Barrenechea in defence? Mourinho explains Benfica midfielder’s new role | OneFootball

One of the surprises in the lineup presented by José Mourinho was the adaptation of Enzo Barrenechea to central defense. At the end of the match, in the flash interview, where he also spoke about Luís Pinto, the Benfica coach explained the decision regarding the Argentine midfielder and revealed that he had no other options.

"Otamendi was a champion to be on the bench and help in case of an extraordinary emergency. The doubt was always between Gonçalo Oliveira and Enzo", José Mourinho began to explain, in statements to BTV, praising the help from the Benfica captain.

"Gonçalo played on a synthetic field for 90 minutes on Wednesday, in a serious match, Enzo spent the whole week working with us and positionally it is comfortable for him", José Mourinho added, explaining the reason behind the decision regarding the Argentine midfielder.

"Whoever plays as a '6', plays as a central defender, especially with ball distribution. It's an easy position to play. It would be difficult if we played in a low block and they had several situations with the ball inside the penalty area", the coach added, pointing to the versatility of Barrenechea.

"The only opportunity Vitória had was a cross from the right side, where Nélson Oliveira freed himself exactly from our central defenders and mishit the ball — if he had hit it well, he could have scored. But Enzo had a good week of work and a great game", concluded José Mourinho.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.