Guardiola is probably still amazed: Roger Schmidt forms the biggest football surprise in Europe

Guardiola is probably still amazed
Roger Schmidt forms the biggest football surprise in Europe

By Nils Bastek, Lisbon

Benfica Lisbon storms through their own league and the premier class. The architect of the biggest surprise in European club football: Roger Schmidt. The German coach has not always experienced an appreciation like in Portugal in his career. Can the extraordinary season be crowned?

Roger Schmidt likes to wear his black training sweater, but on this day he can’t avoid the t-shirt either. The spring sun is in the sky over Lisbon and the birds are singing on the Benfica campus on the other side of the Tagus just before Easter. The training pitches, on which Schmidt created one of the biggest surprises in European club football at the moment, reach as far as the river bank. A team that marches through their own league and the Champions League with their merciless attacking football.

The record champions are ten points ahead of the “Clássico” this Friday against first pursuer FC Porto. In the premier class, Benfica has not yet lost a game and will play against Inter Milan from Tuesday for their first place in the semi-finals. And all thanks to a man named “Chrrrrroger Schmiiiiiidt”, as the Benfiquista call their coach.

On this glorious April day, that Schmidt is strolling around his club’s grounds in his golden Benfica shirt, his skin already slightly tanned. There isn’t a cloud in the sky and the 56-year-old seems in a good mood. Just a few days ago he extended his contract until 2026, while the exit clause was increased from 10 million to 30 million. As a result, Benfica practically chained their successful coach, the Portuguese media rejoiced. “We’ll be chasing titles,” said Schmidt, making the fans even more happy. “For me it was a clear decision to stay longer at Benfica.”

There were definitely other options for him. Not only clubs from the Premier League have long been aware of the extraordinary season of the Portuguese. “He is one of the most sought-after coaches in Europe,” said former Bundesliga manager Michael Reschke, who had steered Schmidt to Bayer Leverkusen at the time, recently in the sports daily “Record”. A few days later, Schmidt signed his new contract in Lisbon.

Benfica rolls over the Portuguese competition

What more does he want? After two years with the Chinese club Beijing Guoan, the native of Westphalia has long been financially secure. In the Bundesliga, there are hardly any clubs left for a coach in his class. In England he would be able to coach even better teams, but he would also be under much greater pressure. In addition, it rains significantly more on the island. That’s why he didn’t hesitate when Benfica president and club legend Rui Costa wanted to extend the cooperation with him in the long term.

Schmidt feels comfortable in Portugal. He lives with his wife in a great house with a view of the Tagus and the famous bridge. Thanks to the cheap flight connections to Germany, his children come to visit them regularly, and the Schmidt family has allowed the horses and other pets to move to Portugal with them. The coach seems to have arrived in Lisbon. And in Portugal’s capital, he’s being appreciated in a way he’s never experienced in his entire career. “I feel like I’m in the right place,” says Schmidt.

If anyone doubts this statement, a look at the numbers will convince you at the latest. No team has scored more goals in the league (67) than Benfica, none have conceded fewer (14). Benfica are ten points clear of great rivals Porto and on course to claim their first league title since 2019. No side in Portugal has dominated the league by such a margin in almost twelve years. Including the three-point rule, only two teams in the almost 90-year history of the league have had more points after 26 match days than Benfica now (71).

Guardiola is a “big, big fan”

The record in the Champions League reads almost even more spectacularly, where the club from the Lisbon district of the same name took first place in its preliminary round group ahead of Juventus Turin and Paris Saint-Germain without defeat. Then FC Brugge was overrun in the round of 16. Benfica scored 23 goals in eight games. Benfica has reached the quarter-finals of the competition several times. But never with such force.

Former Bayern coach Pep Guardiola said a few years ago about his Leverkusen colleague Schmidt that he was a “big, big fan” of this coach. When Schmidt, then still RB Salzburg coach, had swept Bayern 3-0 in a friendly a few months earlier, Guardiola was even amazed that he had “never” seen such attacking pressing. Now Schmidt has again succeeded in developing a perfectly coordinated offensive machine in Portugal.

Even the 121 million euro transfer of Argentinian world champion Enzo Fernández to Chelsea last winter didn’t throw Benfica out of step. On the contrary. Schmidt has won all of the last ten league games with his team, only once before in China has he managed such a successful streak. Another win against Porto on Friday would see him set a new personal best. That’s another reason why the Benfiquistas call their coach “O grande Schmidt”.

However, Schmidt was not always revered as “big” during his career. Even today, parts of the Leverkusen coaching team speak of an excellent coach, possibly the best under the Bayer Cross in recent years. Some even look at some of Schmidt’s recorded training sessions on their laptops from time to time. On the other hand, not only they speak of a special, sometimes difficult character.

From controversy to awe

In Schmidt’s Wikipedia entry there is even a sub-item called “controversies”. It lists two incidents that some fans still remember today. In February 2016, Schmidt was referred to the stands at a game against Dortmund after a complaint. But he didn’t want to accept this punishment and just stood on the edge of the page. Until referee Felix Zwayer interrupted the game for several minutes. Months later he got into a fight with the then Hoffenheim coach Julian Nagelsmann and was sent back to the stands. This time he went straight. The image of the provocative stubborn head had long since settled in the minds of many observers.

Schmidt is far away from all that in Lisbon. And of course he has changed personally over the years. In Portugal, fans celebrate him for his cool and level-headed manner in the coaching zone. Compared to some of his predecessors, such as the hot-headed Jorge Jesus, Schmidt almost seems like a block of ice at the Estádio da Luz.

If he’s spotted strolling the streets of Lisbon, people will ask for photos in a friendly, almost reverent manner. At the beginning, most of them didn’t even know who this Schmidt actually was. “I didn’t know him before,” Benfica captain and world champion Nicolás Otamendi recently admitted. But the Argentinian was also quickly convinced. “He’s a coach with very clear ideas who gives the players a lot of confidence. The training is good too and he has personality.” Even his fellow coach Rúben Amorim from city rivals Sporting said of Schmidt’s Benfica: It’s Portugal’s best team in years.

And the most important thing: Schmidt is successful. The qualified mechanical engineer lets the 270,000 members of this huge club dream. From the first championship title in four years. Some even don’t rule out the march through to the final of the Champions League. Of course, Schmidt himself would never talk about it so aggressively. Because they also appreciate him here in Lisbon. For his seriousness, for this typically German.

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