Enzo Perez's loan spell with Estudiantes ends on June 30/12 and Benfica will take another look at the 26 year old winger who has been in great form this season. Universidade of Chile are also interested in the winger but Benfica at this time have no interest in selling Perez.

Valencia have moved to strengthen their squad by completing the signing of full-back João Pereira from Sporting Lisbon for a fee of €3.7m.

"Sporting reached an agreement with Valencia for the transfer of Joao Pereira for a set fee of 3.7 million euros and a variable fee of 526,000 euros, depending on whether Valencia participates in the Champions League group phase or not," Sporting wrote in a statement published by Portuguese regulator CMVM.

By Alan Duffy

They say you can prove anything with statistics and the latest statistical boffinry to throw us a cureveball comes courtesy of statty men and women Infostrada, who have thrown lots of games and facts and figures into a big magical computing machine, with some interesting results coming out the other end.

Jose Mourinho has signed a new contract with Real Madrid that will keep him at the Bernabeu until 2016.

A statement on the Madrid website read:

"Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho have reached an agreement to extend the coach's contract with the club until June 30, 2016.

Jose Mourinho has signed a new contract with Real Madrid that will keep him at the Bernabeu until 2016.

A statement on the Madrid website read:

"Real Madrid and Jose Mourinho have reached an agreement to extend the coach's contract with the club until June 30, 2016.

Ducky's Note: A guest post on George Best's birthday from our reader Vignesh Murali. As they said, Maradona Good, Pele Better, George Best.

Almost 7 years have passed after the demise of George Best and Manchester United are still appertained to the mercurial Irishman who changed the face of the club and the English game forever.

Ducky's Note: A guest post on George Best's birthday from our reader Vignesh Murali. As they said, Mardona Good, Pele Better, George Best.

Almost 7 years have passed after the demise of George Best and Manchester United are still appertained to the mercurial Irishman who changed the face of the club and the English game forever.

By Max Grieve

Munich rocked; the Allianz Arena shaking in anticipation of the final whistle. It would come, as it always does, but brought with it a fresh burden. Drogba rose to meet the corner; Drogba fell back to earth, and sent millions into raptures.

One of the best things about football as a sport is its incomparable ability to create drama. I would love to challenge Hollywood's finest to try and script the fiction to beat the truth we've seen this season. Manchester City shifting from title losers to title winners in a matter of 60 seconds at their home ground in the final moments of their season.

The Portuguese League play is all but done with only the Taca de Portugal to be decided this weekend. The league saw a three team dogfight for the title between FC Porto, Benfica and Braga, these three teams players dominate our 23 man Portuguese League all star team.23 Man Portuguese League All Star Squad:Goalies:Helton (FC Porto)Artur (Benfica)Quim (Braga)Defenders:Garay (Benfica)Maxi

A Post from January 5th 2012...
... before all the seriously organised sporting crime.
___________________________________________________________________________________
On the 23rd of October 2011, an idea for an app came to mind...
... the number nineteen on a red background would slowly morph into 1-6 on a sky blue background.

A Post from January 5th 2012...
... before all the seriously organised sporting crime.
___________________________________________________________________________________
On the 23rd of October 2011, an idea for an app came to mind...
... the number nineteen on a red background would slowly morph into 1-6 on a sky blue background.

Lazio are looking to get into the Garay sweepstakes as the Benfica central defender gears up interest across Europe. Lazio are looking to get one up on city rivals Roma who are also looking at the 25 year old player.Benfica has a contract with Garay until 2015 and a release clause in the contract for $20 million.

Italian papers are reporting that Roma are keen on landing one if not both of Benfica's key playmakers this season Nicolas Gaitan and Axel Witsel. The Italian club though would have a hard time obtaining both players as each has a $40M buy out clause in their contracts.Roma was also linked earlier this season with Benfica defender Garay and are said to be treading the waters on all three

Lorenzo Melgarejo foi considerado pela maioria dos leitores (13 em 51) que participaram na última votação como a maior revelação da época em Portugal. Chegado esta época ao campeonato nacional, o jovem paraguaio que o Benfica contratou ao Independiente Football Club por cerca de 750 mil euros e depois emprestou ao Paços de Ferreira, tem impressionado pela sua velocidade, poder de explosão e de remate.

