Paulo Bento: life and career of footballer and coach

Paulo Jorge Bento is a well-known Portuguese footballer in the past, and at present he is the head coach of the Greek club Olympiakos. The player spent most of his career in his native Portugal, but spent four years abroad - in neighboring Spain.

Carier start

Paulo Bento started playing in the youth team of one of the three "whales" of Portuguese football - the Lisbon "Benfica". At the age of 19, his level increased for transferring to the main squad, but not a single match for a young midfielder for the "eagles" and did not.

In order to receive regular gaming practice, the football player moved to "Estrela da Amadora". In his first season, Paulo Bento did not always go on the field in the first team, but made his significant contribution to the first in the history of the club trophy - in 1990, "tricolor" won the Cup of Portugal. In the next championship, the midfielder has proven himself already as a player of the main structure and leader of the center of the field, and at the end of the season he was sold to Vitoria.

Return to Benfica

As part of the "conquistadors" football player spent three successful seasons and began to regularly call in the Portuguese national team. Note that it is very difficult to do this for a player who does not play for Porto, Sporting, Benfica or not playing in European top clubs, and there were only a few in the history of the national team. Nevertheless, one of them was just Paulo Bento. The Portuguese footballer made his debut in the national team in 1992 and defended the colors of the team until the end of the 2002 World Cup.

Football of high quality, which demonstrated midfielder in the early nineties of the last century, made again draw the attention of the capital's "Benfica". This time the player no longer began to keep on the bench spare and for two seasons he spent for "eagles" fifty fights and won the team with the Portuguese Cup.

Foreign stage and completion of a career

At the age of 27, Paulo Bento was in great shape and was in the presence of several European football leaders, but the football player, surprisingly, chose to continue his career in the modest Spanish "Oviedo". In the "blue" Bento was elected captain and for four seasons played for the club 136 matches. Bento did not manage to win any trophy with the outsider of Spanish football, and in 2000 the midfielder decided to return to finish the game at home.

Lisbon "Sporting" became the fifth and last club in the career of Paulo Bento. Nevertheless, it is in the "lions" that the middle-aged midfielder has already managed to win most of his trophies. With "Sporting" Bentu, at last, won gold medals of the championship and wrote down on his account the next Cup of Portugal. In 2004, the midfielder completed his playing career.

Coaching

Since 2005, the Portuguese specialist has switched to coaching. He decided to stay in the structure of Sporting, in which he led the youth team first, and then the main team. Bentu built almost a new team, and under his leadership, such future top players as Luis Nani, Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho and others opened up. With "Sporting" coach twice won the country's cup, and then in 2010 led the national team of Portugal.

Another period of his coaching career Bento, for sure, would prefer not to remember. After working for two months in Cruzeiro, the Portuguese was dismissed from his post due to unsatisfactory results. The Brazilian grandee at that time occupied the penultimate place in the standings.

In the summer of 2016, the Greek press started talking seriously about the candidacy of Paulo Bento. "Olympiakos" (Piraeus), formalized the day before the next championship in Greece, offered the Portuguese a two-year contract. In 2017, he was dismissed from his post as coach after a series of defeats in the championship.