# 2021–22 S.L. Benfica season

The 2021–22 Sport Lisboa e Benfica season was the club's 118th season in existence and its 88th consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. Domestically, Benfica played in the Primeira Liga, were eliminated in the fifth round of Taça de Portugal, and reached the Taça da Liga final. In Europe, Benfica reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League. The season started on 4 August 2021, with the third qualifying round of the Champions League, and concluded on 13 May 2022 with a third-place finish in the league. This was Benfica's second consecutive season and third year without any trophy won.

## Players
### First-team squad

    As of 31 August 2021
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 1 | GK | SRB | Mile Svilar |
| 2 | DF | BRA | Gilberto |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Álex Grimaldo |
| 4 | DF | BRA | Lucas Veríssimo |
| 5 | DF | BEL | Jan Vertonghen |
| 7 | MF | BRA | Everton |
| 9 | FW | URU | Darwin Núñez |
| 11 | MF | FRA | Soualiho Meïté |
| 14 | FW | SUI | Haris Seferovic |
| 15 | FW | UKR | Roman Yaremchuk |
| 17 | DF | POR | Diogo Gonçalves |
| 18 | FW | BRA | Rodrigo Pinho |
| 20 | MF | POR | João Mário |
| 21 | MF | POR | Pizzi |
| 22 | DF | AUT | Valentino Lazaro (on loan from Inter Milan) |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| 23 | MF | SRB | Nemanja Radonjić (on loan from Marseille) |
| 27 | MF | POR | Rafa Silva |
| 28 | MF | GER | Julian Weigl |
| 30 | DF | ARG | Nicolás Otamendi (captain) |
| 31 | DF | POR | Gil Dias |
| 34 | DF | POR | André Almeida |
| 49 | MF | MAR | Adel Taarabt |
| 55 | MF | POR | Paulo Bernardo |
| 77 | GK | BRA | Helton Leite |
| 83 | MF | POR | Gedson Fernandes |
| 88 | FW | POR | Gonçalo Ramos |
| 91 | DF | BRA | Morato |
| 97 | DF | POR | Ferro |
| 99 | GK | GRE | Odysseas Vlachodimos |

## Transfers
### In

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred from | Fee | Date |
| 18 | FW | Rodrigo Pinho | Marítimo | Free | 1 July 2021 |
| 31 | DF | Gil Dias | Monaco | €1,500,000 | 1 July 2021 |
| 20 | MF | João Mário | Inter Milan | Free | 13 July 2021 |
| 11 | MF | Soualiho Meïté | Torino | €7,000,000 | 23 July 2021 |
| 15 | FW | Roman Yaremchuk | Gent | €17,000,000 | 31 July 2021 |
| 23 | MF | Nemanja Radonjić | Marseille | Loan | 22 August 2021 |
| 22 | DF | Valentino Lazaro | Inter Milan | Loan | 31 August 2021 |
| Disclosed total |||||||
| €25,500,000 |||||||

### Out

| No. | Pos | Player | Transferred to | Fee | Date |
| 33 | DF | Jardel | | Released | 1 July 2021 |
| 38 | MF | Pedrinho | Shakhtar Donetsk | €18,000,000 | 1 July 2021 |
| 11 | MF | Franco Cervi | Celta Vigo | €4,000,000 | 5 July 2021 |
| | MF | Caio Lucas | Sharjah FC | €2,000,000 | 6 July 2021 |
| | MF | Tiago Dantas | Tondela | Loan | 7 July 2021 |
| 71 | DF | Nuno Tavares | Arsenal | €8,000,000 | 10 July 2021 |
| | MF | Nuno Santos | Paços de Ferreira | Loan | 11 July 2021 |
| | MF | Filip Krovinović | Hajduk Split | €1,500,000 | 19 July 2021 |
| | MF | Alfa Semedo | Vitória de Guimarães | €1,500,000 | 29 July 2021 |
| 10 | FW | Luca Waldschmidt | Wolfsburg | €12,000,000 | 22 August 2021 |
| 61 | MF | Florentino Luís | Getafe | Loan | 31 August 2021 |
| 13 | MF | Jota | Celtic | Loan | 31 August 2021 |
| 95 | FW | Carlos Vinícius | PSV Eindhoven | Loan | 31 August 2021 |
| 22 | MF | Andreas Samaris | | Released | 31 August 2021 |
| 19 | MF | Chiquinho | Braga | Loan | 31 August 2021 |
| 8 | MF | Gabriel | Al-Gharafa | Loan | 28 September 2021 |
| Disclosed total |||||||
| €47,000,000 |||||||

