Bento suffered a severe injury in the 1986 summer on international duty, from which he never recovered fully. He spent the next six years mainly as third-string, behind Silvino and Neno, being on the bench at both the 1988 and 1990 European Cup finals, lost to PSV Eindhoven and A.C. Milan respectively; the last game of his career came at the end of the 1989–90 campaign against C.F. Os Belenenses, in which he was chosen "Man of the match". In the summer of 1989 he played in the National Soccer League with Toronto First Portuguese.