Rui Vitória slams Benfica’s ingratitude, reveals: I think... | OneFootball

Rui Vitória believes he has not been given enough credit for the work he did at Benfica. Currently without a club after being dismissed by Panathinaikos, the former Eagles coach recalled some of the talents he promoted to the first team and how, at the time, the Reds led the way in youth development.

"I’m not too obsessed with that. After these years, I don’t think so (that I received the recognition I deserved at Benfica). That’s football; I’m more than used to it. What we did in three and a half years, not just the titles, but the emphasis we placed on the academy…" he said on the Fora de Jogo podcast.

Rui Vitória looked back on his time at Luz and how Seixal took off with several youngsters: "Today it’s very nice to look and see that Porto, Sporting, and Braga invested later, but it was Benfica at that time that clearly opened up this youth development paradigm. We achieved both sporting and financial returns."

"I understood it and I was also very eager because it was what I believed in. And from the conversations I had right away with the president, I realized we were both aligned in that same direction. I said I wanted four or five academy players here," stated Rui Vitória.

"Today it’s very easy to talk about Nélson Semedo, Victor Lindelöf, Ederson... It’s very easy to talk because today they are established players. Back then, none of them was a star. They were players with potential to be developed," he said, about the footballers he brought into Benfica’s first team in 2015/16.

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