Gonçalo Guedes: how Benfica beat Barcelona
Gonçalo Guedes left Wolverhampton a few days ago to return to Benficathe club of his heart. The winger arrived last summer at Wolves from Valenciabut his lack of adaptation to the Premier League and to life in England caused him to ask the leaders of the English club to facilitate his departure. Lopetegui wanted Guedes to continue under his orders and was confident that he could help him acclimatize to get his best level. However, the man born in Benavente, a Portuguese town integrated into the Alentejo region, was clear that he did not want to continue in England, so he Wolves agreed to his request and opened the doors for him. Barcelona, Atlético, Valencia and Sevilla were some of the suitors who took an interest in him. The option of returning to Spain excited Guedes. And more, when the option of going to Barcelona to replace Pay’s departure to Atlético. At that time, the Barcelona club had not yet received the ban to sign and had advantages to specify all the terms of Operation Guedes. The striker, for his part, was excited about the possibility of joining the Barça ranks. It was January 15. Guedes’ arrival at the Camp Nou was practically a fact. However, a script twist was missing. Benfica found out that Guedes wanted to leave England and went after him.
The president of the Lisbon club, Rui Costa, contacted the winger to try to convince him to return ‘home’. Scam the case of lucas perez and sports On the lips of half the world, the Benfiquista chief executive appealed to feelings as a weapon to prevail over Barça in the bid. Benfica leads the Portuguese league and the manager made him see the importance, both in sporting and emotional terms, of his return to Da Luz to achieve the goal of becoming champions again. Rui Costa also had the alliance of the Guedes family, who wanted to see him again at Benfica. The ex-Valencianista was already practically convinced, but the Eagles still had a bullet left in the chamber. Benfica plays in the Champions League, a privilege that their other opponents in the battle for the signing of Guedes do not have. This detail was an extra and definitive attraction. Four days had passed since Rui Costa had started his offensive. The return of the prodigal son to Lisbon was a fact. On January 19, a few minutes before 11:00 p.m. in Spain, Guedes landed in Lisbon and uttered his first words as a new Benfica player: “I’m happy.” Just 48 hours later, the winger made his debut and scored the first goal of his return to his beloved team against Santa Clara. All that is missing is the icing on the cake, which will be the debut of Guedes before his fans, who could appear on February 4 against Casa Pia.