Uma das primeiras fotos de Abel Xavier, ao serviço das selecções nacionais, salvo erro em 1987, no Estádio Nacional, integrando a equipa que viria a sagrar-se campeã da Europa sub/16. Abel é o último da direita em pé e Luís Figo, o quarto em pé a contar da esquerda.
Uma das últimas selecções que integrou, em Abril de 2002, em Alvalade, antes de um Portugal/Brasil.

You might call the week that was Separation Week in European soccer. The Champions League group stage completed play and with it the chances of certain clubs finishing in the top 10 by season's end (you know who you are, Juventus). Other teams are resurgent, having rescued their seasons from the brink (Bayern Munich).

New Belenenses manager, Toni, has cut Freddy Adu and sent him back to Benfica. Adu had been struggling for minutes with the last-place team, and will most likely find it even harder to come by back at Benfica. Will he secure another loan to a smaller team or league? Will he try to find a way back to MLS?

AEK face Everton at the OAKA tonight in a must win game if we are to have any chance going into the last round against Benfica,for qualification into the last 32 of the Europa League.No Nemeth so our forward line will consist of Blanco and Scocco who's really been our top player in an otherwise,so far,forgettable year.

Group B contains Argentina, Nigeria, Greece and South Korea, in what could be a mini group of death. Argentina were poor in qualifying, and Greece and South Korea are always hard to break down. At the moment I see Argentina and Nigeria moving onto the knockout rounds.

A look at the teams in Group B

ARGENTINA

Manager: Diego Maradona
Key player: Lionel Messi
Best: Winners (1978, 1986)
World ranking: 8

Argentina endured a torrid qualifying campaign under manager Diego Maradona, who seemed to grow increasingly eccentric as the pressure on him grew.

Rafa lines up Brazilian star on loan move.

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Rafael Benitez is reportedly lining up a loan move for Brazilian youngster Keirrison.

The agent of Barcelona striker Keirrison has told ESPN Soccernet it is highly unlikely that his client will be joining Liverpool on loan in the January transfer window.
Recent reports in the English media had claimed that Keirrison, 21, could cancel his unproductive loan spell with Benfica in order to sign for Rafael Benitez, who was linked with a move for the striker before he joined Barcelona in July 2009.

Austrian club FC Red Bull Salzburg recently advanced to the UEFA Europa League's Round of 32. How do you like the club's chances against the likes of Roma, Wolfsburg, Benfica, and Juventus?

Benfica and FC Porto get set for Portugal's "O Classico" at the Estadio da Luz at 20:15 WEST. The two winningest clubs in Portuguese History face off for the first time this season. Benfica sit currently in second spot with Porto one point back, as both teams continue to chase surprise league leader Braga.

Joao Carlos Pereira is no longer the coach of Portugal Liga Sagres club Belenenses, in a move made on Monday. Pereira was in season one of a two-year contract. Freddy Adu joined the club on loan from Benfica for the 2009-10 season. He has seen limited opportunities.

Benfica defeated Bate Borisov today in UEFA Europa League action to clinch a spot in the Round of 32. Benfica and Bate played to a scoreless first half before the goals started to come for visiting Benfica. Javier Saviola scored early in the second half, his fourth goal of the Group Stage and Fabio Coentrao made it 2-0 Benfica midway through the second half before Bate narrowed the margin to

(video gol: Aek Atene-Everton)
Bilyaletdinov piega la formazione greca dell'Aek Atene e, con la sua gemma, consente agli inglesi dell'Everton di festeggiare con merito la qualificazione. I ragazzi di David Moyes, dunque, brindano insieme ai portoghesi del Benfica, trascinati alla vittoria dall'argentino Saviola in casa del Bate Borisov e primi nettamente nel Gruppo I con 12 punti.

FC Porto opened Week 12 with a big victory over Guimaraes to place pressure on Benfica and Braga in the Superliga (Liga Sagres). Porto jumped to an early 2-0 lead when Varela and Falcao scored in the first 30 minutes. Guimaraes got one back at the 45th minute mark Andrezinho but it was to be as close as the Northern squad would come as Porto scored twice more in the second half.

