S.L. Benfica (basketball) close to reach the Top 8, and for a third season in a row Benfica managed to reach the Top 16 again in the European Champions' Cup, in 1995–96, grabbing a win against Panathinaikos, the eventual champions. This period was followed by a dark era in which Benfica was internally overshadowed by Ovarense, Portugal Telecom and FC Porto. Even though this period is considered to be a dark one, Benfica did manage to reach the LPB final once as well as winning Super Cups and finishing runners-up in the national cup and in the league cup. Also noteworthy is an
2003–04 S.L. Benfica season Camacho took responsibility for the goals in extra-time, admitting the team needed to be smarter and waste time. The next match was the Clássico away on the 21st; Porto had a five-point lead in the league table, although Benfica had played one less game. Porto won 2–0. Camacho complained of bad luck: "What happened was that one team entered the game to dominate, achieved some control, but it was the other team who scored. What matters in football is goals, and Porto scored, while we did not." Three days later, Benfica started their UEFA Cup campaign against La Louvière, a