As Newcastle begin to depart for their tranche of European Friendlies across the continent, whilst still looking to secure further players in critical positions, what can Toon fans expect to see in Portugal on the 26th of July.
Today we will be looking at Benfica who play at the Estadio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, in the heart of the city and only a short distance from the Airport.
Founded on 28th February 1904 as Sport Lisboa, Benfica as they are now know are one of Portugal’s “Big Three” and have never been relegated from the Primeira Liga.
Newcastle fans travelling to this Beautiful city will be met by a warm and welcoming public who like Geordies love their football too. Benfica have just completed the 21-21 season finishing third. This was their second consecutive season and 3rd year without a trophy however they will no doubt be looking to test themselves against an English Premier league team who have strengthened and who would also love a European scalp, even if it is only a friendly.
Benfica is truly a sporting club with many other sports such as Basketball and Handball and swimming all hosted at the stadium complex. However its football we are concerned with and what we are likely to see is a well drilled and set up team under current coach Roger Schmidt.
Players to look out for on the day David Neres, the Lighting, attacking Brazilian right winger who has just signed for £18m from Shakhtar Donetsk. Joao Victor yet another Brazilian who plays centre back and new boy Petar Musa a Croatian international centre forward. More than anything this will be an opportunity to see the new arrivals bed in and for fans to make their own highly critical assessments of whether the team has strengthened enough to compete at a higher level.