The day the Lisbon derby was halted because of a missing earring | OneFootball

Benfica versus Sporting, 1977/78

With the Portuguese capital gearing itself up for one of the most important Benfica-Sporting clashes in decades, PortuGOAL focuses on another Lisbon derby that has gone down in the country’s football folklore.

Football historian Miguel Lourenço Pereira takes us back half a century to describe one of the most unusual reasons for a “break in play” in any football match anywhere in the world, as the game was halted to search for a missing earring.

As well as that famous incident, this is the poignant story of Portuguese maverick footballer Vítor Baptista, both a beneficiary and a victim of the country’s new-found freedom as it transitioned from dictatorship to democracy.

Larger than life

If there was a Portuguese footballer larger than life, it was him. At a time when the game was full of mavericks, once-in-a-lifetime characters who enjoyed the game as much as they enjoyed life, Portugal was starting to gain consciousness of its newfound freedom.

The April Revolution had just come knocking and hedonism and a sense of liberty was searched for everywhere. Still, conservative as the nation had always been, it was extremely hard to find examples of those who really lived by those core values.

Music offered António Variações, cinema did the same with João César Monteiro, but football was scarce in examples. Except for him, that is, the man who lost his earring and managed to stop a Lisbon derby to look for it. That man was Vítor Baptista and, disclaimer, he never found it.

The white Eusébio

Vítor Baptista was dubbed the white Eusébio. That is a weighty tag to carry on your shoulders. Especially when you are just a kid from a very humble background who never really wanted anything more than to just enjoy yourself. He had the talent, no one doubted that, but he always lacked the determination to be for Portuguese football and for Benfica the same player that Eusébio had been for more than a decade.

But his story doesn’t start there, in Lisbon. In fact, Baptista, like so many unsung heroes of the Portuguese game, came to be in the same region where the game flourished best during the late stages of Salazar’s rule, the Setúbal district. Whether it was down the Margem Sul (South Bank) or around the provincial capital of Setúbal, multiple talents grew like mushrooms and developed to become national icons from the late 1960s up until the 1980s.

Poor region, footballing hotbed

It was a time that the large territory that stretched from Montijo – where Paulo Futre came from – to Setúbal, accommodated the only truly industrial zone of the precarious Portuguese economy. Towns sprung up almost out of nowhere, such as Almada, Seixal, Barreiro, and Amora, as the local canning and shipyard industries provided plentiful employment. Despite being the works of the fascist regime in power, those new urban centres became green pastures for the illegalised Portuguese Communist Party as most of those communities were comprised of poor immigrants from the neighbouring regions of the Alentejo, Algarve, Ribatejo or Beiras, and a sense of union and comradeship developed almost naturally, a trait that was then passed down to the football world.

All that money and all those people meant the region’s clubs rose in prominence. Not only the big ones like Vitória FC but also the likes of Barreirense, Seixal, Montijo and even CUF, despite being supported by the local União Fabril company, which was very close to the regime. As football thrived in the region, so did talented footballers and none were as admired as the young Vítor Baptista. From a poor family in Setubal, he started working in his early teens to help provide for his family like thousands of others of his generation.

Vítor Baptista's goal in the derby "lifted the roof off the stadium" as per A Bola’s match report headline

Setúbal icon

However, he was so good at football that scouts from Vitória FC managed to persuade him and his family that he had a future playing the game and he quickly rose through the ranks of the Sadinos. When Benfica came knocking for Jaime Graça, the side’s most prominent youth graduate, the club duly sold him to the Eagles because they knew Baptista was ready to take his place despite being only 18.

For five seasons he was Setúbal’s golden boy at a time when the club challenged for honours, winning the Cup, playing European matches against the likes of Liverpool and Leeds United and even getting themselves involved in the fight for the league title, whether guided by Fernando Vaz or José Maria Pedroto, two of the greatest ever Portuguese managers.

