FIFA World Cup? winners at South Africa 2010, La Roja were knocked out in the group phase at Brazil 2014, becoming the latest world champions to fail to defend their title. The last side to do so were Brazil, at Chile 1962, a full 52 years ago.
A few weeks before Spain’s truncated title defence, Benfica suffered their eighth consecutive defeat in European finals, going down on penalties to Sevilla in the UEFA Europa League final. For many of Lisbon club’s fans the man responsible for that extended run of bad luck is none other than As ?guias’ former Hungarian coach Bela Guttman.
The fabled Guttman coached the Portuguese giants in the early 1960s and took them to the summit of European football. Yet after falling out with his employers over money, he decided to up and leave, not before issuing these fateful words: “I’m leaving a curse on you. You will not win a European title in the next 100 years. ”
