What's the reasons behind Benfica's failures in Europe? In what remains to be football’s most famous curse, Bela Guttmann, the Benfica manager of the time, said THESE famous words after leaving the club:
“NOT in a hundred years from now will Benfica EVER be European champion again.”
Details are a bit blurry on what went on, but the most popular version of the story is that he met the club directors after winning their 2nd European Cup in a row, for a pay increase.
The request was flatly denied. The club believed that the existing contract should stand and be honored by both parties.
Seeing this, Bela Guttmann decided that he should therefore quit his job, but before he left Benfica, he made a statement that has become infamous in the history of Benfica...and European football as a whole.
It’s debatable to whether the statement was indeed as a curse, OR just a prediction, but it became a part of the football folklore as the “Curse of Benfica” or "Curse of Guttmann"
They didn’t have to wait too long to see themselves in another European final...literally the season after Guttmann’s departure, but they lost to Milan.
But not only that, they would lose 4 more finals in the European cup, and 3 more finals in the UEFA cup, or the Europa league, whatever you wanna call it.
It’s debatable to whether the statement was indeed as a curse, OR just a prediction, but it became a part of the football folklore as the “Curse of Benfica”
As of today, we’re DECADES on from that day, and still counting. If it was a curse, I gotta say, it’s REALLY proving to be effective.
There’s a WHOLE world of stories behind this beautiful game, and the story of Bela Guttmann's curse is just ONE of them, which is why I started this channel to tell stories like this, with the sketches along the way...Is there a football story that you’d like me to cover in a video?
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