text: 1999 – 2000 s.l. benfica season the 1999 – 2000 season was sport lisboa e benfica 's 96th season in existence and the club 's 66th consecutive season in the top flight of portuguese football . it ran from 1 july 1999 to 30 june 2000 . benfica competed domestically in the primeira liga and the taça de portugal . the club also participated in the uefa cup , by virtue of finishing third in that tournament the previous season . after sacking scottish coach graeme souness , benfica appointed uefa champions league - winning manager jupp heynckes . limited by ongoing financial difficulties , the club signings consisted of players either on the books , free transfers or loans , such as with the spaniards chano and tote , the former on a free deal , and the latter on loan . tote arrived to replace rushfeldt , who signed and practised with the team , before being recalled back by rosenborg with disagreements over his transfer . benfica started their campaign with a six - game winning streak in their first seven league games , topping the league until december ; when a record - setting loss to celta de vigo , the greatest in its history , negatively affected the team mentality , causing them to drop to third place in matchday 19 , which would become their final position , finishing eight points behind sporting , but securing a position in the upcoming season 's uefa cup . in total benfica won 21 league matches , drew 6 and lost 7 . nuno gomes was the season topscorer with 20 goals , of which 18 occurred in the primeira liga . summary pre - season after a season which saw graeme souness sacked , the club looked for more experience and chose jupp heynckes on 30 may . during a 20 - year career , the german manager had won titles for bayern munich and real madrid and was the first manager in 32 years to clinch a european title for madrid the previous year . the pre - season , which began in early july , included nine preparation matches in portugal and abroad . from 18 to 31 july , the team played six matches against german teams . their first game in lisbon was against bayern munich on 10 august , and four days later they participated in the trofeo memorial nereo rocco against ac milan . heynckes immediately requested signings in all three positions : defence , midfield and attack . although the club scouted ( signed by sporting ) and claudio for the midfield , the only players to join the team were maniche and marco freitas ( both on the club payroll and returning from one - year loans to alverca ) . for attack benfica considered barcelona player giovanni ( who said , " it would be an honour for me to work with heynckes " ) but ultimately signed chano , a 34 - year - old spanish player from cd tenerife . the club was involved in a transfer saga over norwegian striker rushfeldt . he signed and practised with the team but left after rosenborg claimed there were financial issues related to his transfer . he was replaced by tote , on loan from real madrid , with the club president saying that " tote was always the first choice " and rushfeldt " did not have the personality or mental strength to play for benfica " . goalkeeper michel preud 'homme retired at age 39 . arriving in 1994 , he made nearly 200 appearances over five seasons and became a fan favourite . benfica hired two replacements : argentine carlos bossio and german robert enke . heynckes described bossio as the " more experienced " goalkeeper , with " a great talent " , but also defining enke as a " good , young goalkeeper ; a promise " . the argentine had appearances on his national team and was the first choice at estudiantes , while the german had its breakthrough at borussia mönchengladbach only a few months earlier . however , in a pre - season game against bayern munich bossio conceded two goals : " i am calm , although we lost the game and my performance led to some ' scolding ' . " enke confidently stepped into the position : " if i do not make mistakes , there will be no reason to change goalkeepers . " august and september benfica visited vila do conde for their opening primeira liga game on 22 august . although sérgio nunes scored in the ninth minute , hugo henrique of the home team equalised it minutes later for a 1 – 1 draw . during the last week of august the eagles hosted salgueiros , scoring one goal and missing a number of opportunities to increase their lead . record entitled its article " if the spaniard was a goalscorer it would have been a slaughter " . on 12 september benfica visited azores and beat santa clara 3 – 0 to move to top of the league table , tied with five other teams . four days later the club started their european campaign , facing dinamo bucuresti at home . they lost 1 – 0 , when a shot by slipped through enke 's legs . in the title race , the eagles led the table after defeating vitória setúbal . newspaper record portrayed the game as easy win for the club , writing , " nothing better to raise morale than to win comfortably , without rush , without pushing , without any problem whatsoever . " before their european game , the team travelled to faro to defend their lead . they won their fourth consecutive match , with nuno gomes scoring his fourth goal in five games . at the end of september , benfica travelled to romania to play dinamo bucuresti . after a first - half goal by maniche , chano scored in the 71st minute to send benfica into second round . october and november the club 's momentum continued into october , when they defeated estrela da amadora with two second - half goals ; record summarized that the goals , " finished the game off when it was most needed " . on 16 october benfica visited barcelos , and increased their lead to four points over second - place fc porto . in europe , the club defeated in greece , taking an advantage back to portugal for the second leg . in their eighth primeira liga match benfica hosted boavista f.c. , settling for a draw after scored in the 80th minute . it was the first time since late august that benfica dropped points . for their last october game , they visited alverca to face the local team , f.c. alverca . benfica lost their first league match ; with a display that record characterized as being under a halloween spell ; that resulted in " their worst performance of the season , and seeing porto close in on the top of the table . " on 4 november , benfica hosted for the second leg of their european qualifier . they lost 2 – 1 in normal time , requiring extra time and a penalty shootout to decide the match . the lisbon side converted all their shots , progressing into to the next round . four days later , the club defeated s.c. braga by one goal in a league match to open a three - point lead . after a one - week break for the taça de portugal , benfica visited estádio das antas for the clássico against porto . they lost 2 – 0 with goals from and jardel , and the title - holders reduced benfica 's league lead to one point . in joão marcelino view , " the game between porto and benfica had to forcibly answer some questions — and it did not disappoint expectations . the easy win by fernando santos ' team clearly showed who still is , almost six years later , the best team in domestic football ; and the way that jupp heynckes accepted defeat could be used as evidence that he has been pushing his players to their current limit . " the following thursday , benfica visited vigo for the third round of the uefa cup . benfica made club history in the match ; at half - time they were already losing 4 – 0 , and three more goals in the second half broke the record for goals conceded , in their worst defeat ever . at their next training session hundreds of fans booed the team , and the club president compelled his players to apologize for their performance . team captain joão pinto read a statement : " to benfica , and to their supporters ; aware of the abnormality of the result from the match in vigo ; the players , represented by the captain and vice - captain , publicly acknowledge that they didn 't perform to club standards . we promise to redouble our commitment , towards dignifying this club . to them and to the millions of fans , we formally apologize . " november 's final game , a 2 – 0 victory over campomaiorense , retained benfica 's league lead . december and january benfica began december with a draw against belenenses , with porto 's victory ensuring they surpassed benfica in the league table . the team performance was at such a level that it allowed record to claim , " the goalscoring chances could be counted on the fingers of a hand . " in the second leg of the uefa cup against celta de vigo , the spaniards and heynckes fielded lineups almost entirely composed of reserves and the match ended in a one - all draw . on matchday 14 , benfica beat leiria by 3 – 2 with " two freak goals ensuring a win . " , as record put it . the final game of the year was a visit to guimarães . benfica scored first but allowed vitória s.c. to come back , losing a third league match . they had not won outside estádio da luz since 16 october ( when they led by four points ) , and began the new year four points behind the leader in third place . the year started with a derby de lisboa at home . after a scoreless tie , sporting cp benefited from the points - share and benfica fell to six points behind porto . on 12 january the club hosted for the portuguese cup , scoring seven goals against the third - tier team . three days later , benfica visited funchal and nearly lost ; record labelled enke 's performance as crucial for benfica , illustrating , " in the key moment of the game , when enke defended a penalty in the 10th minute , he saved benfica from leaving funchal with a defeat . in a sluggish performance , only new signings uribe and showed good form . " on matchday 18 , benfica hosted rio