"The team is very balanced, we're united"

MÍSTICA A DOIS

António Bastos Lopes, an icon of the eagles' defensive line in the 70s and 80s, and António Silva, a player from the professional football team, had a chat in the 5th episode of Mística a Dois, with the 100 official games of the central back as the theme.

ANTÓNIO BASTOS LOPES: From António to António... First of all, congratulations. You're the youngest player this century to reach 100 official games for SL Benfica. Did you know that? What does it mean to you?

ANTÓNIO SILVA: I knew before the game that I would be the first. But it was something I never thought I could achieve. I did have the dream of playing for SL Benfica's A team. Now to reach 100 games... It was a long way off and there had to be a lot of work involved. Fortunately I managed to do it and, at the age of 20, to be the youngest ever in this century to do it is a source of pride for me.

ABL: My debut... I was a substitute at SL Benfica at your age and my debut was at the age of 19, at Antas. It was a statement for me, at 19 years old, at that time when the team had 40 players. For me, at 19, coming to Antas as a starter was a very important thing.

AS: Yes, definitely. A debut in a Classic always has a special flavor.

ABL: Do you remember what your debut was like, and which [game] was the most special for you?

AS: The most special match? I remember my debut, which was at Bessa [Boavista-SLB, 0-3, 27/08/2022]. It was something I was more or less expecting at the time because of the injuries in the squad. The game that most marked me... Pfuu. Individually, it might have been the game with Paris Saint-Germain [SLB-PSG, 1-1, 05/10/2022]. It must have been my fifth or sixth home game for SL Benfica. But I think the one in which I felt the most, what Benfica was, and what Benfica really felt, was with Sporting, in João [Neves]'s goal in the last minute [SCP-SLB, 2-2, 21/05/2023]. The Braga game [SLB-SCB, 1-0, 06/05/2023], the year we won the league, I also felt an adrenaline rush inside me that I'd never felt before.

ABL: I saw you grow up in the center of defense in the various youth teams, you had a lot of skills for your age. What kind of central defender do you feel you've become, and what aspects do you think you can grow into?

AS: I think that, especially in my first year, it was a very perfect year for me and I also needed to feel some difficulty because life brings you these things. It's not always a bed of roses. But as a player I feel I can also improve in aerial play, also defensively. I look a lot at Nico [Otamendi], who is a player who wins a lot of aerial duels. Then things come with consistency, with experience and I'll improve from there too.

ABL: We defenders have to defend well first. But who doesn't like to score a little goal? I scored a few, Humberto Coelho scored many. You've scored eight in 100 games. Is that good? (...) For a central defender...

AS: I think it's a good average. Clearly there could have been more. I think in the first season I did a lot. I made, if I'm not mistaken, five. They're good numbers, and I think I can increase them in the next few games.

ABL: Humberto Coelho - who everyone knows - who was one of the world's great central defenders, I can say that of the world... there was a corner in SL Benfica's favor and everyone on the opposing team knew that Humberto [Coelho] would get to the near post: "Watch out, watch out for Humberto…" And Humberto [Coelho] would get there and score. Is making better use of set-pieces one of your goals?

AS: Yes, definitely. Increasing my goal tally. I think it also adds a lot of value to what a central defender is.

ABL: Mystique, Mystique... What does the word Mystique mean to you?

AS: The mystique... The SL Benfica mystique is a feeling that runs through us. Which, as everyone says, is difficult to express, but it's something that was instilled in me from the time I was a little boy, by my father. It was going to the stadium, feeling the stadium, seeing the players, taking photos with the players... It's always something I try to take onto the pitch. The fact that I'm a Benfica fan always gives me extra strength on the pitch. And knowing that I'm fighting for the fans - that I'm one of them, that my family are Benfica fans - I think that's a lot of it.

ABL: I often say that mystique can't be explained, it can be felt. What I was introduced to about the mystique at Benfica was the feeling of being at the club I love. I wanted to work to continue being at my club, to do things to make my club bigger. To do things that the public likes and that, with their help, the Club continues to win. That's all I was taught by the great players who played for Benfica: Eusébio, [António] Simões, Coluna, Humberto [Coelho], Toni, Nené... All those great players who played for Benfica, I drank everything they passed on to me. I'll tell you how Benfiquism was born in me. I was... My parents went everywhere to watch Benfica. And then I was a baby. I must have been, I don't know, six, seven, eight months old, maybe. And Benfica went to play in Évora. Évora, as you know, Alentejo, is extremely hot. And Benfica, wherever they go, they sell out. So my father went to the bar to see if there was any water to see if he could give it to me, according to him, because I was screaming all over the place. So maybe that was my baptism at the time. The SL Benfica masseur came by, gave me some water, gave [a bottle of water] to my parents to give me some water. I think that was a baptism, man... Perfect.

