Sousa had been a frequent starter for Benfica, playing 35 games in the previous season and having joined the club as a 16-year-old. Pacheco was utilized more as a substitute, but had still amassed over 160 league games for Benfica. The players' "betrayal" and the increase in tension between the old rivals was labelled "Hot Summer of 1993", a clever throwback to the troubled times of the PREC, the post revolution in 1975.