPEÃO PORTUGUÊS 2004/2005!)
I still can´t believe we are champions! The street were flooded, party lasted all night!
Well, we deserved it, despite what our opponents might say. At the end of the day I think it all became even in terms of referee errors, and the team with most will to win, with greater determination won!
For me, the key moments were the tie in Estadio do Dragao, against Porto (lots of people said that we were weak and that it was a bad result, but that tie was precious, great tactical ability. And, we didn't even tie against Porto since 1993. So it was important, and from that moment on I started to feel the title..) Then we had a few bad games, and another key moment was the return of Mantorras. He had been injured for 2 yeas, everyone said he couldn't play any longer, and he had been a player with a tremendous future ahead of him (he had won african young player of the year...). He returned and scored 3 goals (the 4th agains Maritimo in a terrifying 4-3 match, the 1st against Leiria in the 90th minute and the 2nd againt Estoril, in a dificult 2-1 win. 7 important points thanks to Mantorras.And the the victory against Sporting, by 1-0. I knew we were champions there, our response was great.
Simão is a great captain, but the secound half of the championship was appaling. Having scored 13 goals in the first half of the season, in scored only 2 in the second half due to playing injured. A big mistake in my opinion.
Other key playere were Manuel Fernades (enormous future, Trapatoni says he is better than Davids, Mourinho says he is way better than Makelele at his age, and that he could improve to become a huge player). Petit also had a great season, and Geovanni had the best season since he joined from Barcelona.
We have a lot of offers for our key players (Luisao, Miguel, Ricardo Rocha, Petit, Manuel Fernandes), some of them from the likes of Juventos, Real Madrid, Inter, Marseille. It will be very difficult to maintain this side, but I hope we can achieve balance between financial and sporting sucess.
We gotta atleast draw the last match because Porto has advantage over us (1-0 + 1-1).