Lure of Benfica too tempting to turn down

However, like with Graça, Benfica finally came knocking one day for Baptista, waving more money than he had ever seen. Doubt crept in because it seemed to be an opportunity not to be missed, playing alongside Eusébio and all those star players at a ground as big as the Estádio da Luz, and earning a fortune while at it. But Baptista loved Setúbal, loved his local neighbourhood and its people and feared he wouldn’t adapt to the posh reality of Lisbon. Ambition and money spoke louder. He signed for the club, the biggest transfer in Portuguese football at the time, causing an immediate impact.

The white Eusébio tag was born, and others would follow, such as O Maior (The Greatest) as he became one of the best players in the league helping Benfica dominate Portuguese football in the early 1970s. Only the tactical and training changes in European football that helped to raise clubs from the northern leagues such as the Netherlands, West Germany and England prevented him from causing a similar impact in the European Cup.

Drugs and downfall

But with fame also came all those fears Baptista had. He never really fitted into Lisbon living and whenever he could, he was back in Setúbal. The thing is, while he had risen to the sky, his local neighbourhood had been deeply affected by the early signs of a future pandemic: drug abuse. Baptista, full of cash and with no-one to help him manage it as everyone around him was as poor as he had been, let himself fall into a world of hedonism where alcohol, women and drugs became the norm. It affected his game and injuries started to become regular, even when everyone knew he was not injured but was collapsed in his bed with terrible hangovers or worse.

Friends like Toni tried to help him, but it always seemed to no avail. Then the April revolution came, the sense that everything was actually possible started to creep in, and Baptista let himself to go even further down the pit. He was still a brilliant footballer, a key player for the side, but he was also reaching a point of no return.

In 1977/78, Benfica started the season ready to hold off the challenge of Sporting but also Porto, now coached by José Maria Pedroto, his last manager at Setúbal, and they needed him at the best of his abilities. When the two Lisbon giants met in February for a decisive derby, everyone was uncertain of what version of “O Maior” they were about to see. In truth, they got both.

Vítor Baptista causes mayhem in the Sporting defence

Struggling Sporting playing for pride

It was February the 12th and the sun shone brightly over the huge concrete stands of the Luz. Benfica were leading the title race on matchday 16, two points clear of Porto and seven ahead of Sporting who were only fourth in the league table. The Lions knew the season was done and dusted but still, this was a Lisbon derby so everything was possible and they had their pride to defend.

Interim coach Rodrigues Dias had in Salif Keita, Manuel Fernandes and Rui Jordão one of the club’s most fearsome striking forces but something was missing in defence. Botelho was playing in goal – Damas had recently moved to Santander where he spent four seasons before returning home – and Manaca, a young Augusto Inácio, Francisco Barão and João Laranjeira supported Vítor Gomes, Artur Correia and Samuel Fraguito, behind the forward line.

Mortimore’s Benfica riding high

Benfica could call upon their very best starting eleven as British manager John Mortimore had his usual strong back-line ready to hold off Sporting’s offensive intents. Manuel Bento, Bastos Lopes, Alberto, Eurico Gomes and captain Humberto Coelho played at the back, while Toni, Sheu Han, Cavungi and a young Fernando Chalana provided support to Nené and Vítor Baptista.

Sporting striker Jordão is helped off the pitch after suffering a broken leg

The Eagles were clear favourites and the crowd of seventy-five thousand supporters there on that Sunday afternoon expected nothing but a win to keep on pushing for what would have been a historic fourth consecutive league title for the club. During the match not much happened save for an excruciating tackle from Alberto that left Jordão seriously injured. The forward had to be taken out from the pitch on a stretcher. His season was over with a broken leg.

Brilliant Baptista strike

Then, in the 52nd minute, it all happened really quickly. Cavungi moved from the right and managed to cross the ball into the box. Baptista, as usual, crowded with defenders, used all his talent and artistry to hold it with his chest before volleying the ball into the top right-hand corner of the net ferociously. Botelho never had a chance.

It was one of the most beautiful and iconic goals ever scored in a Lisbon derby and as the crowd went wild, as did the players who ran in disbelief to celebrate with Baptista. Cavungi, the man who crossed the ball was the first to hug him and then came Nené, Toni and the others. Everything seemed well when, suddenly, Baptista stopped and started to search for something: his earring.

