The 2011–12 season was

Sport Lisboa e Benfica Sport Lisboa e Benfica (), commonly known as Benfica, is a professional football club based in Lisbon, Portugal, that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top flight of Portuguese football. Founded on 28 February 1904 as ''Sport Lisboa'', Be ...

's 108th season in existence and the club's 78th consecutive season in the top flight of Portuguese football. It involved Benfica competing in the Primeira Liga,

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

, Taça da Liga and the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

. Benfica qualified for the Champions League by finishing second in the previous Primeira Liga. In Jesus' third season at the helm of the club, he tried to implement a more balanced system, with

Axel Witsel Axel Laurent Angel Lambert Witsel (born 12 January 1989) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays for La Liga club Atlético Madrid and the Belgian national team. Witsel broke into Belgium's first team as a right-winger, and can also pla ...

replacing

Pablo Aimar Pablo César Aimar (born 3 November 1979) is an Argentine former professional footballer and current assistant coach of the Argentina national team. Aimar played as an attacking midfielder. After starting his senior career at River Plate in 1 ...

as a more central midfielder, with Aimar pushed as to

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

role, to give more defensive support than

Javier Saviola Javier Pedro Saviola Fernández (; born 11 December 1981) is an Argentine former professional footballer who played as a forward. He represented both Barcelona and Real Madrid, also having notable spells with Benfica and Olympiacos, and was n ...

Nicolás Gaitán Osvaldo Fabián Nicolás "Nico" Gaitán (; born 23 February 1988) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Portuguese Primeira Liga club Paços de Ferreira. A product of Boca Juniors, he joined Benfic ...

was moved to the right, with

Bruno César Bruno César Zanaki (born 3 November 1988) is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Portuguese club Penafiel. Club career Early career Bruno César began his professional career with Ulbra in 2009, bef ...

and

Nolito Manuel Agudo Durán (; born 15 October 1986), known as Nolito (), is a Spanish professional association football, footballer who plays as a winger (association football), winger or a forward (association football), forward for Segunda División ...

alternating on the left.

Rodrigo Rodrigo is a Spanish, Portuguese and Italian name derived from the Germanic name '' Roderick'' (Gothic ''*Hroþareiks'', via Latinized ''Rodericus'' or ''Rudericus''), given specifically in reference to either King Roderic (d. 712), the last Vi ...

eventually gained his space in the starting eleven, replacing Aimar. This season, Benfica placed first in their

group, later reaching the competition's quarter-finals, and won their fourth Taça da Liga by defeating

Gil Vicente Gil Vicente (; c. 1465c. 1536), called the Trobadour, was a Portuguese playwright and poet who acted in and directed his own plays. Considered the chief dramatist of Portugal he is sometimes called the "Portuguese Plautus," often ref ...

Competitions

Pre-season

Primeira Liga

League table

Results by round

Matches

Taça de Portugal

Taça da Liga

Group stage

Knockout phase

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

Play-off round

Group stage

Knockout phase

=Round of 16

=Quarter-finals

Overall record

Player statistics

, - ! colspan="15" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;", Goalkeepers , - ! colspan="15" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;", Defenders , - ! colspan="15" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;", Midfielders , - ! colspan="15" style="background:#dcdcdc; text-align:center;", Strikers

Competitions

Pre-season

Primeira Liga

League table

Results by round

Matches

Taça de Portugal

Taça da Liga

Group stage

Knockout phase

UEFA Champions League

Third qualifying round

Play-off round

Group stage

Knockout phase

=Round of 16

=Quarter-finals

Overall record

Player statistics

Transfers

In

Summer

Winter

Out

Summer

Winter

Overall transfer activity

Spending

Income

Expenditure

References