ave , winning their first league game in a month . four days later , benfica again played sporting for the portuguese cup . losing 3 – 1 , the team were eliminated in their own stadium for the fourth time in club history ; the first three were by sporting in 1962 – 63 , braga in 1965 – 66 and boavista in 1991 – 92 . benfica ended january with three points away from home for the first time since october , after defeating salgueiros 2 – 1 in the vidal pinheiro . february and march now focused on the league , benfica continued their momentum and defeated santa clara at home . chano was decisive in unlocking the game in the perspective of record : " he was the vitamin that gave imagination and clarity to benfica 's midfield " . they won a fourth consecutive time , beating vitória de setúbal in estádio do and gaining ground on porto and sporting ( both of whom lost points ) . on 22 february , the eagles hosted farense knowing that a win would put them one point behind the joint primeira liga leaders . benfica were surprised by the faro side 's opposition . josé manuel delgado wrote in his match report for record : " heynckes ' defence show [ ed ] inexplicable passivity , and was a loose threat that no one could stop . with an impressive performance , farense made one , two and nearly three goals " . shortly after the 15 - minute mark the angolan striker was injured and farense threats stopped , allowing benfica to turn the match around : " after his substitution benfica started to settle in the midfield , better supporting the attack ... until maniche put the threats in practise and scored in the 23rd and 38th minutes , with nuno gomes leaving benfica in the lead before halftime " . for their last february match , benfica visited estádio josé gomes to face the local team , estrela da amadora . two goals by and another by kenedy gave them their first league loss since 19 december , with porto and sporting regaining a four - point lead . the lisbon side rebounded with a home win against gil vicente f.c. ; josé manuel delgado called the victory " convincing , with moments of good football " . the second game in march was at estádio do bessa . the match report in record depicted benfica 's performance as good to begin with ( " [ benfica ] was better in the first half , scored first and stopped the boavista press in the beginning of the second half " ) , until they conceded to boavista before the final whistle : " [ benfica ] receded , receded , until suffering a last - minute goal by with boavista reduced to ten men . " on matchday 26 benfica hosted alverca , defeating them with a late goal by joão tomás and avenging october 's loss . the team ended march with a visit to braga , undefeated by the eagles since 1995 – 96 . although benfica led the game early , another late goal and their subsequent loss allowed both rivals to increase their lead . april and may on 1 april benfica faced porto in the second clássico of the season , and a second - half goal by sabry helped the club defeat their historic rivals . gomes ferreira commented : " the game was perfect for a nil - nil draw , when in the 67th minute a moment of genius decided the game : a great , meaningful goal from saby , launching benfica into the title race and hampering porto " . benfica maintained their momentum on a trip to the team , campomaiorense . an early dismissal of josé soares helped them win easily , with sabry scoring in a fourth consecutive game . on 16 april benfica hosted lisbon rivals belenenses , losing 3 - 2 and dampening any championship hopes . a week later the team lost their second straight match ( their seventh defeat of the season ) to união de leiria 2 – 1 , despite scoring first . on 30 april benfica returned to top form , and in miguel costa nunes opinion , defeated a " debilitated and riddled with internal conflicts " vitória de guimarães 3 – 0 . in the penultimate game of the season , benfica faced sporting for the third time ; in their previous meetings , the club had tied once and lost once . sporting , the league leader , was three points away from ending an 18 - year drought dating to 1981 – 82 . a late goal by sabry dashed their hopes , preventing them from winning the title from benfica . in the aftermath of the game , record reported in their headline : " till the end : a late goal from sabry completely froze the thousands of sporting fans waiting to celebrate the title " , while o jogo header read " sabry causes short - circuit in alvalade " . benfica ended the season with a third consecutive win , beating madeira side marítimo 2 – 1 . however , in josé ribeiro 's piece for record , he wrote that benfica " missed out on a thrashing that the fans and marítimo deserved " . the club finished four points from a champions league berth and eight behind sporting , who won their long - awaited title . competitions win draw loss postponed overall record primeira liga league table