In a country fresh out of the Revolution, it was customary to see men with long hair and big beards, but earrings were still something few were brave enough to wear. Baptista had seen some in London while there, and decided to buy one for himself, a silver earring that had cost him 12 contos (12,000 escudos) – a small fortune – that he wore even in his sleep. Baptista started to panic and while nobody really understood what was going on, Toni did, and he began to look for it in the turf. Sporting players wanted to restart the match, but Baptista refused. He would not play on unless his earring was found!

Vítor Baptista smashes a brilliant volley into the net for the only goal of the game

Break in play – searching for that shiny thing

His temper was well-known by then and even referee Rosa Santos showed some patience, allowing the game to stop for a full five minutes while he and other Benfica players scoured the grass to try and find the missing piece of silver. Nobody ever found it, or at least nobody ever said they found it. For five long minutes, the stadium watched in awe as a dozen professional footballers halted a match because of a piece of jewellery. Even Sporting players joined in the quest.

To no avail. The earring was not found, and finally even Baptista acknowledged the game had to restart and the players got back down to business. It would be the sole goal of the match but that day and for the rest of their lives, nobody would ever talk about it again. The only topic of conversation would be about how Baptista lost his earring.

Baptista laments his loss

Talking to the press at the end of the game, the Setúbal native complained that he had lost money that day as the earring was more expensive than the prize money for the win – 8 contos, the biggest win bonus of the season as with was a local derby – and he should have stayed at home. Some players even doubted that Baptista had used his earring that day and it was all a prank. Others claimed that he had sold it to pay for his substance abuse and found a perfect excuse to say that he had lost it while playing against the Lions. Others, mischievously, claim that a player from the rivals found it and kept it for himself.

Either way, the earring was not seen again, but the brilliance and extravagant spirit of Baptista had come to life, once again, at the same moment, a reflection of who he was and what his footballing career had been all about.

Benfica lose patience with Baptista

In the end, victory did not suffice. Benfica lost the league to Porto but without conceding a single defeat, a remarkable albeit dramatic feat. Baptista didn’t score again in the season and by April he was out of the club. That iconic goal against Sporting turned out to be his last for the Eagles. Rumour has it that, in desperate need of money, he asked for a small fortune to renew his contract, 100 contos tax-free each month and a 700-contos signing on bonus, which would have made him the most well-paid footballer in Portugal. He was already on a downward trajectory in his footballing career so, logically, Benfica said no.

When he once again claimed to be injured to avoid travelling to Liverpool for a European Cup match – probably afraid of UEFA’s antidoping controls – the club decided enough was enough and he was sacked.

Brief Setúbal return

“O Maior” returned to Vitória FC and played there only for a couple of seasons but the Setúbal side were miles away from being the power they had once been, the same way that life in the South Bank was changing fast.

Vítor Baptista returned to Setúbal after leaving Benfica, angered by the Lisbon club’s refusal to accept his terms for a new contract

The nationalisation of industries and private companies after the April Revolution turned out to be a decisive factor in destroying the Setúbal region’s economic potential and when the country later entered the EU in 1986, the district was already at a low point. The power had shifted north, both economically as well as in sporting terms, with Porto coming out league winners for the first time in 19 years, a season that marked the beginning of the Pinto da Costa and Pedroto golden era that would make the Dragons the most powerful force in the land.

Destitute and abandoned

Baptista’s days as an elite footballer were numbered. He played on, moved to the United States briefly and came back to kick a ball even for amateur sides. But as his addictions consumed him, he eventually got arrested for attempted theft. He spent his last years in poverty, working in cemeteries and cleaning streets, abandoned by the football clubs he had helped so many times, and died at the young age of 50 years old, in January 1999.

The last – perhaps the only – maverick of Portuguese football, the man who stopped a Lisbon derby to look for a missing earring. The player who inspired supporters, podcasts, and fanzines. The one and only Vítor Baptista.