Footballer André Almeida admitted this Sunday that his “biggest regret” in almost 12 seasons at Benfica was that he did not win the Europa League on two attempts, and considers the 2013/14 national title “very outstanding”.
A few days after leaving Luz, the Portuguese international was interviewed on club television to look back on his best and worst moments.
“Perhaps this is the biggest regret I have, but it is difficult to win European competitions. Unfortunately we weren’t able to bring them to the museum, but the Benfica fans saw the games, we were the dominant team, wanting to win.” laments the 32-year-old Portuguese right-back, who may now be moving to another club.
For André Almeida, final defeats to Chelsea (2-1) in 2012/13 and Sevilla (4-2 on penalties) in 2013/14 should be remembered “because of how the team struggled throughout the tournament “. “, although not hiding “that bitterness”, because “Benfica” did not manage to bring any Europa League to the “embodied” museum where the interview took place.
Benfica remember those games for how the team struggled throughout the tournament. In both games, I felt that Benfica should win, but I am very pleased with how the team reached the final because it was beautiful and with a lot of chances. competence,” he said.
The Portuguese defender, who arrived at Luz in 2011 from Belenenses and after a half-season on loan at União de Leiria, eventually settled into the Eagles’ first team from the second half of the 2011/12 season under Jorge Jesus. , with whom he won his first title in 2012/13, which was “very remarkable”, probably because it was his first title.
“All [os títulos] there was a special flavor, but I don’t know if it was because it was my first title, this one turned out to be very wonderful,” he admitted.
However, all the other four national sceptres “had a special flair”, according to André Almeida, who played a total of 308 “eagle on his chest” matches, scoring 11 goals.
“They all had a special taste. The first one, three, because they already thought we were dead and that snap of the fans pushing us to 0-3 with Sporting catapulted us into a season of dominance. And conquest. It was probably my best individual season. We had some delay and ended up breaking several goals and points records,” he recalled.
For the Eagles, he has worn the captain’s armband 71 times, a “very special feeling” in a club with the “size” of Benfica, which on Saturday, before the triumph (3: 0) over Casa Pia, for the I Liga , honored the player on the Estádio pitch da Luz.
In addition to five national league titles (2013/14, 2014/15, 2015/16, 2016/17 and 2018/19), Almeida won four league cups (2011/12, 2013/14, 2014/15 and 2015/19). 16), two Portuguese Cups (2013/14 and 2016/17) and a Super Cup (2017).
The team’s career was marked by negativity when he suffered a serious knee injury in 2020 that sidelined him for 10 months, playing his last official redshirt match on 30 April 2022 to play 90 minutes. over Maritimo (1:0) in the I league.
This season he was in Benfica, but did not participate in any more meetings of the Eagles, already under the command of the German Roger Schmidt.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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