Braga get a late marker from Alan at the 89th minute to salvage a point on the road against Leixoes. Braga was held off the scoresheet for most of the game and it was Leixoes who struck first in the first half when Moises scored into his own net. Braga falter could be Benfica's gain as the Eagles look to move back into a first place tie with a victory tomorrow against Academica.

Benfica got a big victory over Academica to move back into a tie for top spot with Braga. Benfica dominated the game against Academica and continued their scoring outbursts with a 4-0 victory at home. Oscar Cardozo scored a hat trick to add to his overall goal lead in the Portuguese League, he now sits at 14 goals in 12 games.

Portuguese Fans that have visited our site over the last few days have taken to the Portugal striker situation and placed their choice on our poll and review of which striker should be added to the Portugal roster along with shoe-ins Hugo Almeida and Leidson. Benfica striker Nuno Gomes is the favoured choice at the moment with 31% of the vote followed by Kayserispor's Makukula at 20% and

The Portuguese Liga has several matches on Saturday, December 12, 2009 including Olbanense v Benfica. The match will be covered live on our other site, Free Live Sports TV, at the link below.

Olbanense v Benfica

Nuno Gomes scored a big marker for Benfica in the 90th plus minute to save face for the Eagles as they took on Olhanense in the Algarve. Olhanense opened the scoring when a Benfica header went wayward and right to Olhanense's Fernandes who headed it past Quim. Benfica then brought the score back to even when Javier Saviola knocked in a corner kick.

Depois de ter visto o jogo de ontem entre o SC Olhanense e o SL Benfica e de ter ouvido as palavras do meu amigo Jorge Costa no final, fiquei com a sensação de ter visto outro jogo. Admito até que o árbitro tenha cometido vários erros - David Luís deveria também ter recebido um vermelho - o que é uma situação normal num jogo de tal intensidade, no entanto, se há culpados do que se passou e se foram cometidos erros primários, esses têm de ser essencialmente dirigidos aos adeptos e aos jogadores.

FC Porto have closed the gap on league leader Benfica and Braga after a 2-0 victory today over last place Setubal. FC Porto got first half goals from Ernesto Farias and Varela and it was all they needed in this home victory. Porto now trail Benfica and Braga by one point for the league lead and will take on Benfica in the next round of Superliga action at the Estadio da Luz

So no, I wasn't delusional as a fellow blogger put it ;) I smelled blood in the water on Saturday in Europe's biggest leagues, and gosh darn it, I came thisclose to getting my predictions and premonitions right for what I had deemed "Upset Saturday."

You can check it out for yourself at the link above, but basically, I'd posted that Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter and Benfica would tumble like weeds in the Ol' West this weekend.

Benfica midfielders Ramires and Pablo Aimar received treatment today as the Eagles prepare for their final game of the UEFA Europa League on Thursday and then "O Classico" against FC Porto on Sunday. Ramires picked up a knee sprain in this past weekends game against Olhanense while Aimar has a left thigh injury which kept him out of this past weekends game.

According to ESPN Soccernet, Barcelona striker Keirrison will likely not sign with Liverpool on loan in January. His agent Naor Malaquias said,

"That would be a very nice place to go but I think that we should talk directly with Barcelona to see if they have the interest to loan him to Liverpool .

The UEFA Europa League has its last set of group stage matches on Thursday, December 17, 2009 including Benfica v AEK Athens. The match will be covered live on our other site, Free Live Sports TV, at the link below.

Benfica v AEK Athens

Benfica rounded off their Group stage with a 2-1 victory over AEK Athens avenging their only loss in the Group to the Greek squad. Jorge Jesus rested most of his regular starting squad for this game as Benfica had already clinched top spot in the Group and a place in the Round of 32. Benfica got a brace from Angel Di Maria (who will not play against Porto this weekend due to a red card) at

Hizo los dos goles de Benfica para el 2 a 1 sobre AEK, de Atenas, por la Liga de Europa, (ex copa UEFA): Benfica líder del Grupo I.
caligula

Liverpool find themselves in Pot 2 (aka unseeded) for tomorrow's Europa League draw for the round of 32. A UEFA spokesman put it best:

"Liverpool will not be one of the seeded teams.

"The top seeds are the 12 groups winners from the Europa League and the best four third-placed sides from the Champions League.

