Sevilla revel in Europa League triumph as Benfica lament curse

Turin: The Sevilla party continued into the early hours of Thursday. The now well-documented curse of Bela Guttmann had struck Benfica yet again; they lost 4-2 on penalties following a scoreless draw.

On seven previous occasions — the last being the 2013 final against Chelsea — the Portuguese side had fallen at the very last hurdle.

The Sevilla fans had a third opportunity of celebrating a European trophy. The Portuguese fans in red had all but disappeared from the streets as Sevilla completed a hat-trick of wins in the final of the UEFA Europa Cup.

Flown down as guests of HTC, one of three major Uefa sponsors, this was an experience of a lifetime. However, to see Benfica fans in tears after their team were denied by the curse of Bela Guttmann was heart-breaking.

So who exactly was Bela Guttmann?

He was a Jewish Hungarian footballer and coach who played as a midfielder in Hungary. However, he is today best remembered as a coach of some of the top clubs including AC Milan, Sao Paulo, FC Porto and Benfica. Best compared to Jose Mourinho, the Hungarian’s career was never far from controversy. Born in Budapest in 1899, he was widely travelled, both as player and coach.

Guttmann’s greatest success came with Benfica when he guided the Portuguese club to two successive European Cup wins in 1961 and 1962. He was also credited with mentoring the legendary Eusebio and is believed to have pioneered the 4-2-4 formation.

After such success, Guttman believed he deserved a pay rise and approached the Benfica board after the 1962 Cup final victory. Guttman’s advances were swiftly rebuffed, infuriating the Benfica boss to the point that he left the club.

On Wednesday night before a packed Juventus stadium, Benfica did everything right. They were the more compact side. With skipper Luisao in command, they defended stoutly. They were quick on the counter.

With possession nearly even, Benfica had 21 attempts compared to 11 from Sevilla. Of these, 15 were on target while the Spaniards only had seven.

Only there was no luck for the Portuguese. The sea of fans in red waited for two hours to stand in unison, though rather unconvincingly for the shoot-out. And when Beto dived to his right to deny Oscar Cardozo and help Sevilla go 2-1 up after just two spot kicks, Benfica knew that the curse of Bela Guttmann was very much alive for them!