Debacle, humiliation, demolition: Roger Schmidt under massive pressure at Benfica after a 5-0 defeat

Debacle, humiliation, demolition
Roger Schmidt under massive pressure at Benfica after a 5-0 defeat

By Nils Bastek, Lisbon
March 4, 2024, 7:10 p.m

Roger Schmidt experienced a debacle with Benfica Lisbon when they lost 5-0 in Porto. He can still win the triple with the record champions, but after the humiliation the pressure increases. Although the results were correct until recently. How could the mood change happen?

His face said it all, even though there was next to no movement in it. Roger Schmidt watched his team’s final phase as if petrified, his gaze was fixed, but his thoughts were probably even more in motion. At some moments it almost seemed as if the Benfica Lisbon coach was in shock at what was happening in front of his eyes in the constant rain. His team lost 5-0 at FC Porto on Sunday evening. 0:5. A debacle, a humiliation, “a demolition,” as the sports newspaper “A Bola” wrote. “A disaster,” Schmidt himself called it, and at first he couldn’t think of much else. What was he supposed to say? Even the day after, there was hardly any explanation for the Portuguese record champions’ dismal performance.

Schmidt, however, knows exactly what will happen now and what happened in the first moments after the “Clássico”. The first reporters wanted to know on Sunday evening what was going to happen to him and whether he was going to continue. Schmidt dodged the questions, and President Rui Costa didn’t want to say anything about it at first. The situation is not easy anyway. Because despite the “disastrous evening” (Rui Costa) in Porto, Benfica can still win up to three titles this season. Everything is still possible in the championship, the Glasgow Rangers come into the Europa League round of 16 on Thursday and are anything but unbeatable opponents. Benfica is already in the semi-finals of the cup and, after losing 2-1 in the first leg against Sporting Lisbon, can soon make it to the final in their own stadium. So far so good. Actually. Because the defeat against Porto now changes the statics.

President apologizes to fans

In Benfica’s 120-year history, it was only the fifth time that the club lost a league game by five goals or more. For Schmidt himself, it was the biggest defeat of his more than one and a half years in Lisbon, whether in the league or internationally. It currently seems difficult to imagine that such a debacle in a club as proud as Benfica Lisbon will have no personnel consequences, whatever they may be. President Rui Costa even asked his own supporters to apologize for their team’s performance that night in Porto. Schmidt himself refused a pardon. “We didn’t do it on purpose,” said the 56-year-old. Rui Costa could understand the coach’s reasoning. “I was a player myself,” said the ex-professional. “I know the players don’t do this on purpose.”

It fits the image that both have given off since Schmidt started working in the summer of 2022. Whatever happened during that time, Costa always stood behind his chosen coach. In the first year, Benfica chased their first championship in four years and into the quarter-finals of the Champions League with inspiring offensive football. “O grande Schmidt” (The Great Schmidt) was celebrated by tens of thousands of fans at the championship party in the city center, and of course Rui Costa was also happy to be seen at the German coach’s side.

Schmidt will never be a Klopp

But he didn’t leave Schmidt’s side when the exhilarating development began to take a hit. In the summer after the championship year, key players such as Alejandro Grimaldo and Gonçalo Ramos were lost; world champion Enzo Fernández had already left. Although some expensive players were re-signed, Benfica did not show any special talent in their transfers. Without a single win they were eliminated in the preliminary round of the premier class. In addition, the Sauerland native fell out of favor with quite a few fans with some unfortunate statements. By autumn at the latest, the performances were no longer as inspiring as before. But the results were right. Until last week.

Then Benfica lost the semi-final first leg in the cup against a better Sporting, as Schmidt also admitted after the game. The debacle in Porto followed on Sunday. Schmidt is rational, intelligent and experienced enough to understand the mechanics of professional football and a club as big as Benfica. He never gave in to the illusion or tried to make the people of Portugal like him because of his character or because of his inspiring press conferences. Roger Schmidt is not Jürgen Klopp and doesn’t want to be. On the contrary: He convinced the fans with his style of football, and even if his thrilling offensive style is no longer seen as often this season, he has at least convinced them again with the results since the premier class exit. But what happens now that these results have failed twice in a row against big rivals?

This Monday, first of all, nothing happened. As usual, Schmidt came to the training center in Seixal for a session with his team, and his next press conference is scheduled for next Wednesday in the run-up to the first leg of the round of 16 against Glasgow Rangers. At first nothing more was heard from Rui Costa either. The duel with the Scots may turn out to be a trend-setting one for Schmidt. The former Bayer Leverkusen coach still has a contract in Lisbon until 2026, and it is no secret that he feels comfortable in the city and club. About a year ago, it was Rui Costa who was instrumental in pushing for an extension of Schmidt’s working paper until 2026. Because he is convinced by the German coach and because he would like to shape an era at Benfica with him. But the 51-year-old also knows the mechanics of the business. And he knows Benfica. Which is why he knows full well that he can’t just return to day-to-day business after a 5-0 defeat in Porto.