José Mourinho, Benfica’s coach, wants his players to carry “the will, concentration, motivation and responsibility” they showed in the game with Nápoles to the match with Moreirense, scheduled for this Sunday (6pm) in Moreira de Cónegos, relating to the 14th round of the I League.
“The sense of responsibility is fundamental”, he stressed in statements to BTV, recognizing that “the essence of the game will be completely different” from that which was the duel for the Champions League.
Still, optimism is Mourinho’s keynote for the future, basing this idea on the past: “Whoever plays like he did, whoever has had a lot of positive things over these weeks, not with the same consistency or with the same brilliance, but with very good things with Nacional, a great game with Sporting, with Bayer Leverkusen, where we didn’t score and conceded. A very good second half in Guimarães.”
The Benfica coach considers that his team has “done very good things”, but recognizes that “the game against Napoli was successful from the first to the last minute”.
Regarding Moreirense, he highlights the “very strong start, not only at home but also away” and says it is a team that “plays well, has a lot of experienced people and knows how to play these types of games”. Mourinho also highlights coach Vasco Botelho da Costa who “is having a good career”. However, despite the opponent’s value, he makes it very clear that “Benfica needs to win and has to pursue that goal”.
“We ran a lot of kilometers on Wednesday, in addition to the emotional exhaustion, the pressure of the game, the necessary concentration, but we have to go with victory in mind”, highlighted José Mourinho, remembering that the team has already had “away games of a similar nature, of high difficulty”, such as against Nacional and in Guimarães, and “managed” to win.
After the debuts of young José Neto and Tiago Freitas against Nápoles, the Benfica coach says that, this time, “there is no room for surprises” in Moreira de Cónegos. However, he left behind a revelation: “There are so many quality young players here that one or two players could debut every weekend. It’s important to give direction and solidity, to do things in a thoughtful way, with continuity and balance between coming to the first team and having more minutes at lower levels.”