reporting

Benfica former Luís Filipe assumes Enzo Fernández is on his way to redeeming himself with the fans, but he still hasn’t changed everyone’s opinion. The Argentina international celebrated New Year’s Eve in Argentina, without authorization, at a time when he was associated with Chelsea.

«Enzo will have to demonstrate to the most divided fans that he is body and soul in Benfica. He will have to prove it on the pitch and, with the qualities he has, I think he will succeed and change his mind », the former full-back told Rádio Renascença.

The midfielder struck the symbol on his shirt, after scoring against Varzim, for the Portuguese Cup, and Luís Filipe believes that “this gesture is a sign that things have cleared up between the club and the player”. “It was a message and let’s hope it’s true, I think so, but in football everything changes very quickly. I think Benfica will do everything to keep it going.”

With a contract with Sporting until June 2024, Sebastián Coates, 32, does not hide that he dreams of returning to the club where he trained: Nacional Montevideo.

“The truth is that since I left the club I have always had and still have the goal of returning. Obviously it depends on many things, on how I will be physically, if the current coach wants me, if the club wants me. I wouldn’t want to be a burden to the club, or just have to go because of a date. If it is, it is to help and really do everything for Nacional to do well ”, she said, in an interview published this Wednesday by the Uruguayan newspaper Ovación.

The defender, on the other hand, was very happy at Sporting, a club where he recently reached 300 games. “It’s happening naturally. Since I arrived they have treated me very well and I have had the regularity I was looking for since I left Nacional and I didn’t find it in Liverpool and Sunderland», he highlighted, also speaking of being captain in Alvalade’s coat of arms: «Everywhere it’s a responsibility to be a captain. I have that responsibility at the club, but I’ve remained the same since I arrived, whether I’m captain or not.”

Until? «My idea, and I’ve always said it, is not to project beyond 2024 [quando termina o contrato] because we have a shelf life. A player sometimes thinks he can keep playing and his body won’t let him. This is why I would like to get to 2024 and see how I am physically, if I can continue to help the club. If, from then on, he becomes a burden, it wouldn’t be the best for me, nor for the club, nor to close the cycle here,” he said.

João Félix will leave Atlético Madrid, but there is a possibility that the 23-year-old Portuguese striker will renew his contract with the ‘colchoneros’ before moving to Chelsea. According to the newspaper Brandthe Spanish club wants to ensure that João Félix extends the constraint until 2027 (the current one ends in 2026).

This renewal has one objective: to reduce the annual depreciation, in order to balance the accounts. The colchoneros have already done the same with Lemar and Oblak, with contracts renewed until 2027 and 2028 respectively.

If this point is resolved, the transfer of the Portuguese player to London could soon be announced. Remember that on Monday afternoon, the portal The Athletic advanced that João Félix is ​​very close to leaving Atlético de Madrid and moving to Chelsea. The deal would be a loan deal until the end of the season, with no option to buy.

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta of Spain has praised Portuguese under-21 midfielder Fábio Vieira after the 22-year-old Portuguese player, formerly of FC Porto, provided assists for the first two goals of the three scored by the Londoners in the victory ( 3-0) obtained by the ‘gunners’ in Monday evening’s match at the Kassam Stadium, against Oxford United.

«Fabio [Vieira] it has the quality. He is a very creative player and can decide games in the last third of the pitch. It made all the difference,” the Gunners’ Spanish manager told ITV at the end of Monday night’s meeting at the Kassam Stadium, Oxford, which put Arsenal on the path to Man. City, in the next round of the FA Cup, on the 28th of this month, at the Etihad Stadium (Manchester).

“It’s always difficult to get through this round [terceira, mas a primeira com os clubes da Premier League]. We have to be patient, and we have been, finding the right openings to decide the game in our favor. The contribution of the players who came off the bench was also important in changing the dynamics of the match», underlined Mikel Arteta regarding the 3-0 victory over Oxford United, the team coached by Karl Robinson and only 15th in the league. One (Third Division).

The London coach also reassured everyone about the possible injury of Bukayo Saka, who was moved – “he’s fine”, he reassured – and praised the performance of Nketiah, who scored twice in Oxford.

“He is everything we could want from a player. I’m delighted. You always have to score goals… and he does,” added Arteta, who already predicts a big home match for the two-times England champion Man. City ‘by’ Pep Guardiola – but also by Rúben Dias, João Cancelo and Bernardo Silva – in the fourth round of this same FA Cup (Father’s Cup): «We go match by match. It will be fantastic, yes, but my focus is… on Tottenham, our next opponent,” concluded the Spanish coach.

Tite stepped down as Brazil manager following the World Cup in Qatar and the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) has since been looking for a replacement. After the news about Zidane, ‘Sky Sports’ from Italy anticipated this Monday that José Mourinho also declined the invitation to lead the Brazilian.

The same source also reveals that the CBF has resorted to Ronaldo ‘Fenómeno’ to try to get a positive response from the Portuguese Roma coach, but without success.

It is remembered that José Mourinho was named in the Portuguese national team, but that hypothesis ended up not materialising.

Benfica SAD informed this Monday, in a statement sent to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM), that the company and members of the board of directors were accused,

Two days later the club confirmed that it had been «constituted defendant on January 3, as well as, inherently and among others, the members of the board of directors in the 2016-2020 term and currently in office», SAD reports the situation to the CMVM.

«Benfica SAD confirms that, taking into account the information made public on 7 January 2023, the club, as well as, inherently and among others, the members who served on its Board of Directors in the 2016-2020 mandate and who are currently in office, defendants were constituted in the context of a trial that takes place in the secrecy of justice. The Company has expressed its total availability and readiness to collaborate with the competent authorities, as has always happened up to now», reads the statement released today by the Commission.

On Friday, Diário de Notícias said that “at stake will be a process in which crimes resulting from pirated emails in Benfica are investigated and in which other processes, such as ‘voucher’ and ‘bad bye’, have been joined”. Also according to the DN, the defendants are Rui Costa, current president, Domingos Soares Oliveira, Luís Filipe Vieira, José Eduardo Moniz and Nuno Gaioso Ribeiro, all directors, or former directors, of the Benfica company.