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The club season continues apace after the international break, and we enter the business end of the Champions League, taking on Portuguese giants Benfica at the Estadio Da Luz (Luz is the area of Lisbon the stadium - and the old concrete bowl it replaced in 2004 - are situated in, but that hasn’t stopped British journos ascribing the stadium with the English translation for Luz). We have a history against them, and we have a recent history with their coach Jorge Jesus. He was their coach when we played them at the fag end of Rafa’s reign, and he was coach of Flamengo when we faced them in the Club World Cup final in Qatar in 2019. With the away goals rule being scrapped, it lends a different dynamic to how teams approach the first leg. It might take a couple of years before a pattern emerges under the new (old?) format. Anyway, the game. What do we need? Energy. Urgency. Strength. Effervescence. Bravery. Incision. Organisation. I don’t ask for much. We have met Benfica at this stage of the competition before, in the old European Cup. March 1984 to be exact. The Lisbon club were coached by none other than Swedish future part-time England coach (and the unlikeliest of full-time Lotharios) Sven-Goran Eriksson. He had won the UEFA Cup with IFK Gothenburg a couple of years earlier with a side that included Glenn Hysen (not sure if the defender had grey hair in the early 80s or not). Benfica had been going toe to toe with Porto in the league and would end the season with the domestic title, losing only twice along the way. The first leg at Anfield in early March was settled with a solitary goal by Rushie, but the second leg was startling in the approach of both sides. Watching the highlights, Benfica just seemed totally under-prepared for the intensity of Liverpool’s play. Time and again they were undone by their own dawdling in possession, evidently thinking they perhaps had more time on the ball like they had domestically. They were well and truly carved apart by Fagan’s soon-to-be treble winners, and their goalkeeper Bento had an absolute ‘mare in allowing Whelan’s header in the centre of the box from a right wing cross to trickle through his legs and give the Reds a 2-0 aggregate lead. Skippy blasted a fine second after a rapid counter attack and though Benfica’s top scorer Nene pulled a goal back with a looping header over the stranded Brucie, Rushie buried a header of his own the settle the match, and Whelan got his second of the night when he ran on to Kenny’s through-ball down the left and beat the hapless Bento at his near post with a pea-roller of a shot. Benfica had plenty of ability on the ball, but it was the work off the ball that was their real undoing. We were through to the semis to face Dinamo Bucharest, and the winners would travel to Rome in May for the final. Top at the box office in March 1984 was the first instalment of what was to become a fairly successful 1980s franchise. Police Academy (the film and indeed the series) has its funny moments, and is certainly better than the last few sequels. The basic plot is centred around the police department’s programme for new recruits, and the collection of quirky characters that voluntarily enrol or are forced to enrol to get themselves straightened out. Steven Guttenberg was catapulted into the mainstream off the back of the first film as the terminally smug prankster Mahoney. Michael Winslow found fame as “Motormouth” Jones, a walking sound effects machine. Lesley Easterbrook’s tits made Callahan a star attraction among the force. Bubba Smith’s soft-spoken powerhouse Hightower would get his moments. David Graf’s unhinged gun nut Tackleberry would prove to be one of the cornerstones of the franchise. It’s stupid for sure, but oddly watchable. The last few films of the franchise are just plain stupid. It would also be a few films before we saw the mismatched pairing of loud and weird anarchist Zed and the small and uptight Sweetchuck. Kim Cattrall appeared in the first film, and Sharon Stone was another who would make an appearance later on. It’s the start of a period where we take on both Benfica and Man City twice. I don’t know that much about this season’s Benfica other that Jorge Jesus being the coach, Jan Vertonghen playing in defence, and Uruguay’s up-and-coming star Darwin Nunez playing up front. He is one that has been linked to us in the past few months. Hopefully the Watford game has helped the players shake off the cobwebs at the international break, and we see more of our usual intensity and cohesion. We have the ability to do in Lisbon what we have done in Porto in recent seasons, but as ever it requires the right motivation, focus and application to make it happen. Get the job done. Move it move it move it!