Paulo Jorge Gomes Bento (born June 20, 1969 in Lisbon), (pron. IPA: ['paulu 'bẽtu]), is currently the manager of Sporting Clube de Portugal. Bento is also a former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder.
Playing career
Bento played for C.F. Estrela da Amadora, Vitória de Guimarães, Sport Lisboa e Benfica and Real Oviedo, before moving to Sporting Clube de Portugal, where he finished his career as a player. With Sporting, he was part of the star-studded team that achieved the double in 2002, under the direction of Laszlo Bölöni, playing alongside João Vieira Pinto and Mário Jardel, among others.
He had 35 caps for the Portugal's team, since his first game, on January 15, 1992, in a 0-0 draw with Spain, to his last one, the 0-1 loss to South Korea, on June 14, 2002, in the 2002 Football World Cup finals. He also played at Euro 2000 where, along with teammates Abel Xavier and Nuno Gomes, he was suspended (in Bento's case for 5 months) due to bad behaviour, during the semi-final loss with France.
Managing career
First steps
Bento finished his career aged 35, in 2004. After an emotional retirement, he got the job of Sporting's youth team coach. He won the junior championship in 2005, and developed a base to the future. After the sacking of José Peseiro, midway through 2005-06, he was promoted to first-team duties, a somewhat surprising decision given his relatively little experience in management. To most observers, he was seen as an interim at the post, handling the team until a more prestigious manager was found.
2005-2007
Despite a slow start, Bento managed an impressive turnaround of Sporting's fortunes in the second half of the season, as a series of 10 consecutive wins placed Sporting within touching distance of then-leaders and eventual league champions FC Porto, as Sporting came second in that and the following season, achieving direct UEFA Champions League qualification. He was now firmly established as a top flight manager.
In 2007, Bento signed a two-year contract-extension. Using the former experience in the youth team, he began building a strong squad using players from Sporting's famed youth academy. Under his supervision, highly rated young players such as Nani, João Moutinho and Miguel Veloso, all of them raised in Sporting's youth roster, bursted into the spotlight. During the 2006-07 campaign, Bento's team challenged for the Portuguese League title until the final day of the season, finishing runners-up to Porto, by a single point. He would lead Sporting on a successful Portuguese Cup campaign, culminating in a 1-0 victory in the final against CF Belenenses. Bento would later on lead Sporting to capture the Portuguese SuperCup in 2007, beating champions Porto in the final (1-0).
2007-2008
Sporting had a turbulent pre-season in preparation for the 2007-08 campaign. Defense mainstays Rodrigo Tello and Marco Caneira left the club, while Portuguese international keeper Ricardo was sold to Real Betis. With little resources to invest, Sporting brought Eastern promises: Simon Vukcevic, Marat Izmailov and Serbian goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic aboard.
After a very irregular season, Bento managed to lead Sporting to an unprecedented third consecutive qualification for the Champions League, with another second-place finish. Despite spending most of the season below 3rd place, Sporting managed to pip rivals Vitoria SC and Benfica in the final matchday of the league season to secure Champions League football once again. In the same season, Bento also retained the domestic cup, beating Porto in the final (2-0 after extra time), after knocking-out eternal rivals Benfica in the last four, with a 5-3 triumph.
Bento's team broke a number of long-standing club records, including the first season without home defeats since 1987, the first capture of back-to-back Portuguese cups since 1974 and the first time since 1962 that Sporting finished three consecutive seasons in the top two league positions. At the age of 38, Bento also became only the fifth manager in the history of Portuguese football to win back-to-back Portuguese cups (alongside the likes of Janos Biri, John Mortimore or José Maria Pedroto).
On July 15, 2008, The Sun newspaper and the Daily Telegraph reported that Manchester United were planning to hire Bento (reportedly Cristiano Ronaldo's friend and former team-mate) as manager Alex Ferguson's new assistant after the departure of previous number two Carlos Queiroz to manage the Portuguese national team.[1]Bento quickly denied any speculation and reaffirmed his intention to stay at Sporting.[2]
2008-2009
In preparation for the new season, Bento was given leeway to add a number of experienced players to his squad. In this manner, Fábio Rochemback and Caneira completed their return to Sporting, while Helder Postiga swapped Porto for the Lisbon club. Furthermore, Sporting acquired the footballing rights for Izmailov and Leandro Grimi, while successfully fending off widespread interest in their high-rated youngsters Moutinho and Veloso.
On August 16, 2008, Paulo Bento managed Sporting to a clear 2-0 victory in the Supercup over champions Porto, at the opening of the 2008-09 season.[3] One of the players that Bento has kept in the team despite heavy criticism, Rui Patricio, was a key element and saved a crucial penalty from Lucho Gonzalez during the second half.[4] This win raised Bento's tally in cup finals against counterpart Jesualdo Ferreira to 3-0 (2007 and 2008 Supercups, and the 2008 Portuguese Cup).[5]Additionally, it marked the first ever capture of back-to-back Portuguese Supercups in Sporting's history, thus adding to the list of club records broken during Bento's tenure.
Already the second most successful manager in the history of the club in terms of trophies won (only surpassed by the legendary Josef Szabo), Bento gained the nickname "Papa-Taças" (roughly translated as "Cup-eater") as a consequence of the 4 pieces of silverware added to Sporting's cabinet under his command.[6]
Honours
Player
Manager
External links
References
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