The curse of Béla Guttmann is one of those football stories that the well-known Iker Jiménez would give to investigate.
Recently we told the story of a curse that weighed over many years on the Royal Society which ultimately could be broken with the club Cup title achieved in urdin txuri 1987 in Zaragoza. Today we will focus on another of those footballing curses which in this case is still in force and has as its protagonist the Benfica.
The curse of Béla Guttmann
The Portuguese club had its golden age in the early of the 60 when he managed to hand their coach Béla Guttmann and its star Eusebio win two European Cups in a row 1961 Y 1962 (before him Real Madrid and the FC Barcelona respectively). It was precisely at the end of that season 1961-1962 when the Hungarian coach asked for a salary increase that the club turned down so he left his post casting a curse: “This team will ever win a European Cup”.
The phrase sounded like a tantrum that hot but the truth is that since then, for some reason or other, the Lisbon club has not returned to get lift the maximum continental trophy and has not been for lack of opportunities.
A happy Guttmann poses in the center of the image with the European Cup won by Eusebio and Mario Coluna (scoopnest)
The curse has been fully fulfilled and Benfica has lost all its European finals
Just a year after the departure of Béla Guttmann, Luso club returned to play the final but was defeated against Milan. They would not have to wait long to have two new opportunities as both 1965 like in 1968 they again reached the final of the tournament but lost again against Inter de Milan and the Manchester United (the first of the English side) respectively.
It took more than 20 years to see again the Benfica in a European Cup final. Specifically they were twice, In the season 1987-1988 Y 1989-1990. Both were defeated against PSV Eindhoven e Inter de Milan respectively.
But the curse in the European finals has not been limited only to the European Cup (actual Champions League) but also the UEFA Cup. The Portuguese club has played so far three finals of this competition and has lost three. In 1983 his executioner was the Anderlecht, in 2013 the Chelsea and in 2014 the Sevilla.
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