Benfica chief: First-team player wanted out, showed right attitude | OneFootball

The president of a European club revealed that it was a Benfica starter who made the deal progress, at a difficult time

Sacked from the technical command of Fenerbahçe, José Mourinho saw the president of the Turkish emblem comment on the context that motivated the separation between the parties. For Ali Koç, president of the Istanbul giant, the way the exit from the millionaire race occurred was "unacceptable" and also revealed that it was Kerem Akturkoglu who made the deal progress at a time when it seemed that it was not going to leave Benfica.

"A painful separation. Our chemistry was good, the successes were in sight. Being able to bring him here was already a great success. Above all, it was hard to part with someone who was my friend". The leader confesses that the elimination from the Champions League playoff was the last straw.

"When we brought Mourinho, we knew he played with a strong defense. But, at the end of the season, we talked about the need to play more aggressively. Our DNA is to score 99 goals and add 99 points. Being eliminated by Benfica is not a problem, but the way we were eliminated is unacceptable. This made me feel that last season's football would continue", he explained.

The president considered that the football presented by the Turks was not desirable: "At this point, we separated because we believed that this squad would play better football. This football works in Europe, but in Turkey we have to dominate most of the games. In all games, we struggle to recover and move forward".

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