Marked for Peter Edokpolor
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Squad22 Feb 2027
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 13 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Market22 Feb 2027
AVS may not be able to give Roni what he wants
It is the most legitimate ambition in the sport and the hardest for most clubs to satisfy. Roni wants continental football; whether AVS can provide it is a question about the next two seasons, not about him.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A falling-out at AVS
Diego Duarte and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match20 Feb 2027
AVS come up short against Braga
Braga left with the points after a 1‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Squad22 Feb 2027
A row about effort at AVS
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Tiago Galletto was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Fabio Mendes after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Player ratings22 Feb 2027
Roni was unplayable
Successful dribbles: 15. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
The dugout22 Feb 2027
No place for Andrey on the big day
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AVS pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings15 Feb 2027
Two goals and a mark of 8.77 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
Match13 Feb 2027
At last: AVS win one
10 matches without a win, and then this, against Vitoria Guimaraes. Relief is a strange noise in a football ground and it was the only noise at the end.
Squad15 Feb 2027
There were 6 saves in it, and at least three that had no business being saves at all. The ten outfield players owe him a drink and they know it.
Squad15 Feb 2027
Words exchanged at AVS
Diego Duarte and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match13 Feb 2027
Three points for AVS, 3‑2 the final word against Vitoria Guimaraes in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Transfer targets15 Feb 2027
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. CRB have kept their man, and AVS go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
The terraces15 Feb 2027
AVS supporters have found a favourite in Peter Edokpolor
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Peter Edokpolor has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Tunde gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Market15 Feb 2027
Talks stall between AVS and Tunde
“We are a long way apart, and pretending otherwise helps nobody.” Neither side is close, and the calendar is not on the club's side.
In brief
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Squad
5 new faces, and AVS are still learning each other
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The dugout
A satisfied Fabio Mendes
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The dugout
Roni has become a man the manager trusts
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Dec 2026
3‑0, and the margin flattered nobody — it could have carried another goal or two without complaint. Afternoons like this are why people keep coming.
Match26 Dec 2026
Benfica make home a hard place to visit
15 without defeat on their own grass. The pitch has not changed; the crowd has — louder earlier, and quicker to sense when the opposition would rather be somewhere else.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Claudio Echeverri, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.66
A mark of 7.66 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Market28 Dec 2026
Santa Cruz come back empty-handed
The bid was some way short and Benfica did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings28 Dec 2026
Up for the corner, and Leandro Barreiro delivers — 7.76
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Leandro Barreiro scored, was marked 7.76, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Match26 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Benfica right now
3 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Fredrik Aursnes was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Dec 2026
Peter Edokpolor is a better footballer than he was
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
The dugout28 Dec 2026
The manager makes an example of Rafa
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
At 23 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad12 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Benfica this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad12 Oct 2026
A row about effort at Benfica
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Jhon Durán was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Squad12 Oct 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Peter Edokpolor commits to Benfica for another 4 years.
Loan watch12 Oct 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at Benfica, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
Market12 Oct 2026
“The manager did not use many words, and he did not need to.” Alexander Bah has his answer from Benfica; what he does with it is the next window’s story.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout12 Oct 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
Every squad has one of these fixtures for somebody every season. This one is Tomás Araújo’s: the club that knew him first, the supporters who will decide in the first minute whether to applaud, and Benfica needing him to play as if none of it matters.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match12 Sep 2026
4‑1, and Mateo Retegui took the headlines on an afternoon when everything Benfica tried came off. Days like this are retold all winter.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Benfica can pretend not to have heard.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Mateo Retegui takes the afternoon — 8.60
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Mateo Retegui provided it, and the 8.60 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Match12 Sep 2026
Benfica make it 4 in a row
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now Benfica have 4 straight wins of it.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Benfica — 7.67
1 for Leandro Barreiro, marked 7.67, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Market14 Sep 2026
The bid was some way short and Benfica did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market14 Sep 2026
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Benfica heard it as anything else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
At 19 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Squad14 Sep 2026
Jhon Durán was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match15 Aug 2026
Beaten 2‑6 by Vizela, and beaten everywhere it matters. The inquest starts on the training pitch on Monday morning.
Market17 Aug 2026
The bid was some way short and Benfica B did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Market17 Aug 2026
The last thing about a transfer that is still about the player is his signature on his own terms, and it is there. Benfica B have lost him in all but the paperwork.
Market17 Aug 2026
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
Player ratings17 Aug 2026
A defender's goal wins it for Benfica B — 7.49
1 for Tiago Freitas, marked 7.49, and a centre-half's name in the part of the report he normally only reaches by mistake. He will not be allowed to forget it in the dressing room for a month.
Match15 Aug 2026
8 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Benfica B and Vizela in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
The dugout17 Aug 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Daniel Banjaqui, and the manager let it.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Beaten 6 times, with 2 saves for company. Goalkeepers carry these scorelines on their record whoever actually caused them, which is the quiet injustice of the job.
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
Nobody left the Benfica B dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.