By Melody Gross 
This Wednesday Benfica celebrated the 20th anniversary of their new Estadio da Luz, in a special ceremony, the highlight of which was the presentation of the ‘Mural of Champions’, a giant painting on which the 20 best Reds players who have ever played are depicted. . Place garden.
The range of athletes was determined by a vote of the club’s fans.
Oblak, Ederson, Andre Almeida, Nelson Semedo, Luizao, Garay, Ruben Dias, Otamendi, Grimaldo, Rui Costa, Aimar, Simao Sabrosa, Di Maria, Salvio, Gaitan, Rafa, Nuno Gomez, Cardoso, Jonas and Joao Felix are the players. Specified.
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Ten of the represented athletes attended the mural presentation ceremony. In addition to Rui Costa, the current president of Benfica, Otamendi and Rafa – players from the team under Roger Schmidt, the event was attended by Andre Almeida, Luizao, Simao Sabrosa, Gaitan, Nuno Gomez, Cardozo and Jonas.
“The five years I lived here were the happiest in my career, both on and off the field. When the invitation to be here came, it was a very good surprise. Thank you to everyone who voted and for being able to be a part of these 20 great athletes. It’s a lot of happiness. I always follow Benfica, but when I come here, I miss it even more. I was able to be at yesterday’s match [terça-feira]. “After the hiatus, I didn’t watch any matches and I missed the atmosphere of Estádio da Luz even more, which is incredible and unique,” Jonas said.
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Nuno Gomez was nostalgic: “It means that time flies and that I am getting old. It seems like it was yesterday. There are 20 years of good memories because we make an effort to forget the bad ones more quickly. “There are very good memories of the wonderful stadium, which means a lot to Benfica fans.”
“I have a lot of memories. I’ve been through a lot of things here at Estádio da Luz, and scored a lot of important goals. This anniversary is a source of pride for me and my family. Thank you fans for all the love. This shows that I did my job well,” said Oscar Cardozo.
Finally, Andre Almeida was proud to be represented on the Heroes mural: “I remember my time with great pride and with beautiful feelings. It’s been a wonderful, wonderful year spent on this field and off it with our fans. “I feel honored and humbled by this honour.”