## Pre-season friendlies

Win  Draw  Loss  Fixtures  Cancelled
Non-televised friendlies, played at Benfica Campus:
* Benfica 0–1 Benfica B (3 July)
* Benfica 2–0 Sporting da Covilhã (7 July)
* Benfica 3–2 Farense (10 July)
* Benfica 0–0 Belenenses SAD (13 July)

## Competitions
### Overall record

| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record | Record |
| Competition | First match | Last match | Starting round | Final position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
| Primeira Liga | 7 August 2021 | 13 May 2022 | Matchday 1 | 3rd | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 78 | 30 | +48 | 067.65 |
| Taça de Portugal | 16 October 2021 | 23 December 2021 | Third round | Fifth round | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 5 | +1 | 066.67 |
| Taça da Liga | 27 October 2021 | 29 January 2022 | Third round | Runners-up | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 6 | +2 | 025.00 |
| UEFA Champions League | 4 August 2021 | 13 April 2022 | Third qualifying round | Quarter-finals | 14 | 6 | 5 | 3 | 20 | 18 | +2 | 042.86 |
| Total | Total | Total | Total | Total | 55 | 32 | 12 | 11 | 112 | 59 | +53 | 058.18 |
Last updated: 13 May 2022 Source: Soccerway

### Primeira Liga
#### League table

| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| 1 | Porto (C) | 34 | 29 | 4 | 1 | 86 | 22 | +64 | 91 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Sporting CP | 34 | 27 | 4 | 3 | 73 | 23 | +50 | 85 | Qualification for the Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Benfica | 34 | 23 | 5 | 6 | 78 | 30 | +48 | 74 | Qualification for the Champions League third qualifying round |
| 4 | Braga | 34 | 19 | 8 | 7 | 52 | 31 | +21 | 65 | Qualification for the Europa League group stage |
| 5 | Gil Vicente | 34 | 13 | 12 | 9 | 47 | 42 | +5 | 51 | Qualification for the Europa Conference League third qualifying round |
* 1 2 Since the winners of the 2021–22 Taça de Portugal, Porto, qualified for the Champions League based on league position, the spot awarded to the fourth-placed team (Europa Conference League third qualifying round) was passed to the fifth-placed team, and the spot awarded to the fifth-placed team (Europa Conference League second qualifying round) was passed to the sixth-placed team.

#### Results summary

| Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Overall | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Home | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away | Away |
Last updated: 13 May 2022. Source:

#### Results by round

| Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 |
| Ground | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | H | A | H | A | H | A | H | A |
| Result | W | W | W | W | W | W | W | L | W | D | W | W | L | W | W | L | W | D | W | L | W | W | D | W | W | D | W | L | W | W | D | W | L | W |
| Position | 8 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |

#### Matches
### Taça da Liga
#### Third round

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BEN | GUI | SCC |
| 1 | Benfica | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | +3 | 4 | Advance to knockout phase | — | — | 3–0 |
| 2 | Vitória de Guimarães | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5 | 3 | +2 | 4 | | 3–3 | — | — |
| 3 | Sporting da Covilhã | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 5 | −5 | 0 | | — | 0–2 | — |

#### Final
### UEFA Champions League
#### Third qualifying round

The draw for the third qualifying round was held on 19 July 2021.

#### Play-off round

The draw for the play-off round was held on 2 August 2021.

#### Group stage

The draw for the group stage was held on 26 August 2021.
| Pos | Teamvte | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification | BAY | BEN | BAR | DKV |
| 1 | Bayern Munich | 6 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 3 | +19 | 18 | Advance to knockout phase | — | 5–2 | 3–0 | 5–0 |
| 2 | Benfica | 6 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 9 | −2 | 8 | Advance to knockout phase | 0–4 | — | 3–0 | 2–0 |
| 3 | Barcelona | 6 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 9 | −7 | 7 | Transfer to Europa League | 0–3 | 0–0 | — | 1–0 |
| 4 | Dynamo Kyiv | 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 1 | 11 | −10 | 1 | | 1–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | — |

#### Knockout phase
##### Round of 16

The draw for the round of 16 was held on 13 December 2021.

