After three years in an interesting battle for first-choice status, the former gained the starting position in 1976 at age 28, and proceeded to amass 636 overall appearances for the Lisbon side.

He spent the next six years mainly as third-string, behind Silvino and Neno, being on the bench at both the 1988 and 1990 European Cup finals, lost to PSV Eindhoven and A.C. Milan respectively; the last game of his career came at the end of the 1989–90 campaign against C.F.

[5] He made his debut on 16 October 1976 in the 1978 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign's opener, a 0–2 defeat against Poland in Porto.

Bento remained first-choice for the following nine years, being between the posts as the national team reached the semi-finals at UEFA Euro 1984, excelling in the 2–3 loss against the hosts France.

[6] He also started in the epic 1–0 win in West Germany for the 1986 World Cup qualifiers, being subsequently picked for the final stages in Mexico at age 38: he appeared in the first game against England (another single-goal success), then broke his fibula in training, being replaced for the remainder of the tournament by Sporting's Vítor Damas; Portugal lost the next two matches and were eliminated from the knockout stages.