On 28 December 2021, Benfica officially announced that manager Jorge Jesus would no longer be the manager of the team. "My return hope is to help the team solve the problem, not to let myself be a part of the problem. Now I make the decision to leave, which is the best choice for both sides," the 67-year-old coach said goodbye to Benfica at a news conference.
(At the press conference, Rui Costa gave Jesus a dignified farewell)
In the Portuguese Cup 0-3 defeat to Porto, after the game, the old minister Pizi's training in the dressing room, which made Jesus very annoyed, because he thought that this was the opportunity for Pizi to criticize the players for being lazy and not thinking of making progress, so he took the opportunity to depose Pizi and let him train alone, but he did not expect that a group of players supported Pizi, which made Jesus really feel the taste of "rebellion and separation".
According to media reports, Benfica chairman Rui Costa took the opportunity to mediate the team's contradictions and drive away Jesus by the way, because the old coach has not been the manager in his mind. But in fact, as early as The time when Jesus led Benfica to sweep the trophy between 2009 and 2015, the two were close partners, when Rui Costa was the team's sporting director. But in the summer of 2015, Jesus left Benfica as a meritorious manager and turned to the city's sworn enemy Portugal Sports, which more or less created a rift in the hearts of the top brass of "Benficaists" such as Rui Costa; it can even be said that this rift was also planted in the hearts of Benfica's die-hard fans: after Jesus entered the palace, many Benfica fans took advantage of the bad results of the club to make a fuss, expressed dissatisfaction with Jesus, and even made a website to prank him, hoping that he would "get back to Brazil".
(Rui Costa and Jesus used to work together seamlessly)
In the summer of Jesus' departure, Benfica began to reuse his own youth products, give them the opportunity to play, win honors for the team, and then sell at a high price: whether it is Rui Victoria, or Bruno Laje, these young managers have given Edson, Lindelof, Renato Sanchez, Ruben Díaz, João Felix and other young talents the opportunity to grow rapidly, and then sell at a high price to generate revenue for Benfica's "black shop". However, with Jesus returning from Brazil for the second time, Benfica attaches great importance to the policy of youth training youngsters, and because the old coach loves "mature male" players, it has been abandoned: Jota, Ferro and other youth training gems have been in loan, florentino Luiz is also in Morocco after wasting time, barely ushered in his own "up the ball" days in Getafe.
(In the 5 years since Jesus left Benfica, Benfica has taken the route of a young manager and selling "black shop products" at a high price)
In addition, when Rui Vitoria and Bruno Lage were two young managers, the team still had the courage to introduce a mature male player like Mitroglolu at a low price and double the price of the operation, but when Jesus returned to the club again, he was delayed again and again on the issue of the future of the meritorious players led by Pizi and Tarabout, who were in a state decline. In fact, Jesus had long wanted to clean Pizi at the end of last season, but it seemed that he could not get the support of the top. This reflects the ambiguity of the team's top brass led by the previous president Vieira, who gambled heavily on Jesus, because on the other hand, from Vieira and even the then director Rui Costa, they all showed the intention of taking "regret medicine" and firing the old coach, but due to his expensive liquidated damages, coupled with the epidemic, the entire football industry was hit very hard.
(Benfica state media said thank you to Jesus)
(The sad manager Jesus who lost the Europa League in 2013-14, which he hated in the final for the second consecutive year)
Perhaps, at that time, Benfica was determined to welcome back the return of Jesus and send a special plane to Brazil to pick up and drop off, which was a kind of "hot-headed" gamble at the top of the club, because they themselves were actually very aware of what would happen if they invited this arrogant old man who had run away from the house. The tragic hero Jesus, who led Benfica to sweep the league and cup championships, led the team to shine in the Europa League, but was possessed by the "Gutmann curse", will never come back.
After the team sacked Jesus, the league once again welcomed the sworn enemy Porto, but the problem did not seem to be solved, at the Dragon Stadium, 1-3, Benfica was once again defeated. The team seems to be drifting away from their goal of regaining the league title this season.
Text: Back-up sports/Angelo