WALKING around the Estadio da Luz during the last couple of days was a former Hartlepool United manager and Newcastle coach very familiar with the area.

Alan Murray, a long term assistant to Graeme Souness whenever he has been in a job, was once No 2 at Benfica for two-and-a-half years when the world-famous A Catedral venue stood in its original form.

In 2002 work began on demolishing the stadium the great Eusebio – whose statue rests outside the main entrance to highlight the 638 goals he scored for the club – graced. In March 2003 the partly demolished ground staged its last game.

The revamp was ahead of the European Championships coming to Portugal the following year, when 18-year-old Wayne Rooney hit two goals to defeat to Croatia and set England up for a quarter-final defeat to Portugal.

Now the Estadio da Luz holds a little more than 65,000 fans, when Murray was with Souness it could have had more than 100,000 spectators crammed inside. The modern stadium, though, is an amazing sight, similarly shaped to Arsenal's Emirates.

Souness, the former Newcastle boss whose side lost to Sporting Lisbon in a UEFA Cup quarter-final in 2005, promised to return Benfica to its former glories during his reign.

And in an attempt to do that he recruited a long line of British players including Steve Harkness, Dean Saunders, Michael Thomas and Brian Deane. The tactic failed miserably.

But Murray, working with the BBC for the last couple of days, said: “It was a brilliant place to come to manage and is still a brilliant place to live. The old ground has literally moved about 100 yards. It's the same site, it's just that where much of the stadium is now that was the training ground.”

IT was originally named the Stadium of the Light in honour of Igreja de Nossa Senhora da Luz, which translates in to the Church of Our Lady of Light and is set to host the Champions League final next year.

Wherever you turn on the outside of the stadium is a reminder of the giant eagle perched over the club's Latin phrase E Pluribus Unum (One of many) on the club emblem. The same phrase is on the seal of the United States.

Before every match Benfica's Aguia Vitoria (Victory Eagle) flies over the Estadio da Luz before landing on top of Benfica's badge and is one of football's great pre-match rituals, reminding Benfica fans of the club's proud heritage. MORE than 3,500 Geordies witnessed the eagle's flight last night and there has been a gradual increase in numbers to have made the trip in the last 72 hours.

Many of the fans have congregated in the popular Doca de Alcantara area of Lisbon, which is a modern marina stretch of restaurants and bars by the River Tejo.

Newcastle fans partied for hours underneath the 23rd largest suspension bridge in the world which bears similarity to San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge.

This one in Lisbon, built in 1966, was named the 25 de Abril Bridge to mark the day of the Carnation Revolution in these parts, when a military coup overthrew the dictatorial Estado Novo regime.

THE BRIDGE connects Lisbon with Almada, where a Statue of Christ inspired by Rio de Janeiro's Christ the Redeemer statue sits high on a hilltop, and at the Real Palacio hotel yesterday morning we had a visit from the Portuguese secretary of state for transport.

While I tucked in to some breakfast, behind me Sergio Mineiro answered questions from various media outlets. He was speaking at a conference where Portugal, Luxembourg and Belgium exchanged ideas on improving their respective transport systems.

It is hoped Lisbon's effective system continues this morning otherwise Mr Mineiro might have a few more thousand people wearing black and white shirts stuck on their shores for a little longer.