Has the time come for Benfica to win Liga Sagres?

The most successful Portuguese club, Benfica have been largely struggling in the last few years and despite the heavy investment in the playing squad, they have been unable to end Porto’s domestic domination. The Eagles finished last season in third place but it seems that they have a really good chance to lift the long awaited title next season. Benfica will definitely be stronger than last season, whereas their rivals Porto are likely to enter the new league campaign with severely weakened squad.

Benfica are the most successful Portuguese club ever, having won 2 European Cup titles, 31 Portuguese League trophies and 27 Portuguese Cups, but the Eagles have been unable to match Porto for quite a while. The fans were optimistic before the start of last season as the team had been significantly reinforced, but coach Quique Sanchez Flores couldn’t get the best out of his team and they finished the league campaign in third place, 11 points behind champions Porto.

After careful consideration, the club management decided to sack Flores and brought talented Braga boss Jorge Jesus to replace him. His first task will be winning the first league title since 2005 but Benfica stand a pretty good chance this season. Their main rivals, Porto will be severely weakened since Lucho Gonzalez has already left, while Lisandro Lopez and Bruno Alves are also on the verge of leaving.

On the other hand, Benfica stayed without Suazo, Reyes and Katsouranis, but they will still have a formidable squad. Full-backs Jose Shaffer and Patric are added to the back line, whereas Ramires, who exploded at the Confederations Cup, and Javier Saviola will add a lot of quality to attack. River Plate striker Radamel Falcao Garcia is also on the verge of joining La Luz outfit, and these are all players who will definitely improve the quality of the team. With Aimar, Luisao, Cardozo, Di Maria and others already in the team, Benfica squad look really impressive. They have a great chance to finally win the title next season but knowing Benfica, they are bound to have some unexpected problems on the way. Nevertheless, I believe they have enough quality to lift the Liga Sagres title and maybe it’s time for Porto’s domination to end.

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