AS: Benfica baptism. (…) Perfect.

ABL: Do you remember your first contacts with Benfiquism?

AS: My father always told me stories because he's from Mozambique and, at the time, Benfica always went to play in Lourenço Marques. And he always told me the story of seeing Benfica play in Lourenço Marques when I was a little boy. He then came to Portugal when I was born, and he always took me and my brother to the Estádio da Luz to watch Benfica at least two or three times a year. Then I came to Benfica and we - me, my father and my brother - always made a point of going to the stadium every weekend. And that's it, I think now it's about passing on from generation to generation what the feeling of Benfica is and living Benfica.

ABL: Let's talk about the new season: how do you feel about the group at the moment?

AS: I think the group is going well. I think the team is very balanced, we're united. And I also feel what I was saying, that the mystique is coming through. I'm beginning to feel that the foreign players also feel what it takes to be at Benfica, knowing how to be there. Especially when they enter the stadium and see that crowd of people supporting them... And I think we're all rowing in the same direction. The Manager [Bruno Lage] also tells us a lot about the Club's values and I think we're all together to achieve great things for SL Benfica this year.

ABL: What is the mentality and the atmosphere in that dressing room?

AS: I think it's a moment of great happiness and joy. And I think that's carrying over onto the pitch. But we have to keep working because it's only been a few games.And, as we know, to achieve great things you need a great consistency of results and that's what we're going to try to do. But always thinking about the next game and not what lies ahead.

ABL: Each coach sees the game in his own way. I've had several different experiences in that respect. About Bruno Lage, what does he ask of you?

AS: I think that, in terms of Míster's [Bruno Lage] model, a modern central midfielder is very important. But above all, the team as a whole, playing attacking football that people like to see. With lots of goals, if possible, and always trying to keep our goal to zero.

ABL: Do you see yourself in the way he sees football? His style of play?

AS: Yes, definitely. I had already seen it the last time Míster [Bruno Lage] was here. The football that was played. The system is also the system I like to play, I was always used to playing like that in the youth ranks too. And that's it. Attacking football is what all the players like. Attractive, playing very close to each other, with the ability to link up. And then we move into the final third and it always culminates in goals, which is what we want.

ABL: The fans, talking about the fans... As I said, in the old stadium, the fans called out to us. As you know, the stadium was all stone. And there was a tunnel, maybe three times as long. And the fans were anxious for us to get onto the pitch. There was a silence before the team entered. Humberto [Coelho] would peek in, you could only see his little head, and the crowd would immediately go “Wow”. It meant we were coming. And Humberto [Coelho] would say to us: “That's good, that's good. Let's go.” We'd go in that way, together. We always went in together, we always said thank you together (...) because that's what unity is all about.

AS: You would bow.

ABL: Today, like in the past, SL Benfica fans are demanding and passionate. How do they get into each player's heart?

AS: They're special. Because of the demands they put on us players too. But I think that when you create a wave around you, it's very difficult to stop because you create an atmosphere of success around you. And it really catapults us, on the pitch, towards what we want, which is titles, victories... I think the fans are always very special. Playing at the Estádio da Luz is always very, very special. And also the fact that our families - at least mine - feel the same way about the club as I do, I think it always brings something very special to the fact that we play, whether in the stadium or when we go up north - we always have a lot of support, and we always feel a lot of support. And we players feel that we always owe something to the fans, and the way to do that is on the pitch, playing well and scoring goals.

ABL: They are the team's main support, and we have to keep pushing them.

AS: Yes, yes. 

ABL: Do you feel that Benfica is building a new history? What do you, the players, have to do to make sure the ending is a happy one?

AS: I think we players always want to have a name in Benfica's history. What I want is titles and, at the moment, I have two and I clearly want more. But we, as a team, know that the club lives on titles, the fans live on titles and that's what we're going to try to convey to people. Without getting too carried away, always thinking about the next game and, step by step, I think we'll be able to achieve great things.

AS: Thank you for this conversation. I think it's done me a lot of good, this testimony that we've been through. The míster [António Bastos Lopes] was my coach, we've known each other for a long time, but I think it's always very special to have these kinds of conversations.

ABL: I loved it! After fifty years, to have another António who can follow in my footsteps... I'm very proud to still be here at Benfica because I've been working here for more than 55 years, and I'm very proud to see many of you grow up, to see you playing on that huge pitch and you down there giving your best.