Mantorras makes return

Angolan striker Pedro Mantorras is unlikely to play for the Benfica first team this season following an operation on his knee, club officials have said.

Mantorras, whose troublesome right knee has kept him out of action for over a year, underwent yet another operation in Barcelona.

The 21-year-old has been been seeking treatment for his problematic injury in Spain.

The 2001 African Young Footballer of the Year, who has long been tipped to become a star in European football, had small fragments of cartilage taken out of his knee during surgery.

The visit to Spanish doctor Ramon Courgat had been expected to be routine, and the Angolan was hoping for a final all-clear before being allowed to feature for his club before the end of the season.

Instead, the Angolan, whose recuperation has been slower than expected, underwent a third operation on his knee.

Despite the latest setback, Cougat told Portuguese reporters that Mantorras' recuperation was advanced and that 'he will be back playing at 100 per cent'.

Before his injury, the Angolan international had been the subject of a bidding frenzy by various Italian clubs and Spanish giants Barcelona, all keen to prise him away from Benfica.

Now Mantorras, originally from Luanda's Sambizanga ghetto, has been replaced in the spotlight by Benfica's new 18-year-old striking sensation Manuel Fernandes.

Fernandes, who scored his first goal earlier this month, is a Portuguese junior international but his parents hail from the Cape Verde Islands.