António Silva (footballer)

António João Pereira de Albuquerque Tavares da Silva (born 30 October 2003) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Primeira Liga club Benfica and the Portugal national team.

Coming through Benfica's youth system, Silva impressed during his time with the reserve side, winning the UEFA Youth League in 2021–22, being instrumental part of Benfica's first European trophy in 60 years. He was subsequently promoted to the first-team, making his professional debut at age 18, where he helped Benfica win the league title in his first season with them.

Silva is a former Portugal youth international, representing his country at various levels. He was chosen in the senior squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, shortly before making his senior international debut.

Early career
Born in Viseu, Silva began his youth career with hometown club Viseu United, aged 11, and also had spells at Penalva do Castelo and Repesenses. He quickly stood out, subsequently began having multiple training sessions with Sporting CP, while Porto also showed an interest in signing him, but he ended up joining their rivals and his boyhood club Benfica's youth academy in 2016. Struggling with homesickness, Silva returned to his hometown to spend time with his family, but with the help of the club's psychologist, he managed to overcome his mental health problems and went back to Benfica a year later, after adjusting to life in Lisbon.

2021–22: Youth League and development
On 28 November 2021, Silva signed his first professional contract with Benfica B. He made his professional debut with Benfica B in a 2–1 LigaPro loss to Mafra on 2 April 2022. During that season, Silva played a major role in the 2021–22 UEFA Youth League, where Benfica U19 topped their group against Dynamo Kyiv, Barcelona and Bayern Munich. In the final phases, he scored the equaliser in a 3–2 win over Midtjylland, after his side were two goals behind and in the final, he helped his side keep a clean sheet in a 6–0 win over Red Bull Salzburg to help Benfica win their first Youth League title, and their first title in European football since the 1961–62 European Cup.

2022–23: First-team breakthrough and league title
Having appeared for the club's B team, it was expected that Silva would spend the 2022–23 season continuing his development there, but he began training with the first team, after impressing newly arrived coach Roger Schmidt, which led him to progress in the team's centre-backs ranks, ahead of Tomás Araujo and Jan Vertonghen, who was away on international duty for Belgium. Following the suspension of Nicolás Otamendi, he was given his first start by the new coach on 27 August, being entrusted in the centre defence, alongside Morato, and putting a strong performance, in a 3–0 away win over Boavista in the Primeira Liga. He subsequently became a starter following an injury crisis at the club, leading Silva to fill the void alongside Otamendi, who was the only fit centre-back available. On 5 September, he agreed to a contract extension to 2027, increasing his buyout clause to €100 million. The following day, Silva made his UEFA Champions League debut, partnering with Nicolás Otamendi in the centre of defence, keeping a clean sheet in a 2–0 home win over Maccabi Haifa.

Silva was named the league's Defender of the Month for September, after helping Benfica maintaining their unbeaten run, which included three clean sheets. On 25 October, Silva scored his first goal for the club, opening Benfica's 4–3 home victory over Juventus in a 2022–23 UEFA Champions League group stage match. His form throughout the club's Champions League group stage campaign, saw him help his side qualify to the round of sixteen, as group winners, following a 6–1 away win over Maccabi Haifa on 2 November. Four days later, Silva scored his first league goals, netting a brace in a 5–1 victory against Estoril. This saw him being the league's Defender of the Month for the months of October and November.

Over the course of the domestic campaign, Silva started and completed almost every minute for Benfica, playing a major part in their campaign, sealing Benfica's first title in four years on the final day of the league campaign, following a 3–0 win over Santa Clara.

2023–24: League runner-up
The following season, Benfica endured a difficult start of the new campaign, after a 2–0 home loss to Red Bull Salzburg in a Champions League group stage match, where Silva was sent off for the first time in his career for a second bookable offense at the start first half for an handball, after Roko Šimić's shot touched his hand. His performances recovered later in the season with Silva being named the defender of the month for the months of October and November, but he was sent off for the second time in the Champions League, receiving a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on Nicolò Barella during a Inter Milan counter-attack in their 3–3 home draw on 29 November. The booking meant that Silva would miss Benfica's last group stage match away against Red Bull Salzburg, which they eventually won 3–1, qualifying to the UEFA Europa League knock-out round play-offs.

Over the course of the 2023–24 campaign, Silva started and completed almost every minute for Benfica, as they were knocked out in the UEFA Europa League quarter-finals to Olympique de Marseille on penalties following a 2–2 draw on agreggate and finished as the league runners-up to crosstown rivals Sporting CP.

International career
Silva represented Portugal at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-19, for a total of 18 caps, serving as captain for the latter. On 24 September 2022, Silva made his under-21 debut, replacing André Amaro in a 4–1 friendly defeat of Georgia.

In October 2022, he was named in Portugal's preliminary 55-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, being included in the final 26-man squad for the tournament. He made his senior international debut in a friendly against Nigeria on 17 November, starting in Portugal's 4–0 win. With Portugal having secured qualification from their group, he started in the last fixture, featuring in the 2–1 loss to South Korea in Al Rayyan. In doing so, he became the youngest player ever to represent Portugal at the World Cup at 19 years, one months and three days old.

On 21 May 2024, he was selected in the 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024. After Portugal secured qualification from their group, he made his debut in the competiton, starting in the last fixture against Georgia. In the match, he committed an error leading to Gerogia's first goal before he conceded a penalty, resulting in a 2–0 for Portugal, earning various criticisms for his performance. He would not feature for Portugal in the knockout stage as they were eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-finals after losing to France 5–3 in a penalty shootout.

Style of play
A hard-tackling and versatile defender, Silva is a physically strong, right-footed centre-back, who usually features on the right-hand side of central defence, but he is able to play on both sides due to being comfortable at passing the ball with both feet. He is able to pass in different directions, whether to a teammate on the same side as him, or switching it to the opposing side or making vertical line-breaking passes, in order to dictate play in any direction from the back. He is known for being an accurate tackler, who is very good at winning back possession, and at anticipating and intercepting plays, due to his acute tactical intelligence, speed of thought, marking ability, positional sense and his ability to read the game. In addition to his defensive skills, he is comfortable on the ball, possessing good technical ability, as well as good distribution. He is also known for his ability to cover ground and put pressure on or anticipate opponents in positions higher up on the pitch.

He is also known for his leadership skills, with former Portuguese international Abel Xavier commenting that for his "security, maturity, vision of the game, assertiveness, aggression, and for his leadership and not for his age, he can be the future captain of Benfica". Silva idolises compratriot Cristiano Ronaldo and Benfica legend Luisão and also cited compratriot Rúben Dias, Antonio Rüdiger and Virgil van Dijk as inspirations.

Honours
Benfica Youth Benfica Individual
 * Campeonato Nacional de Juniores: 2021–22
 * UEFA Youth League: 2021–22
 * Primeira Liga: 2022–23
 * Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira: 2023
 * Cosme Damião Awards – Revelation of the Year: 2022
 * Cosme Damião Awards – Footballer of the Year: 2024
 * Primeira Liga Defender of the Month: September 2022, October/November 2022, October/November 2023
 * Primeira Liga Team of the Year: 2022–23
 * IFFHS Men's World Youth (U20) Team: 2023
 * SJPF Young Player of the Month: October 2023