Jesus is making a name for himself

In bookshops across Lisbon, the biography of Jorge Jesus was displayed prominently all summer. 

With its rather obvious title, The Commandments of Jesus, it had been swiftly published to cash in on the popularity of the first coach in five years to deliver a league title to Benfica, Portugal's most popular and decorated club.

As a coach, Jesus was inevitably compared to Jose Mourinho, being forceful and being Portuguese. But like so many of his predecessors over the last 20 years, Jesus, 56, has found defending the national championship tougher than gaining it. 

Porto, the club who have wrested pre-eminence from Benfica since the 1990s, stand nine points ahead of the Lisbon club in the table even at this early stage in the domestic season.

Benfica began poorly and Jesus has been railing against refereeing standards as well as citing more convincing alibis: success in the Portuguese Superliga is always double-edged. Even in a slow transfer market, emerging players are quickly snapped up elsewhere: in the summer, Real Madrid bought Angel Di Maria, the Argentine winger, and Chelsea took Ramires, the Brazilian midfielder.

 "We miss those two because footballers as good as that aren't easily replaced," Jesus told reporters before departing for tonight's Champions League trip to Germany's Schalke.

Small compensation has just been provided by the decision of Fabio Coentrao, the left-sided Portugal international, to extend his contract with Benfica. 

Should Coentrao, who had a good World Cup at full-back for his country, continue to develop, he will eventually seek employment in a bigger league, but at least with a buyout clause of €30 million (Dh148m), Benfica can expect funds for strengthening the squad when he does.

Ahead of setting off for Germany, Jesus spoke of his belief that "last season, Barcelona and Benfica played the best football in Europe". He was talking of Barca in the Champions League and his club in the Europa League, in which they compiled some large margins of victory - 5-0 against Everton; 4-0 against Hertha Berlin - before falling in the quarter-finals against Liverpool.

 Domestically they plundered, too, averaging more than three goals a game in the league. Oscar Cardozo, the beanpole Paraguayan, scored 26 in 29 outings, benefiting eagerly from the service provided by Di Maria and Ramires.

The Champions League is a different creature. Jesus is pleased to recall Pablo Aimar to his squad for tonight, valuing the playmaker's ability to find openings in tight spaces. Benfica top Group B after their opening day victory against Hapoel Tel Aviv.

 Ominously, Schalke's Raul is off the mark, having scored his first goal as a non-Real Madrid player at the weekend. 

He needs two in the Champions League to eclipse the record (69) in European club competitions set more than 30 years ago by Gerd Muller of Bayern Munich.

More urgently, Schalke, bottom of Group B and in the penultimate spot in the Bundesliga, just need a win. 

sports@thenational.ae

10.45pm, Aljazeera Sport +1