##### Quarter-finals

The draw for the quarter-finals was held on 18 March 2022.

## Statistics
### Appearances and goals

    As of 13 May 2022
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Total | Total | Primeira Liga | Primeira Liga | Taça de Portugal | Taça de Portugal | Taça da Liga | Taça da Liga | Champions League | Champions League |
| No. | Pos | Nat | Player | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| Goalkeepers ||||||||||||||
| 1 | GK | SRB | Mile Svilar | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 | GK | BRA | Helton Leite | 7 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 99 | GK | GRE | Odysseas Vlachodimos | 48 | 0 | 32 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| Defenders ||||||||||||||
| 2 | DF | BRA | Gilberto | 35 | 4 | 16+5 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 9+3 | 2 |
| 3 | DF | ESP | Álex Grimaldo | 48 | 6 | 27+2 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 14 | 0 |
| 4 | DF | BRA | Lucas Veríssimo | 18 | 3 | 10 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7 | 0 |
| 5 | DF | BEL | Jan Vertonghen | 46 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 12+1 | 0 |
| 17 | DF | POR | Diogo Gonçalves | 34 | 0 | 10+13 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 4+4 | 0 |
| 22 | DF | AUT | Valentino Lazaro | 29 | 0 | 10+8 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 1+5 | 0 |
| 30 | DF | ARG | Nicolás Otamendi | 43 | 0 | 28 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 13 | 0 |
| 31 | DF | POR | Gil Dias | 17 | 1 | 7+5 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 | 0+2 | 0 |
| 34 | DF | POR | André Almeida | 25 | 1 | 9+6 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3+4 | 0 |
| 53 | DF | POR | Sandro Cruz | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 72 | DF | POR | Tomás Araújo | 3 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 91 | DF | BRA | Morato | 24 | 1 | 10+4 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 4+1 | 1 |
| Midfielders ||||||||||||||
| 7 | MF | BRA | Everton | 46 | 7 | 20+7 | 3 | 2+1 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7+6 | 0 |
| 11 | MF | FRA | Soualiho Meïté | 26 | 0 | 10+7 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+4 | 0 |
| 20 | MF | POR | João Mário | 45 | 4 | 20+8 | 3 | 1+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 10+2 | 1 |
| 23 | MF | SRB | Nemanja Radonjić | 11 | 1 | 1+5 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 |
| 27 | MF | POR | Rafa Silva | 44 | 19 | 22+6 | 15 | 2 | 1 | 0+1 | 0 | 12+1 | 3 |
| 28 | MF | GER | Julian Weigl | 48 | 3 | 27+2 | 2 | 2+1 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 13 | 1 |
| 49 | MF | MAR | Adel Taarabt | 41 | 1 | 9+14 | 1 | 2+1 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 5+8 | 0 |
| 55 | MF | POR | Paulo Bernardo | 23 | 0 | 8+9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+5 | 0 |
| 76 | MF | POR | Martim Neto | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 96 | MF | POR | Diego Moreira | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Forwards ||||||||||||||
| 9 | FW | URU | Darwin Núñez | 40 | 34 | 24+4 | 26 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 6+4 | 6 |
| 14 | FW | SUI | Haris Seferovic | 14 | 4 | 4+6 | 3 | 0+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 |
| 15 | FW | UKR | Roman Yaremchuk | 41 | 9 | 13+10 | 6 | 0+2 | 0 | 2+1 | 0 | 8+5 | 3 |
| 18 | FW | BRA | Rodrigo Pinho | 3 | 1 | 1+2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 39 | FW | POR | Henrique Araújo | 6 | 3 | 1+4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 | FW | POR | Tiago Gouveia | 2 | 0 | 1+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 88 | FW | POR | Gonçalo Ramos | 45 | 8 | 17+12 | 7 | 1+1 | 0 | 1+2 | 0 | 5+6 | 1 |
| Players who made an appearance and/or had a squad number but left the team. ||||||||||||||
| 10 | FW | GER | Luca Waldschmidt | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 | MF | POR | Pizzi | 30 | 2 | 3+12 | 1 | 1+2 | 0 | 1+2 | 1 | 5+4 | 0 |
| 83 | MF | POR | Gedson Fernandes | 4 | 0 | 0+3 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 95 | FW | BRA | Carlos Vinícius | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 | DF | POR | Ferro | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0+1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |