X-ray at the Benfica season: worst reinforcements and decline of those who stayed

Only Di María and Trubin won the title; the difference to last season

The reinforcements hired for the 2023/2024 season performed worse than in the previous season. Of the 10 new faces who arrived at the club in both markets (summer and winter), in a total of €97 million in investment, only Di María and Trubin have the status of starters. The others did not convince either the Third Ring or Roger Schmidt himself.

Jurásek played just 12 games and always with a poor record and had to be loaned to Hoffenheim, in Germany, to try to gain value and allow the Eagles to recover the €14 million; Bernat arrived on loan from PSG, but with many physical problems and only participated in six games; Kokçu landed in Luz with the status of the most expensive footballer in the history of the club and Portuguese football (€25 million), but he had problems adapting, criticized the coach and lost a place in the eleven (although recent signs point to a new status of the Turk, who will take Rafa’s place); Arthur Cabral oscillated between the starting line-up and the bench (24 games as a substitute used out of the 43 he played) and despite being the team’s third best scorer (11 goals) he did not forget Gonçalo Ramos, the man he was asked to replace in return of €20 million paid to Fiorentina.

Of the players who arrived in January, Marcos Leonardo has shown himself with goals (7) that did not translate into opportunities to play initially (four times starting in 21 matches); Carreras had problems asserting himself and only Bah’s injury allowed him to have a longer sequence of consecutive minutes, Rollheiser has only played seven games (none as a starter) and Prestianni has been improving in the B team.

This contrasts with the situation from last season. Of the eight reinforcements in 2022 and January 2023 (total €114 million), four became starters (Bah, Aursnes, Enzo Fernández and Neres) and one substitute used as a goalscorer (Musa). The cases of failure were Draxler (almost always injured), Tengstedt (still unconvincing today) and Schjelderup (loaned to Nordsjaelland). To this must be added the elevation of two young players from the formation to the main team (António Silva and João Neves), something that did not happen this season.

Rafa and Neves Exceptions

But if the reinforcements were not as decisive as those in 2022/2023 (Di María will be the only one to reach consensus), among the players who remained there are only two cases of increased performance from the point of view of the number of games or goals: Rafa and João Neves. The Portuguese striker has six more goals than in the previous season (20 against 14) and has more assists (14 against 9), while the midfielder has recorded much more playing time (53 games against 20) and more goals (3 against 1), although last season he only achieved starting status in April.

The Portuguese and Argentines have a direct participation in 61 percent of Benfica’s goals this season; It is the best season of 27 da Luz’s career, who won in Scotland

As for the rest of the base eleven: Bah played fewer games, due to injury (32 against 42); Otamendi kept the same records (two fewer yellow cards, two more goals and three more games), António Silva played more games but saw more yellow cards (9), more reds (2 against 0) and scored fewer goals (2 against 5); Florentino played less (22 games as a starter compared to 43) and João Mário also saw his levels drop: in 43 games as a starter (plus six as a substitute used) he scored nine goals and made seven assists compared to 23 goals and 13 assists in 50 matches in the eleven of the 2022/2023 season.

Missing a goalscorer

Despite having surpassed the 100 goal barrier in all competitions this season, Benfica will hardly reach last season’s 131 goal mark in 55 matches (average of 2.38 per game). So far the team has scored 108 in 54 matches (average of 2). Largely due to the absence of a goalscoring striker: of the three players in the squad for this position, only Arthur Cabral appears in the top 5 of the most successful, with 11 goals, but far from the 20 of the team’s top scorer, a striker who is not a 9 (Rafa) or even winger Di María (16).

Comparing the sum of the goals of the five best scorers from last season, there are 24 fewer goals in the total, highlighting Gonçalo Ramos’ role in the title season, with 27 goals and five assists in 47 games.

On the other hand, the Eagle conceded 13 more goals than last season (53 against 40), a number that reflects less defensive effectiveness, which can be explained by the visible difficulties in the pressing capacity that resulted in so much success in 2022/2023.

‘Top’ 5 scorers in 2022/23

‘Top’ 5 scorers in 2023/24

X-ray during the Eagles’ season: 80 percent of points lost on opponents’ ground; worse second round than the first, unlike last season