As we wind down the year, the matches on television become fewer, but that doesn't mean that many of them aren't important.

We have a few more championships to settle in this mini-championship season. The big one, of course, will be the final of the Club World Cup. As always, it will feature European champions Barcelona against South American champions Estudiantes.

So it's Unirea Urziceni, with the first leg at Anfield and the second in Budapest.
The winner will meet Lille or Fenerbahce in the Round of 16. I'm assuredly not looking past any opponents after the CL group stage, but that could have been worse. That could have been a lot worse.
It could have been Everton or Fulham's draw.

We lost 2-1 to Benfica yesterday in a game which made no difference to either side (Bate beat Everton 1-0 away). The funny thing here, however, is despite this match meaning nothing to AEK (except a little pride) we saw some pleasing football from our players.

Benfica hit the post on a penalty early on which kept us in the game for quite a while but our luck didn't last too long as Benfica scored two goals (the first one took a nasty bounce though Saja still should have been able to save it) without response from AEK.

Hamburg/PSV v Athletic Bilbao/Anderlecht
Rubin Kazan/Hapoel Tel Aviv v Villarreal/Wolfsburg
Atletico Madrid/Galatasaray v Everton/Sporting
Hertha Berlin/Benfica v FC Copenhagen/Marseille
Panathinaikos/Roma v Standard Liege/Salzburg
Lille/Fenerbahce v Liverpool/Unirea
Ajax/Juventus v Fulham/Shakhtar Donetsk
Club Brugge/Valencia v FC Twente/Werder Bremen
Ties to be played 11/18 March 11th and 18th

UEFA has made there draw today for the Champions League and Europa League. FC Porto will take on English club Arsenal in the Round of 16 action in the Champions League with games taking place on Feb 17/10 and Mar 9/10 while Benfica will play against Hertha Berlin and Sporting face Everton in Europa League action with games taking place on Feb 18/10 and Feb 23/10 and Feb 25/10

The Portuguese Liga has several matches on Sunday, December 20, 2009 including Benfica v FC Porto. The match will be covered live on our other site, Free Live Sports TV, at the link below.

Benfica v FC Porto

Benfica is said to be in talks with Genoa for their keeper Marco Amelia. Benfica are hoping to land him in the January transfer window. The 27 year old keeper is said to want out of Genoa and Benfica look to provide the keeper with a way out. Amelia was the third string keeper for Italy in the 2006 World Cup and second string keeper in Euro 2008 and is said by many to be one of the best

Ok, aqui, para voce... it's a Saviola turkey Sandwich, so you'd better take it for the road!

Anyway, besides the fact that tipo looks disturbingly suffocated and elated at the same time, who wouldn't be especially after scoring the winning goal in last night's derby of such importance against Porto right?

Vi o jogo de ontem fora do nosso País, bem longe por sinal. Não foi um grande jogo, mas teve intensidade, velocidade, querer, e paixão a que a chuva e o frio ajudou dando algum tom dramático. Péssimo relvado num estádio recente e moderno, parecendo-me que o FC Porto nunca se encontrou com o jogo.

Barcelona won their final and hoisted their sixth trophy in a fitting conclusion to the 2009 calendar year. Barca were dominant this year and it is entirely appropriate that they end the year at the very top of our rankings. Behind them, things got a little messy (not to be confused with Messi, Lionel), thanks largely to English clubs choking against inferior competition.

Barcelona won their final and hoisted their sixth trophy in a fitting conclusion to the 2009 calendar year. Barca were dominant this year and it is entirely appropriate that they end the year at the very top of our rankings. Behind them, things got a little messy (not to be confused with...
[[ This is a content summary only.

Barcelona won their final and hoisted their sixth trophy in a fitting conclusion to the 2009 calendar year. Barca were dominant this year and it is entirely appropriate that they end the year at the very top of our rankings. Behind them, things got a little messy (not to be confused with...
[[ This is a content summary only.

Benfica officially love the passive offside rule. The "1″ in a 1-0 Benfica derby victory over Porto is above, and you can instantly tell just where this whole passive offside bit may come into play. Oscar Cardozo (I think) was enjoying a seat on the goal line whilst Javier Saviola bagged that winner halfway through the [.