Minervino Pietra

Minervino José Lopes Pietra (born 1 March 1954) is a retired Portuguese footballer who played as a right defender.

Club career

Born in Lisbon, Pietra started his professional career with local C.F. Os Belenenses, collecting 99 appearances in the top division in his five-year spell, with ten goals. In 1976, the 22-year old moved to city - and national - giants S.L. Benfica, where he would remain until his retirement.

With the Reds, Pietra won, always as an important defensive unit, the league in 1976–77, 1980–81, 1982–83 and 1983–84, adding five domestic cups. In 11 seasons, he amassed a further 229 league matches, scoring on 14 occasions. He also helped the club to the 1982–83 UEFA Cup final, lost to Belgium's R.S.C. Anderlecht (0–1 abroad, 1–1 at home).

In the mid-1990s, Pietra began working as a manager, successively with Boavista FC, Belenenses, Benfica, F.C. Alverca (under former Benfica teammate António Veloso, his fullback counterpart), F.C. Barreirense and G.D. Estoril Praia, the latter two as head coach. After nearly one decade out of the game, in 2009, he returned to Benfica, joining Jorge Jesus' coaching staff.

International career

Pietra gained 28 caps for Portugal,^[1] his first game being on 14 November 1973, in a 1–1 draw against Northern Ireland for the 1974 FIFA World Cup qualfiers, at the age of only 19.

He appeared regularly during the following years, but did not attend any major international tournament. Pietra's last cap came on September 21, 1983, a 5–0 win over Finland for the UEFA Euro 1984 qualification stages; Portugal qualified for the finals in France, but he was overlooked for the squad that eventually finished third.

Minervino Pietra: International goals

Goal	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition
1	14 October 1981	Estádio da Luz (1954), Lisbon, Portugal	Sweden	1–1	1–2	1982 World Cup qualification

References

1. ^ Pierrend, José Luis (11 December 2009). "Portugal - Record International Players". RSSSF. http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/port-recintlp.html. 

External links

• Stats at ForaDeJogo (Portuguese)
• Profile at Zerozero
• Minervino Pietra at National-Football-Teams.com

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Name	Pietra, Minervino
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Date of birth	1 March 1954
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