Howard Webb on Newcastle v Man City.
Chris Foy on Man Utd v Swansea.
United have won the league.
We'd like to offer our congratulations to Sir Ferguson and Mike Riley on their stunning triumph.
A team unable to defeat FC Basel, Athletic Bilbao or Benfica in 6 games, beaten by Wigan, Crystal Palace and Blackburn, slaughtered by City and Newcastle is still good enough to win yet another tainted title triumph.

After months of unpaid wages, 16 players for Portuguese Liga club Leiria walked out on the team Friday. That left the last place club already doomed to relegation with just eight players available for Sunday's match against Feirense and since the minimum number of footballers required to play a match is seven, the game was played.

União de Leiria, the first club to play a 4-3-0

Unbelievable - Leiria is the first club in the Portuguese first division and probably in professional football to start a match with 8 players. It's been an endless turbulent season for the club, who were evicted from their home stadium and are on the verge of relegation.

Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish knows that he must improve his squad in the summer after a difficult season in the league and it seems he will start by trying to sign Benfica winger Nolito.
According to Talksport, the midfielder is rated at £15million after joining the Portuguese side last summer on a free contract after decided to reject an offer from Barcelona.

Sidnei will be returning to Benfica at season's end after Besiktas decided to not exercise their option to purchase the player after his loan spell.Sidnei is currently suspended by Besiktas after being caught after curfew at an Istanbul club. Portuguese players Bebe and Julio Alves were also out with Sidnei and are also currently suspended by the club.

Suarez: Non-feline, sometime-racist version"We're haven't won a match in 2012... grumble, grumble"
"OMG it's Steven Gerrard for 20 minutes!"
　
"This rebuilding process is going nowhere fast"
"Yahoo we get to sing 'You'll Never Walk Alone' poorly!

Talk of a surprise loan move for Fabio Da Silva to Benfica emerged from the manager last week and after confirmation from his agent, the player himself has commented.

"I am excited about the opportunity to play for Benfica a very famous and big club," Fabio told A Bola. "I feel very honoured by Benfica's interest, but my transfer now depends on negotiations with Manchester United.

One of the main rules of the Intertoobz is that thou shall not repost, (or cross-post or go postal or something like that. I've never been very good with rules.). However, this one is something I noticed today, and put over on the comments thread of the previous post about the third kit, as well as on the DT Facebook page.

"En el noreste de Inglaterra, de donde vengo, las minas eran uno de los pocos medios de empleo. Si tenías mucha suerte, pero mucha suerte, podías ser futbolista."
"Mi padre era minero. Y en las minas hay que trabajar muy duro, especialmente en aquellos días.

Desde segunda-feira noite, após o justíssimo triunfo do Sporting sobre o Benfica, que tenho assistido s mais diversas manifestações de desagrado da generalidade dos adeptos encarnados por causa dos festejos de jogadores e simpatizantes leoninos. "Até parece que ganharam o campeonato" ou "parabéns pelo quarto lugar" têm sido apenas algumas das "bocas".

Desde segunda-feira noite, após o justíssimo triunfo do Sporting sobre o Benfica, que tenho assistido s mais diversas manifestações de desagrado da generalidade dos adeptos encarnados por causa dos festejos de jogadores e simpatizantes leoninos. "Até parece que ganharam o campeonato" ou "parabéns pelo quarto lugar" têm sido apenas algumas das "bocas".

Portuguese paper, O Jogo, has today claimed that Manchester United have agreed a £25m deal for Benfica star Nicolás Gaitán.

Gaitán's current contract expires in 2016 and has a release clause of £45m, which means that United are likely to offer players as well as cash. Macheda, Bebe and Petrucci are the players tipped to be of interest to Benfica.

Dr Mart is back in the house as he joins Chidge and the usual suspects, plus Beth from Chelsea in America, to discuss the Benfica, Wigan and Fulham games.
What a week! Squeaky bum time last Wednesday against Benfica, rescued by none other than ‘Tufty' Meireles to ensure our progress to the semi-final of the Champions League; the ‘Great Escape' against Wigan to keep us in the hunt for 4th in the Premier League, and then the damp squib on Monday night at Craven Cottage in the draw against the small club in Putney which dampened more than our spirits.

