Manuel Bento
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Manuel Galrinho Bento | ||
| Date of birth | 25 June 1948 | ||
| Place of birth | Golegã, Portugal | ||
| Date of death | 1 March 2007 (aged 58) | ||
| Place of death | Barreiro, Portugal | ||
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Riachense | |||
| Goleganense | |||
| Sporting CP | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1966–1972 | Barreirense | 94 | (0) |
| 1972–1992 | Benfica | 330 | (0) |
| Total | 424 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1976–1986 | Portugal | 63 | (0) |
| * Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. |
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Manuel Galrinho Bento (25 June 1948 – 1 March 2007) was a Portuguese professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.
He was best known for his 20-year spell at Benfica, having retired well into his 40s after appearing in nearly 650 official games. He represented Portugal at Euro 1984 and the 1986 World Cup, helping the national team reach the semifinals in the former tournament.
Chosen by Portuguese sports newspaper Record as one of the best 100 Portuguese footballers, Bento won the Goalkeeper of the Year award a best-ever eight times. In January 2015, he was chosen by the UEFA website as one of Europe's favourite goalkeepers.
Bento was born in Golegã, Santarém District. After various youth spells, including one with Sporting Clube de Portugal, he started professionally at F.C. Barreirense, being transferred to S.L. Benfica for the 1972–73 season.
Bento started with Benfica as a backup to another Portuguese keeper, José Henrique. After three years in an interesting battle for first-choice status, the former gained the starting position in 1976 at age 28, and proceeded to amass 636 overall appearances for the Lisbon side.
Bento suffered a severe injury in the 1986 summer on international duty, from which he never recovered fully. He spent the next six years mainly as third-string, behind Silvino and Neno, being on the bench at both the 1988 and 1990 European Cup finals, lost to PSV Eindhoven and A.C. Milan respectively; the last game of his career came at the end of the 1989–90 campaign against C.F. Os Belenenses, in which he was chosen Man of the match.
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