By Melody Gross 
BOLA launched a question and offered three response options for 13 well-known Benfica fans.
the question
What is the best option for the Benfica coach next season?
The three suggested answers
– Stay with Nelson Verissimo?
– Hire another Portuguese coach?
– Hiring a foreign coach?
what they answered
Alvaro Magalhães
Former Benfica coach and player
“The results that are still missing until the end of the season will determine the best option for the coach, but in my opinion, with all the respect I have for the Portuguese coaches, who are very good, I think it is because of the greatness. Benfica, the next coach must be a coach with a strong personality and extensive experience. So, it is probably best to hire a coach outside the country, even to change some of the existing mindsets and discipline. Lately as did Real Madrid.”
Jose Capristano
Former Benfica manager
“At this moment, after the wonderful qualification that the team achieved in Amsterdam by entering the Champions League quarter-finals, and if you ask me the question in this direct way and with these three possibilities of answering only, I say that Nelson should stay Verissimo. Also because he knows Seixal, our training plant, like no other. The solution may be through continuity. Now, I also understand that the decision must be made as determined by the results until the end of the season.”
Vitor Banera
Former Benfica coach and player
“I think Benfica has to make a quick decision about the coach. Whether he’s Portuguese or a foreigner, Rui Costa has to think quickly about it, or stick with Frissimo. But you have to quickly start planning for the next season with a coach, that’s the decision. There are many suitable coaches, Leonardo Jardim or Abel Ferreira, but it depends on Benfica’s strategic line for next season, what they want to do in the future, whether or not there is a bet on Seksal. But the decision must be made quickly.”
Jorge Castillo
Fitness Trainer
“At this point it is still difficult for me to answer objectively, but the best thing is to always be Portuguese and the best option now is Nelson Verissimo. He knows the structure, has put his head into the block and can take advantage. Benfica will probably be third in the championship, they will start the season early and the Portuguese coach does not need to adapt, he can decide faster. A foreigner can delay the preparation of the team. But nothing against foreign coaches, it would be good to have more in the league.”
Joao Manuel Pinto
Former Benfica coach and player
“Very right, why not? He is a young coach with talent and experience in coaching and in the B team, he can follow exactly the path of Bruno Lage at Benfica. It is necessary to realize that he took a very difficult situation and maybe after a few months of preparatory work, as happened with Ruben Amorim At Sporting, a great season can come. I am against appointing a foreign coach, but Nelson Verissimo is against that; another Portuguese coach, yes. We have some of the best coaches in the world.”
Jaspar Ramos
Former Benfica manager
“It is not to despise the possibility of Nelson Verissimo continuing. However, I think Benfica needs a coach with character and experience, even if he is in small teams. I can answer that I admit that Veríssimo can go on. If it can’t be looked into, I’ll consider a Portuguese coach. I think there is one or the other that will be able to do a good job with another chassis. They are great team coaches because of the way their teams play every weekend.”
Francisco Benitez
Former presidential candidate for Benfica
“I find it difficult to answer without realizing what the project will be. Will you invest in training? Shall we try to get this team back? reinforced? This is the essence of the decision, the rest is guesswork. Anyone, Veríssimo, can be a foreigner or a citizen, it is important to know the person who fits the project. If the model is the model from the past two years, it shouldn’t give great results… If it’s the training investment model, Veríssimo will probably fit, if they give him the means. But building the house through the roof … “
Jose Manuel Antunes
Former Benfica manager
“Nelson Verissimo is doing a reasonable job, but I understand that he may not yet be able to handle all the professional football at Benfica, so I think the best solution would be to appoint another Portuguese coach. And my first choices would be Marco Silva or Abel Ferreira, although I know At the moment they are in other clubs. Now, I have confidence in Nelson Verissimo, he is doing an exceptional job in the Champions League and I think we can go a little further.”
Louis Philip
Former Benfica player
“No matter what happens until the end of the season – and things have gone relatively well in the Champions League – I think Benfica will move on to appointing another coach, with more experience, with more experience, and there are coaches for the moment with a lot of experience there. At the same time, a person should know our football well. With Verissimo there have been ups and downs and I think that’s why it didn’t last.”
Louis Philippe Burgess
comic
He added: “In the face of the threat of injustice, I think Benfica needs another Portuguese coach, with another team, despite the recent brilliance in the Champions, which would make any Benfica player feel proud. Verissimo may have that stake, but I don’t think he has it. So far, and I personally would like Abel Ferreira, Paulo Fonseca, Leonardo Jardim, the options are many. I don’t think foreigners, because, even unintentionally, they come up with the idea that they come to teach amateurs and that’s not the case.”
Thiago Machado
bicyclist
“Benfica should appoint another Portuguese coach, someone, for example, who was already there and achieved good results, but he is much younger than Jorge Jesus. In fact, as a top-class Portuguese athlete, I always like to see Portuguese bets and I think we have the best in the world, remember Jose Mourinho. So I defend a Portuguese coach betting on Portuguese players. The team should be 80 per cent Portuguese.”
Antonio Figueiredo
Former Benfica manager
“My choice at this stage clearly falls on the necessity of appointing a Portuguese coach for Benfica for next season. And justification is easy to give. Benfica need a coach who knows Portuguese football well. And if Portuguese coaches are highly regarded all over the world and do well abroad, they are also doing well in Portugal, and not just abroad. This is the main reason. “
Joao Alves
Former Benfica coach and player
“I honestly think we still need to give more time and then have the ability to do the right analysis, at the right time. And what it seems to me is that at this moment is not the time to make decisions of this kind, although, of course, the decision should not be taken at the end of the season either. It has to be taken at the right time and who will know exactly what time is, of course, the Benfica leaders.”