On May 15, when Sporting went to Estádio da Luz to, already national champion, face Benfica in the 33rd round, the number 17 of the lions was João Mário. Now, almost seven months later, the number 17 of the greens and whites is Sarabia and João Mário is the 20 of the reds. And it is the 2016 European champions that will be the focus of a lot of attention from supporters. Less smiling, probably, the Sporting people; happier, possibly, the Benfica fans. One thing is indisputable: the class of João Mário Naval da Costa Eduardo. Also for that and, above all, for having been national champion by Sporting, JM will be greeted by at least nine lions. The presumed holders: Adán, Neto, Gonçalo Inácio, Feddal, Porro, Matheus Nunes, Matheus Reis, Pedro Gonçalves and Paulinho. Ugarte and Sarabia can also do it, albeit with less intimacy than the 2020/2021 national champions.
João Mário today joins another 55 footballers who played for Benfica and Sporting and who faced both teams for the two old rivals. The last to do so, albeit indirectly, as he had passed, however, through V. Setúbal and Rio Ave, was Nuno Santos, national champion for the eagles in 2015/2016 and for the lions in 2020/2021. Four years earlier, at the start of 2016/2017, the Peruvian André Carrillo had taken the opposite route. And with success, as he became champion in the first year.
Eleven players have worn both jerseys in the last 20 years: Derlei, João Pereira, Maniche, Bruno César, Markovic, Fábio Coentrão and Nuno Santos did it first in red and then in green, Carrillo, Yannick Djaló, Carlos Martins and Luís Filipe for reverse order. Less than half were champions at the second club: João Pereira and Nuno Santos at Sporting, Carrillo, Carlos Martins and Luís Filipe at Benfica. Dimas, Paulo Bento, Rui Bento and João Pinto had played in the reds at the end of the last century and were champions for the greens and whites in the beginning of the current one.
Read more at digital edition or in the print edition of A BOLA.
– .
