Paulo Bento Steps Down as Portugal Manager: Latest Details and Reaction

Paulo Bento's torrid summer at the helm of the Portuguese national team has ended with him stepping down as manager on Thursday after a run of poor results.

The news was announced by the Portuguese Football Federation, via FIFA.com, which described the departure as being "by mutual consent."     

The somewhat unsurprising decision comes just days after Portugal suffered a humiliating and unexpected 1-0 home defeat to Albania in their opening qualifier for Euro 2016.

After the game, Bento attempted to rationalise the loss, suggesting it was an unfair reflection of how the match played out, telling Portuguese television channel RTP (h/t Goal.com): 

"

We know that the game didn't go our way, although I think the result was unfair. It was a game that didn't go well in terms of the result, of course, but in the first half we had opportunities to score. We had the game completely controlled during the first 45 minutes.

"

However, most were unconvinced—seemingly including the Portuguese Football Federation after Thursday's decision—and rightly so. 

Although they were missing star man Cristiano Ronaldo against Albania, they had a good enough team out to win the game, as BT Sport's Jake Humphrey alludes to:

Indeed, many predicted Bento's departure after Sunday's game, including Portuguese football writer Jan Hagen:

Portugal's World Cup campaign in Brazil saw them crash out of the competition at the group stage after a 4-0 loss to Germany, a 2-2 draw with the USA and a 2-1 win over Ghana.

While Bento—who took over from Carlos Queiroz as Portugal manager in 2010—took his side to the Euro 2012 semi-finals, they have been poor over the last two years.

They had to go through a playoff to make it to the World Cup and it is no surprise that the 45-year-old will no longer hold the position.

Warren Little/Getty Images

Portugal will now hope to bring in a new man to reverse the trend of the recent years and turn around their poor start to Euro 2016 qualifying.

With Ronaldo in the side and a variety of solid players to support him, Portugal could be genuine contenders for the France competition in two years' time.

Whoever comes in to replace Bento—a successor has yet to be announced—must renew the enthusiasm and passion among the Portugal players, which has seemingly been missing recently.