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
1983–84 S.L. Benfica season Alvalade being eliminated by Sporting. In February, Benfica lost points again in the league after twelve consecutive wins. March was even more troublesome because the team was knocked-out of the European Cup by Liverpool, while in the league, Porto gave them their first league loss all season. Still, in the following month, Benfica won five games and draw one, allowing them to keep the three point lead over Porto. On 29 April, Benfica unexpectedly lost 4–1 with Vitória de Guimarães. The loss did not cause major damage because Porto had also lost points, so the distance was only cut to