If Benfica loses to Rangers in the Europa League Round of 16, manager Roger Schmidt may be fired.
José Manuel Antunes, the club’s former vice president, expressed this opinion after the Lisbon team was humiliated 5-0 by FC Porto, a rival team in Portugal, over the weekend.
This comes after Benfica’s earlier in the week 2-1 loss to archrival Sporting Lisbon in the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semifinal.
Antunes claims that if Roger Schmidt is unable to reverse that outcome and defeat Rangers while serving in the Europa League, the German manager’s career would probably come to an end.
Rangers match puts Benfica’s manager’s job on the line.
Roger Schmidt’s Benfica team is on the brink, José Manuel Antunes acknowledged in an interview with Portuguese radio station Rensacença.
In addition to calling the FC Porto loss “incomprehensible,” there is undoubtedly more pressure building before the Rangers vs. FC Porto Europa League match.
“The management will always have the final say, but in my capacity as a fan, I would view it [Schmidt’s stay] as difficult if we lost to the Rangers and failed to win the Cup and championship,” Antunes stated.
“It was expected that they would win every game they played against FC Porto because they had a roster far better to theirs.
“It seems unfathomable that such a catastrophe occurred.It’s a humiliating loss for the people of Benfica.It’s totally nonsensical; it didn’t resemble Benfica.
Roger Schmidt, who has managed teams like RB Salzburg, Bayer Leverkusen, and PSV Eindhoven, has been in charge of Benfica since May 2022.
Round of 16 for the Europa League is decided.
This week, Rangers will travel to the Estadio de Luz for the first leg of their Europa League Round of 16 matchup.
The Gers, who have a stellar Europa League record lately, will want to advance to the Quarterfinals by bringing something to a boisterous Ibrox next week.
Despite Benfica’s considerable investment in their team, which has led Philippe Clement to declare them the favourites in the match, things are not looking good in Lisbon.
When Alexander Bah, a right-back valued at £30 million, is hurt, Rangers supporters will start to lick their lips a little bit because Roger Schmidt will be under increasing pressure.
The Ibrox crowd will be hoping their team can deal a decisive blow over the two games since they are well aware that once things start going wrong under a manager, it’s hard to turn things around.
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