The struggling Young Boys will play their second Champions League game on Tuesday. Benito admits that the mentality in the team has changed.
YB captain Loris Benito has just recovered – and is now injured again.
Manuel Geisser / Imago
On Friday afternoon, Loris Benito sits in the catacombs of the Wankdorf Stadium and says: “It was very hard in the first few games just to watch. I’m happy to finally be able to work under pressure again and help the team.” A few days earlier, his comeback in the Super League after the cruciate ligament tear suffered in February resulted in the Young Boys’ first win of the season with a 4-1 win in Winterthur – it was the supposed liberating blow. Benito seems motivated and prepared in the conversation, and he leaves no doubt that YB arrived this season considerably late.
On Saturday evening, Loris Benito stood in the catacombs of the Wankdorf Stadium after the 0-1 loss against GC and said: “This is another big disillusionment for us.” The Young Boys captain is almost in the same place as the day before, but his language and body language are completely different. And again it’s about Benito’s health. The defender had to be substituted midway through the second half against the Grasshoppers. “It suddenly pinched my thigh,” he says.
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Benito will be out for at least the second Champions League encounter this season – after the 0-3 defeat against Aston Villa – on Tuesday evening at FC Barcelona. The 32-year-old’s injury is a hard setback for YB. And Benito’s story of suffering is emblematic of the club’s spectacular and unexpectedly delicate situation: 11th place in the league, eight games, six points. In four home games without a win, YB has only gained two points; After the unsatisfactory performance against the Grasshoppers, the team received loud whistles for not the first time.
Benito experienced completely different times in Bern
Football is always about momentum. Benito knows this; he has lived through completely different times in Bern. Ones in which an entire city was desperately waiting for its first championship title after decades of many disappointments. “I experienced home games in front of 13,000 spectators and in a dreary atmosphere,” he says. In 2015, Benito from Benfica Lisbon joined YB for the first time as part of a renewed transfer offensive. The defensive player became champion in 2018 and 2019, then he moved to Girondins Bordeaux.
When he returned to Bern in 2022, he found a greatly changed club. “In my first time here, the longing to win titles was very noticeable. For many people in Bern today, anything other than the championship would be a disappointment.” The huge successes have raised demands and ambitions enormously. “We feel this expectation when things don’t go well.”
Strictly speaking, YB is in a deep earnings crisis that no one would have predicted. Especially not in this league, where no team appears irresistible. After six championship titles in seven seasons, however, it looks as if YB is about to take itself out of the title fight.
There are reasons for the disastrous results: weak transfers for two or three years, a lack of leaders, unrest in the company and in the environment, a lack of sensitivity on the part of those responsible for the situation, wrong decisions. Benito says he doesn’t see it all as negative. “Sometimes everything comes together, but we have proven that we have high quality.” The man from Aargau is a clever communicator and has also become YB’s most important footballer off the pitch. He is one of the few leaders.
He worked hard to get back
When Benito tore the cruciate ligament in his right knee in Lausanne at the beginning of February, the Young Boys and their coach Raphael Wicky were first in the league – and still there in the Cup and the European Cup. Wicky was released a little later, YB was still the leader at the time, but was eliminated from the other two competitions. The expectations are merciless; at YB, in addition to the almost obligatory trophies, there has to be attractive football for a long time.
Benito worked hard for his return in 2024. And because he had already suffered a torn cruciate ligament eight years previously, he knew exactly what to expect. “It’s brutal when you know that you won’t be allowed to play football for six or seven months,” he says. The long-time national player also missed the European Championships, during which time he was in the leading rehabilitation center in the USA to spend a month in Arizona working himself up perfectly alongside greats from the NBA and NFL.
And of course, after 13 international matches and as a participant in the 2021 European Championship, Benito would like to become part of the national team again as quickly as possible. Strong left-footed defenders are rare in Switzerland. But his focus is on YB. He says: “I am sure that we have a very good squad with players who will perhaps soon prove to be top transfers.”
But Benito also admits that something is different in the team because footballers like Cédric Zesiger, Fabian Rieder and Christian Fassnacht are no longer there. “They have shaped the team and are not that easy to replace,” he says. «The mentality has changed, we have more French-speaking players in the team. It sometimes takes a little time for everyone to adjust to the new circumstances.”
During his childhood there was a new Barça jersey every year
The new coach Patrick Frame also demands patience. His position is already shaky after just a few weeks, the personnel and tactical measures are not working, the pressure is increasing – as always in such situations. The YB game plan in the next few weeks is difficult, the team seems very unsettled. And now the boss is missing from the big performance in Barcelona due to the recently very flawed defense.
Of all things: Loris Benito was a passionate FC Barcelona fan as a boy, his favorite player was Rivaldo, left-footed like him. Every summer when he was on vacation with his family in Galicia, the new Barça jersey was on sale and he often visited the Camp Nou stadium. His visits were always linked to the dream of being able to play here one day. Benito lists the idols of his childhood with shining eyes: Rivaldo, Ronaldo, Guardiola, Cocu and many more. Until he was 15 or 16, he was a fanatical supporter who once cried when FC Barcelona lost a Champions League match on Tuesday evening.
And now Loris Benito has to take on the role of spectator again on Tuesday evening. He has organized 15 tickets for family and friends; he will not be in Barcelona at all, but will stay in Bern for care. It is no consolation for him that due to renovation work, the encounter will not take place in the Camp Nou, but in the smaller Olympic Stadium.
