In July 2011 he returned to his country and joined Benfica on loan, with the Lisbon club having an option to buy at the end of the campaign;[9] during his spell at the Estádio da Luz, he appeared in only nine competitive matches.

[10] On 26 June 2012, Eduardo signed for İstanbul Büyükşehir Belediyespor in a temporary deal, being coached by Carvalhal at the Süper Lig team.

[22][23] After UEFA Euro 2008, Eduardo was called up by new Portugal national team coach Carlos Queiroz for the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Malta and Denmark, where he was understudy to Quim.

[24] He made his full debut on 11 February 2009 in a friendly match with Finland, playing the first 60 minutes in a 1–0 home win,[25] and remained the starter throughout the remainder of the qualifying campaign; he also started in the final stages in South Africa, keeping clean sheets against Ivory Coast,[26] North Korea[27] and Brazil[28] and only conceding in the round-of-16 loss against eventual champions Spain (0–1), where he saved many shots from the opposition, mostly by David Villa.

He was also named in the squad of 23 for the 2014 World Cup,[31] but only actually played five minutes in the last group stage match against Ghana, coming on for injured Beto.

[32] An unused member as the side won Euro 2016 in France and Patrício starred, Eduardo made his final international appearance on 1 September 2016 in his first such match for over two years.