Manuel Bento
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| Bento | ||
| Personal information | ||
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Galrinho Bento | |
| Date of birth | December 25, 1948 | |
| Place of birth | Golegã, Portugal | |
| Date of death | March 1, 2007 (aged 58) | |
| Place of death | Barreiro, Portugal | |
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | |
| Senior clubs1 | ||
| Years | Club | App (Gls)* |
| 1969-1972 1972-1990 |
FC Barreirense SL Benfica |
82 (0) 329 (0) |
| National team | ||
| 1976-1986 | Portugal | 63 (0) |
|
1 Senior club appearances and goals |
||
Manuel Galrinho Bento (born in Golegã, 25 June 1948, died in Barreiro, 1 March 2007), commonly known just by Bento (pron. IPA: ['bẽtu]), was a Portuguese goalkeeper that played for Benfica for 19 years from 1972-73 until his retirement in 1991-92 at the age of 44. He was their regular goalkeeper from 1976-77 to 1985-86. He was chosen by Portuguese sports newspaper Record as one of the best 100 Portuguese football players ever.
Bento started his carrier in FC Barreirense and was transferred to Benfica for the 1972-73 season. He started there as a substitute to another legendary Portuguese keeper, José Henrique. From 1973-1976, they had fairly equal playing time until Bento emerged as the definitive goalkeeper in the 1976-77 season at the age of 28. In the same year, he debuted for the National Team in the first game for the World Cup 1978 qualifiers. Portugal lost in Porto 0-2 against Poland. Despite this, Bento went on to become the best Portuguese goalkeeper for the following decade.
Bento was one of the main reasons Portugal reached the Euro 1984 finals, where he had an amazing game in the semi-finals with France, even though they were defeated 2-3, in overtime. After the surprising victory of Portugal over West Germany on its own soil (0-1), he was also the first choice for the World Cup 1986 finals, in Mexico. Unfortunately, he broke a leg during training after the victory of 1-0 over England and was replaced by Sporting's goalkeeper, Vítor Damas.
He took a year off due to his injury, but returned in 1987 to be the usual substitute for Silvino as Benfica goalkeeper. He was on the bench at the 1988 and 1990 European Champions Cup finals, lost by Benfica to PSV Eindhoven (0-0, 5-6 in penalty kicks) and AC Milan (0-1). He didn't play any game in 1987-88 and 1988-89 and played the last game of his career in the end 1989/90 championship against Belenenses (days before that European Champions Cup final) and was considered the Man of the Match. He was the third string goalkeeper of Benfica in the 1990-91 and 1991-92 seasons, before putting an end to his long career, in June 1992, at the age of 44. He was the oldest football player ever to be in the Portuguese Championship.
Bento was working as a goalkeeping coach at Benfica when he died on 1 March 2007, in the Hospital of Barreiro.[1]
[edit] Honours
- Portuguese Championship (8) - 1972/73, 1974/75, 1975/76, 1976/77, 1980/81, 1982/83, 1983/84, 1986/87, 1988/89, 1990/91
- Cup of Portugal (6) - 1979/80, 1980/81, 1982/83, 1984/85, 1985/86, 1986/87
- SuperCup Cândido de Oliveira (2) - 1979/80, 1984/85
- Portuguese Footballer of the Year (1) - 1977
[edit] Notes and references
- Dias, Rui (2002). 100 Melhores do Futebol Português - Volume 1 (100 Best of Portuguese Football - Vol. 1). Lisbon: Record.
- ^ "Benfica legend Bento mourned", UEFA, 2007-03-01. Retrieved on March 1, 2007.
 |
Portugal squad - 1986 FIFA World Cup | |
|---|---|---|
|
1 Bento | 2 Pinto | 3 Sousa | 4 Ribeiro | 5 Álvaro | 6 Carlos Manuel | 7 Pacheco | 8 Frederico | 9 Gomes | 10 Futre | 11 Bandeirinha | 12 Martins | 13 Morato | 14 Magalhães | 15 Oliveira | 16 José António | 17 Diamantino | 18 Sobrinho | 19 Águas | 20 Inácio | 21 André | 22 Damas | Coach: Torres |
||
