Benfica Profile

Formed: 1904
Nickname: As Águias (The Eagles), Encarnados (The Reds)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1961, 1962; (1963), (1965), (1968), (1988), (1990)
• UEFA Cup: (1983)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 32 (2010)
• Portuguese Cup: 24 (2004)

History
• On 28 February 1904, Sport Lisboa e Benfica – originally known as Grupo Sport Lisboa – was founded at a meeting in a Lisbon pharmacy, Farmácia Franco, involving 24 men led by Cosme Damião.

• After winning ten Lisbon regional championships, a first national title arrived at the 15,000-capacity Campo das Amoreiras in 1935/36. Benfica moved to Campo Grande, where on-the-pitch success continued, and then to the Estádio da Luz in 1954.

• Under Hungarian Béla Guttmann the Eagles ended Real Madrid CF’s monopoly of the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in 1960/61, beating FC Barcelona in the final. The next year they defeated Madrid to retain the trophy, aided by a new young signing from Mozambique: Eusébio.

• With Eusébio and a considerable number of Portuguese internationals in the squad, Benfica monopolised the domestic game in the 1960s, reaching – but losing – another three European Cup finals, in 1963, 1965 and 1968. The Encarnados suffered further European Cup final disappointment in 1988 and 1990 following two more decades of dominance alongside Sporting Clube de Portugal and FC Porto.

• The club earned their 30th Portuguese title in 1993/94 but had to wait 11 years for No31 under Giovanni Trapattoni. By then Benfica were playing at the new Estádio da Luz, rebuilt to stage the UEFA EURO 2004 final. The Eagles made it 32 in the 2009/10 season under Jorge Jesus, ending Porto’s four-year monopoly.

Club records
Most appearances: Nené (802)
Most goals: Eusébio (638)
Record victory: Benfica 13-1 AD Sanjoanense (Primeira Divisão, 27 April 1947)
Record defeat: Sporting Clube de Portugal 7-1 Benfica (Primeira Divisão, 14 December 1986)

 

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50147/profile/index.html

Porto profile

Formed: 1893
Nickname: Dragões (Dragons)

UEFA club competition honours (runners-up in brackets)
• European Champion Clubs’ Cup: 1987, 2004
• UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League: 2003, 2011
• UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup: (1984)
• UEFA Super Cup: 1987; (2003), (2004)

Domestic honours (most recent triumph in brackets)
• League title: 25 (2011)
• Portuguese Cup: 16 (2011)

History
• Despite first coming into existence in 1893 as a club “dedicated to the practice of the eccentric English game of football”, Porto did not play a competitive match until 1906, when they began their now long-established rivalry with neighbours Boavista FC. They were nonetheless pioneers, winning the inaugural Campeonato de Portugal – a forerunner of the modern Portuguese Cup – in 1922 and the first league campaign of 1934/35.

• Porto moved into the Estádio das Antas in 1952 and two more titles followed that decade, but they nearly went bankrupt in the 1960s. It was only after José Maria Pedroto took over as coach that fortunes changed, the former player overseeing back-to-back league wins in 1978 and 1979.

• Spearheaded by the prolific Fernando Gomes, the Dragons reached the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1983/84, losing out to Juventus. They were becoming increasingly dominant on the domestic scene, though, and in 1986/87 Artur Jorge’s side upset favourites FC Bayern München to claim the European Champion Clubs’ Cup title.

• The 1990s brought further success, the club clinching eight Liga crowns out of ten and a record five in succession, before a less productive period at the turn of the millennium. That was halted by the arrival of 39-year-old José Mourinho, who masterminded remarkable wins in the 2002/03 UEFA Cup and 2003/04 UEFA Champions League.

• Mourinho’s departure after the latter triumph prompted hard times at the club’s new Estádio do Dragão home, with four coaches arriving and leaving in the space of two years. Yet Dutchman Co Adriaanse promptly led the Dragons to a league and cup double in 2005/06 as they returned to centre stage, and Jesualdo Ferreira picked up where he left off, winning the next three titles and the 2008/09 and 2009/10 Portuguese Cups.

• Ferreira’s replacement, André Villas-Boas, led Porto to the Liga title without losing a game, the Portuguese Cup and the UEFA Europa League in 2010/11. Villas-Boas became the youngest coach to win a European competition, aged 33 years and 213 days, when he oversaw a 1-0 win against SC Braga in Dublin. He was succeeded as coach by his assistant, Vítor Pereira, ahead of the 2011/12 season.

Club records
Most league appearances: João Pinto (407)
Most goals: Fernando Gomes (288)
Record victory: Porto 15-1 SC Sanjoanense (Portuguese Cup, 1942/43)
Record defeat: SL Benfica 12-2 Porto (First Division, 7 February 1943)

From: http://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2012/clubs/club=50064/profile/index.html