I seriously cannot believe some of the negativity from our supporters at the moment about Roberto Di Matteo and our side!.
We are in the Semi Finals of the FA CUP and The Champions League with two games that couldn't be bigger in my opinion and are TWO points behind Spurs & Newcastle and just FOUR points behind Arsenal in third with BOTH Arsenal and Newcastle to play!

Barcelona youngster Cristian Tello won't be making a summer move to Liverpool, according to Sky Sports pundit Guillem Balague.
In a recent Q&A session, the Spaniard was asked to shed any light on speculation linking the 20-year-old forward with a potential move to Anfield.
Tello is out of contract at the Camp Nou at the end of next season, and has been targeted by several clubs, including Valencia, Malaga and Benfica in La Liga.

Sporting Benfica 2012 Highlights 1-0 Van Wolfswinkel penalty Goal Video Luisao Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Sporting Benfica 2012 Highlights 1-0 Van Wolfswinkel penalty Goal Video Luisao Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Sporting Lisbon vs Benfica 2012 ( Sporting Benfica VIDEO BELOW) Score and result:- Sporting vs Benfica 1-0 ( Van Wolfswinkel penalty) Estadio Jose Alvalade- 9 April, 2012- Monday- 20.

Sporting Benfica 2012 Highlights 1-0 Van Wolfswinkel penalty Goal Video Luisao Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter

Sporting Benfica 2012 Highlights 1-0 Van Wolfswinkel penalty Goal Video Luisao Red Card is a post from Soccer Blogger. Follow Soccer Blogger on Twitter Sporting Lisbon vs Benfica 2012 ( Sporting Benfica VIDEO BELOW) Score and result:- Sporting vs Benfica 1-0 ( Van Wolfswinkel penalty) Estadio Jose Alvalade- 9 April, 2012- Monday- 20.

It's the post-Easter bank holiday in England, so there is a full slate of Premier League games. But we choose just the late game in London, and from further south another derby from another great footballing European capital:

Fulham vs Chelsea (3pmET; ESPN2, ESPN Deportes, ESPN3.

Chelsea once again managed to carry their positive European form back into the league as they picked up an important victory against Wigan Athletic on Saturday with a late goal from Juan Mata.

The match were once again a very tight one for the Blues but Mata's goal in the final minute simply brought an important step for their fourth place spot ambition as they're keeping pace with the teams above them.

Three matches that we choose out of the plethora:

Sunderland vs Tottenham Hotspur (7:45amET): Fourth-place Spurs visit the Stadium of Light. The pressure is on Spurs to hang on to 4th, but Sunderland have been impressive since Martin O'Neill took over in place of the sacked Steve Bruce in December.

I have to say I thought something was up when JT was taken off early in the second half against Benfica. As he was walking off the pitch, I was thinking surely he can't be being rested and yesterday we had confirmation that he has broken two of his ribs.
After the game JT revealed:

"I couldn't breathe and my chest was closing up.

Benfica have set their sights on 20 year old midfielder Anthony Knockeart from Guingamp, currently in the Franch second division. Benfica will have competition from Newcastle as they try to bring the youngster to the Luz next season. The interest in current Benfica players, Nicolas Gaitan, Axel Witsel and Rodrigo have the club already looking to retool for next season and Knockeart is one

Chelsea made it far more difficult than it ever should have been, but ultimately had enough in their collective pocket to dispatch Benfica and reach the Champions League semifinals. Some say we were embarrassingly poor; those people, of course, are slightly out of their mind.

Pipe down, Jorge

It kind of amazes me the amount of negative reaction there has been from our own support after this result.

Chelsea made it far more difficult than it ever should have been, but ultimately had enough in their collective pocket to dispatch Benfica and reach the Champions League semifinals. Some say we were embarrassingly poor; those people, of course, are slightly out of their mind.

Pipe down, Jorge

It kind of amazes me the amount of negative reaction there has been from our own support after this result.

Who knew that Drake and Didier Drogba were good friends?

It turns out that rapper/musician Drake was at Stamford Bridge in London to take in Chelsea's Champions League match against Benfica on Wednesday night. Now, this isn't Drake's first time kicking around with the best. He's admitted plenty of times that he's a massive fan of the beautiful game.