If Benfica wants to end the Gutman curse, which are the most likely venues?

In the distant 1960s, a black curse was quietly born. Maybe not many people cared about it at that time, but decades have passed, and this curse has been fulfilled many times, and its momentum has become increasingly greater. This is the Gutman Curse.

will not be discussed in detail. Friends who don’t know can go and check it. In short, Gutman Curse means that Benfica will not be able to win the European championship within 100 years. Nowadays, fans may feel that the power is not that great when they hear this curse. After all, Benfica can't be called a top-level team now. But in the 1960s, Benfica took over Real Madrid and became the strongest team in Europe, winning two Champions League titles. Eusebio emerged as the first representative figure in Portuguese football. At that time, Gutman said such words when Benfica was at its peak, and his influence was still very strong. Later, Benfica reached the Champions League final many times, but all failed. To date, the Gutman Curse has lasted for more than 60 years and is still in effect.

So, will this curse really last for 100 years as Gutman said? At that time, it was 2062. In fact, Gutman didn't expect that now European football is not only the Champions League, but also the Europa League and the European Union. In the 1960s, there was only the Champions League in the European competition, and the so-called European champion refers only to the Champions League champion. It is also a pity that Benfica did not seize the opportunity in the League Cup and the Winners Cup that appeared later. Now, the difficulty has been further reduced. As a continuation of the League Cup, the overall level of the Europa League has dropped significantly. The European Union has even lowered its level again and again. Now, no one expects Benfica to win the Champions League title, so if you break the Gutman curse, it is likely that you will rely on the Europa League or the Europa League. So, which event is more likely to become a hotbed for breaking the curse? Some people may think of the European Union. After all, the competition among the European Union is the weakest among the new three major cups. Most of the teams participating in the European Union are so-called giants in the second and third-tier European leagues. If Benfica appears here, it won’t be a giant, but it is definitely the top three teams in terms of strength. But there is a question: what kind of degenerate Benfica will be to fight the European Union? Yes, Chelsea accidentally played against the European Union, which was unexpected. But the competition in the Premier League is too fierce and Chelsea is in a turbulent period again. In fact, Chelsea has a strong family background and a lineup that can handle multi-line combat, so even if they are shortlisted for the European Union with the upper-middle level in the Premier League, their strength will definitely stand out. But what about Benfica? According to the current rules of the Portuguese Premier League European quota allocation, the top two are linked to the Champions League (the second place plays the qualifying round), the third and fourth places are linked to the Europa League (the fourth place plays the qualifying round), and the fifth place is matched to the Europa League. If Benfica really wants to win fifth place in the Portuguese Super League, then their strength will be the same. Even if they go to the European Union, they may not be the best team. So the European Union is the best venue to break Gutman's curse. They may take it for granted that Benfica, who played the Champions League, was substituted for the European Union. But from the perspective of quota allocation, Benfica may be able to join the European Union in the Portuguese Super League and become the second group. In that case, they will not have that big advantage. In fact, the European Union is the most likely. Since the 21st century, Benfica has reached the Europa League final and missed the championship. But this shows that in this arena, Benfica is very competitive. In the Champions League, Benfica is only a second-tier team, but in the Europa League, they should be the top players. Moreover, being able to get the European Union quota means that Benfica is still online in the Portuguese Super League and will not fall too low. In fact, according to the previous competition system, Benfica is more likely to win the Europa League, that is, the third place in the Champions League group fell to the UEFA Champions League. In this way, Benfica can also reduce the dimensionality of the Europa League opponents as a Champions League team. But now, the three cups have no intersection anymore, and they can only work hard on a certain front to the end. There are still 40 years left, let’s see if Benfica can break the Gutman curse.