Forward with 37 Benfica goals explains exit: no longer happy at the club | OneFootball

Jéssica Silva left Benfica in 2024, after no longer being the first choice in coach Filipa Patão’s selections. The forward, who now plays for Al Hilal, revealed that she no longer felt right continuing at the Eagles’ club and that she needed to leave.

“There was no divorce. I still had one year left on my contract, but I felt I was no longer happy at Benfica. And I was very happy. There was a lot of noise and a toxic side that I had never experienced before, I was questioned in a way I never had been, and that hurt a little,” she said in an interview with the newspaper ‘Record’.

The 31-year-old athlete reinforced her opinion: “I only left Benfica because I felt that I wanted to play more than I was playing. Whether they were decisions or not, I had to accept them. I’m a player and, naturally, a player wants what is best for herself and wants to play. And especially at that stage of my career, all I wanted was to play and be happy. They can’t point a gun at me for that. But I didn’t leave on bad terms. I had many more joys than sorrows”, she said.

Despite the disputes with her former coach, Jéssica Silva has no problem with Benfica, and she highlighted her time at the club: “I was very happy. I was part of a working group that had an incredible run in the Champions League. Nothing erases that. My career at Benfica was incredible, and that’s what remains”, she said.

It is worth remembering that Jéssica Silva, in June 2025, had stated that Filipa Patão was a problem in her career. “I don’t know if she was the worst (professional), we are not discussing qualities, but without a doubt she was a problem in my life”, she commented at the time.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.