Jonas recalls Jorge Jesus’s Benfica exit and says they wanted to prove club would still win

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·9 July 2026

Jonas recalls Jorge Jesus’s Benfica exit and says they wanted to prove club would still win

Jonas has reflected on Jorge Jesus leaving Benfica for Sporting, saying the move intensified the rivalry and the squad wanted to show they could keep winning without him.

"With Jorge Jesus we had a wonderful year, but then he goes to the big rival and that is when the war starts. At Benfica we all wanted to prove the club would keep winning even without Jorge Jesus, and we managed it." He was speaking to Sábado.

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Known as Pistolas, he scored 137 goals in 183 games for Benfica across five seasons.

He won nine trophies, including four league titles.

Now 42 and seven years into retirement, he lives in Ribeirão Preto in Brazil and invests in sugarcane and peanut production. The switch came in summer 2015.

Source: Glorioso 1904