José Mourinho, coach of Benfica, considered this Thursday, December 4th, “positive” to have a vast experience accumulated in derbies in his career and that this “does not take away the desire” or ambition to win the derby with Sporting, on Friday, for the I League.
“It’s not negative, because it doesn’t take away my desire to play a new derby or any of the emotion that needs to be in my head in this game. It’s positive in the sense that I’ve already seen this, it’s very difficult for something to happen that has never happened to me in my career, but it’s normal”, declared the coach of the ‘reds’, at the press conference previewing the 13th round match.
José Mourinho recognizes the “positive” trend, adjacent to three consecutive victories, with Atlético (Portuguese Cup), Ajax (Champions League) and Nacional (I Liga), but emphasizes that this does not make him “lose” the “control”, “tranquility” or “humility” essential to follow the path of success.
“We played a very good game against a team that created difficulties for us by defending very well [Nacional]and we had three wins in a row. It’s positive, it’s good, but it doesn’t make us lose control, tranquility or even the humility that is starting to be a characteristic of our team”, he highlighted.
The experienced 62-year-old coach refused to speculate how his opponent might perform at the Estádio da Luz, pointing to the strategy he prepared for the game.
“Obviously [o Sporting] You can play like this or like this. Obviously, we will also prepare to play like this or ‘roasted’ and the most important thing for us is how we want to play, what we prepare for ourselves and for our identity as a team”, he highlighted, thanking the complimentary words of his Sporting counterpart, Rui Borges, who defined Mourinho as “a reference”.
Faced with the fact that Benfica had already lost six points in the games while they were visiting – against Santa Clara, Rio Ave and Casa Pia -, José Mourinho admitted that “there is always a debt” towards the fans, something he considers natural due to the “responsibility” inherent to his profession and also adjacent to the fact of representing the club.
“I think it’s a question of responsibility that the players have, fundamentally – it’s honoring their profession, first of all, and then honoring Benfica. This means an untouchable attitude in any game. Sometimes, I, as a coach, and the fans, as such, may have some wrong perception, we may think that this attitude was not the best”, analyzed the coach.
In this light, Mourinho came out in defense of his squad, considering their “attitude” unassailable: “Sometimes, there are conditions that make it seem like the attitude wasn’t the best. The group is good, made up of good, friendly people, who don’t create a single problem in day-to-day management. In this sense, I think they have absolutely no debt”.
The coach also assumed a calm stance towards journalists regarding the possibility of Portuguese referees going on strike in Portuguese championship games, indicating that, if this were to happen, the League would “easily find” referees from other European countries available to judge games in Portugal.
“If the referees go on strike, I am convinced that there are many referees in Europe who would like to come and referee in the Portuguese championship. I am absolutely convinced that the best referees from many European countries would be delighted to come and referee in Portugal. Therefore, if it ever happens that the referees, with their association, have that decision, I don’t think it would be a big problem,” he considered.
Benfica, in third place in the I League, with 28 points, will host Sporting, second, with three more points, on Friday, in a match scheduled for 8:15 pm, at Estádio da Luz, refereed by António Nobre, from the Leiria association.