In Jesus' second season, the loss of Ángel Di María and Ramires was devastating to the team. He moved Carlos Martins to the right wing as a substitute to Ramires. Nicolás Gaitán freshly landed in Europe to replace Di María. These changes had the immediate effect of breaking the high-pressure, high-tempo football of the previous years. By late September, Benfica was already trailing nine points from Porto, a difference it never recovered.[2][3]
In December 2010, Eduardo Salvio replaced Carlos Martins and Benfica changed to a more common 4–4–2 formation, with two out-and-out wingers to provide width, a pure attacking midfielder combined with a defensive midfielder. That decision left to a good winning streak and Jesus surpassed the record held by Jimmy Hagan's 1972–73 team, with 16 consecutive wins,[4][5] including a 2–0 win at VfB Stuttgart for the season's Europa League (4–1 on aggregate), Benfica's first ever victory in Germany. As fatigue started to influence the most used players, in the only competitions the club were actively competing, Benfica was unable to maintain a 2–0 lead against Porto, and lost the chance to go the Portuguese Cup final. A 1–0 loss in Braga prevented Benfica from reaching the Europa League final. Domestically, Benfica won their third League Cup, beating Paços de Ferreira.[6][7]
In January, the Portuguese winter transfer record fee was broken when David Luiz went to Chelsea for £21 million.[8] The record was later surpassed on 31 January 2014 by another Benfica player, when Rodrigo's economic rights were sold to an investment firm for €30 million.[9]
Source: LPFP(in Portuguese) Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Head-to-head away goals scored; 5) Goal difference; 6) Matches won; 7) Goals scored; 8) Play-off. (Note: LPFP decided that only criteria 1, 5, 6 and 7 would be applied to establish the classification during the competition.)[10] (C) Champions
