I think fans of great teams all feel like their team had missed a few spectacular oppurtunities to win another ucl. Be descriptive on which season and why you think they should have won it. For me its gotta be liverpool 2022, even though we were lucky to get to the final because we played easy teams, I still feel like we failed badly against a wounded Madrid team. I felt like Firminho should have started in the center, but they used Mane instead. That imo was the reason we lost that game. Madrid deserved the win because they went through harder opponents, but within that match itself we had no excuses to lose.
Benfica lost 2-1 to Milan, when we had Coluna, the second best player of the team, injured for the most part of the game. Without substitutions was like playing with 10 players. Started very well the match, with Eusébio’s goal, but Alfatfini scored twice in the second half. The last goal it’s a little bit suspicious, never seen a clear footage that shows that Alfatfini is onside.
Lost 1-0 to Inter. Besides playing in San Siro, lost with a goal that would make Onana proud, with the ball going under the legs of our gk.
Lost in OT against United. Superb performance of Best, they were the better team but Eusébio had the chance to make the 2-1 in the final minute. Alex Stepney did a great save.
Lost in penalties to PSV. Less than one week before the final, Diamantino, maybe the most influential player of the attack, gets injured and miss the final. A shitty game that went on to penalties and we lost.
Lost 1-0 to Milan (what a team they had). There’s some people that say Milan’s goal was due to a whistle from the stands, that made the defenders stop. A little bit far-fetched.
Can also add the UEFA Cup/Europa League.
Lost to Anderlecht in 1983, with a 2-1 agg, with wide open goals missed.
Against Sevilha in 2014 in penalties, with a terrible referee, and with Salvio, Markovic (sent off against Juventus when he was in the bench for nothing), Enzo Perez, Fejsa, and Sulejmani (injured after 20’ because Moreno thought it was UFC) out of the game.
2013 against Chelsea with tons of missed oportunities, just to concede a goal in the last minute of the game from a corner…
Tragic.
I would say that Benfica “deserved” at least 3 major trophies and one UEFA Cup but it’s what it is. The luck that we had against Barcelona in 1961 doesn’t come close to what happened next.
Proud of what we achieved though. Benfica was a true football powerhouse in the 60s. 5 finals, great teams, great players, a huge part of Portugal’s 1966 squad…
A period of time that will never come back.
The second spell (1988 and 1990) was like the last breath. With Bosman all of that went away.