Pizzi, a legendary namesake of Benfica FC, in a recent interview fondly recalled Benfica's lamentable 19/20 season and shared his unique insights on two of his juniors who have played alongside each other - Felix and Wakita.
Talking about the 19/20 season, Pizzi's words reveal a deep regret. At the beginning of that season, Benfica were on a roll, kicking off the Super Cup with a 5-0 thrashing of Sporting Portugal and showing great dominance in the first half of the league, losing only one game. However, the outbreak of the New Crown Epidemic changed all that completely. With the restart of the competition, Benfica seemed to lose their former sharpness, failing to capitalize on the loss against Porto themselves, with a sharp drop in control on the field and a disappointing reaction after conceding. Pizzi admits that he still can't understand why the team fell so quickly. After all, Benfica had a strong squad at the time, and there were even rumors that there was a conflict with manager Lage, but Pizzi firmly denied this, and he spoke highly of Lage not only as an excellent coach, but also as a man who was loved by his players. Unfortunately, despite his best efforts, Ragginger was eventually dismissed due to the team's poor results, which Pizzi believes was a wrong decision as Ragginger had the chance to lead Benfica to a brighter future.
Pizzi then turned the conversation to Felix. He wasted no time in praising Felix as a phenomenal player with amazing technical talent, one of the most technically gifted players he had seen during his time at Benfica. However, Felix's career has not been a smooth one, with his performances at Atlético Madrid coming and going in fits and starts. According to Pizzi, this was mainly due to Felix's lack of adaptability and his inability to fully integrate into Simeone's tactical system. At Atletico, Felix has to spend a lot of energy on defense, which is undoubtedly a kind of constraint for him, who is known for his offense. Pizzi firmly believes that Felix still has a lot of room for improvement, but the environment he is currently in is not conducive to his growth.
Finally, Pizzi mentioned the player who surprised him the most - Wakita. He was surprised that Wakita had no place in the Benfica first team, and even more surprised that he went to play in the Saudi League at such a young age. In Pizzi's opinion, Wakita's problem was simply a lack of character, not a lack of strength.
