Revived Benfica pose real threat

‘JESUS seeks fourth victory over dragon’ is one of those headlines which most journalists can only dream of — except in Portugal, where the dragon is the symbol of Porto and Jorge Jesus is manager of Benfica.

On Saturday night the heavyweights warmed up for Champions League match day two with the Portuguese version of El Clasico.

In the event, Jesus had to be content with a draw. But 2-2 is rather better than 0-5, which was the scoreline last season, and their performances so far suggest Benfica could turn out to be one of several dark horses in Europe, as well as genuine title contenders at home.