1992–93 S.L. Benfica season Eriksson left the club after three seasons, following a trophyless 1991–92 season. As his successor, Benfica brought in Croatian manager Tomislav Ivić, who had arrived in Portugal in 1987 to represent Porto and guided them to four trophies in one season. Ivić chose Shéu to be his assistant, instead of Toni, who had been Eriksson's assistant as well as Benfica's manager during Ivić's previous tenure at Porto. One of Ivić's first demands was to reduce the width of the Estádio da Luz pitch to simulate the smaller fields that the team would encounter in away games. Benfica started the season
2005–06 S.L. Benfica season losing the game. Benfica ended the season in third place, missing out on the title and an automatic place in the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League. Despite winning both games against Porto, the closest Benfica had come from them was on the 18 and 19 match-days, with only three points. Benfica closed the season 12 points behind the leader and five from Sporting. Of the Big Three, Benfica conceded the most goals (29) and scored the second-highest number of goals (51), with the worst goal-average (+22). Koeman wanted to fulfil his contract with Benfica, but after negotiations with the management and