Benfica, Jose Mourinho introduces himself and is already charged up
José Mourinho is officially Benfica’s new coach: he has signed a two-year contract, until the end of the 2026-2027 season, with the Lisbon team where he began his career as head coach 25 years ago, and has already been introduced to the media, declaring that he arrives on the new bench “at a different stage of my career, and as a person. I am more selfless, less self-centered, thinking less about myself and more about the joy I can bring to others. I am not the one who is important; Benfica is important and I want to make it win again”.
The Portuguese club on Tuesday night exonerated Bruno Lage after the resounding defeat in the Champions League debut match against Qarabag Azerbaijanis, and the president, Rui Costa, immediately thought of the “Special One,” who had himself been exonerated on Aug. 29 by Fenerbahce precisely after a defeat to Benfica for the access to the championship stage of the continent’s top competition.
“I was impressed by the fans’reception and 25 years of soccer at the highest level have not made me immune to this – added the former Inter and Roma coach.
I also want to win always for them; we can no longer suffer defeats as happened two days ago. This is not Benfica. Benfica is the team that played against Fenerbahçe for 30 minutes, the team that struggled in Istanbul with a man down, took the ship to a safe harbor and got a positive result. This is the Benfica I identify with, the one I grew up with”.
His first match, in the league, will be as early as Saturday and for this engagement “I will not bring radical changes, I will work calmly, starting with the emotional profile– he stressed -. We have to take the field knowing that we are not just 11, that we are millions, and think about them”.
