Joao Mario is Benfica’s second-best scorer this season and is seen as one of the main threats for Inter in Tuesday’s Champions League meeting with his former club.
The Portugal international failed to justify his €45m price tag at the Stadio Meazza, where he scored four goals in 69 appearances across all competitions. He then joined West Ham United, Lokomotiv Moscow and Sporting CP on loan before a permanent move to Benfica in the summer of 2021.
This season, the 30-year-old has netted 23 goals in 42 appearances with the Portuguese giants and is only second to his compatriot Gonçalo Ramos who has bagged 25 goals in 38 appearances.
Joao Mario has scored six of his 23 goals in Champions League games, including two across two group-stage games against Juventus.
Both Il Corriere dello Sport and Tuttosport analyse the Portuguese’s impressive season in Tuesday’s papers editions.
‘Former flop Joao Mario leads the terrific Benfica’ wrote Il Corriere dello Sport, while Tuttosport noted that the 30-year-old ‘Flopped at Inter, but is today’s nightmare’ for the Nerazzurri, highlighting that Joao Mario was the most expensive signing of Suning’s first winter transfer window in 2016.