Giovanni Trapattoni was 65 and had just finished four years in charge of Italy when Benfica hired him in the summer of 2004. Il Trap was the most decorated club coach in Italian history, and he was brought to Lisbon for one purpose: to end a championship drought that had stretched to a decade.

He did exactly that. Benfica took the 2004-05 Primeira Liga by three points from Porto, sealing it with a 1-1 draw at Boavista on 22 May 2005 — the club's 31st title, its first in eleven years, and the first of the Luís Filipe Vieira presidency. Simão Sabrosa played every league match and scored fifteen goals; Nuno Gomes, Geovanni, Petit and Luisão were the other pillars. The double slipped away when Vitória de Setúbal won the Taça de Portugal final.

His Benfica were recognisably his own: defensively drilled, patient, dangerous from set pieces and fast transitions rather than committed to holding the ball. He left after a single season for Stuttgart, but that title is still seen as the hinge on which the modern Benfica turned.