It has been twenty years since the Benfica player Miklós Fehér lost his life in the Dom Afonso Henriques Stadium in Guimaraes, and as we have already reported, the Portuguese press also commemorated the anniversary in a special place and in a special volume. Of course, the witnesses of the tragedy also spoke.
“No one was prepared, it was not possible to prepare for this tragedy. We lost our teammate and our friend that day, a person whom everyone loved,” he said Nuno Gomes the captain of the Lisbon team at the time, former 79-time Portuguese national team striker for Record.
The Brazilian also told the Lisbon sports newspaper Luisao, who is currently Benfica’s technical director: “I didn’t even go to Guimaraes that day because I was injured and I watched the game on TV. I was living alone at the time, and I was in a state of near-panic anxiety because I didn’t know what was going on. Miki’s dressing room was next to mine… The next day it was terrible to walk into the stadium, where everything was covered with flowers, wreaths and jerseys.”
Olegário Benquerenca (Photo: AFP)
The other big sports newspaper in the capital, A Bola Olegário Benquerencával, conducted a major interview with the referee of the match in Guimaraes.
“Around the 90th minute, we were in a normal match situation, Fehér tried to prevent a throw-in, so I had to show him the yellow card, which he accepted with his characteristic gentleness and, as always, smiled, as if he was just apologizing for the obvious foul. Then it was obvious that something was wrong, he collapsed, and unfortunately we all know what happened,” recalled Benquerenca of the last moments of the match, who was of course also asked about how he and his staff reacted to what happened.
