Benfica competed domestically in the Primeira Divisão and the Taça de Portugal, and participated in the European Cup after winning the previous league.

Benfica began their league campaign by beating Porto in Estádio das Antas, only to be stopped a week later by CUF.

Domestically, in November, Benfica began a nine-match winning run that allowed them to open a comfortable lead at the top.

They drew again in February but that did not stop their momentum, and their continued collecting consecutive wins, five more, until their experienced their first league defeat on 26 March, at the hands of Barreirense.

[2][3] In the transfer window, Benfica's major signings were Vítor Baptista for the offence and Artur Correia and Rui Rodrigues for the defence.

[4][5] Historic player José Torres departed the club for Vitória de Setúbal in the deal involving Vítor Baptista.

[18] On 26 September, Benfica defeated Vitória de Setúbal away and pass them on the league table, placing them in third, one-less than leader Sporting.

[16] In October, Benfica won all of his league matches but only reached first place on the 31 after a home win against União de Tomar.

[17] On match-day 12, the lead already stood at three-points, and Benfica lapped the first half of the Primeira Divisão with a five more points than second-place, Vitória de Setúbal.

[21][17] They began the second part of the season by beating Porto in the Clássico,[22] but two-weeks later, they were finally stopped in the home draw to Vitória de Setúbal.

[26][25] Hagan's tactics were blamed by the press for the elimination, while Jaime Graça targeted the referee for annulling a clean goal for Benfica.

[25][17] The season ended on 4 June with the Taça de Portugal final where Benfica narrowly beat Sporting by 3–2.

Note 2: Players with squad numbers marked ‡ joined the club during the 1971-72 season via transfer, with more details in the following section.