From 'mission impossible' to Rafa Silva: Mourinho on Juve v Benfica | OneFootball

José Mourinho did not hide his disappointment in the aftermath of the Champions League match. After suffering a defeat in the millionaires' competition, against Juventus (2-0), the Benfica coach held a press conference, where he answered journalists' questions and dodged the topic of Rafa Silva. Check out everything the Special One had to say.

Looking to the future, can Rafa Silva help you score more goals? "Is he a Benfica player? I can't answer that because he's not a Benfica player."

Did you feel, at any point, that you lacked options on the bench? "Without a doubt. Our bench had Enzo with one arm, Manu still with some issues, Bruma who is still not truly fit to play, then the defensive line, all good with António Silva fully ready to start, but then Neto, Banjaqui, Gonçalo Oliveira, Rodrigo Rêgo, João Rego... You can clearly see that João is in an environment he dominates and is at a different stage. In a squad like ours, that's a lot, Bah all year, Lukebakio, Ríos... These are things that limit us a lot. Obviously, I prefer to win, but I’d rather lose and see that the boys gave everything than lose like we did against Sp. Braga."

Response to the Italian press: "I don't think I have to talk about Juventus, I can only talk about the Juventus-Benfica match, I can't talk about their squad. But I know that economically they are a very strong club, who every season give great resources to their coaches, with a bench full of options, and the biggest clubs in the world are like that."

Did everything go wrong for Benfica today? Can tonight be turned around with good news, like, for example, the arrival of Rafa Silva? "I've already asked Gonçalo here about Rafa Silva and, from the moment he says he's not a Benfica player, I have to keep saying he's a Besiktas player and that I won't comment on Rafa. About today's match, I try to be honest in my analysis and I think Benfica played a great game, but in football you have to score goals. There are those who score goals by doing very little to deserve them. It's happened to me before. We tried to find solutions to deal with important injuries, we put together a different kind of team, a team that goes to Porto and dominates, goes to Vila do Conde and dominates, goes to Turin and dominates. But we have to break through the opponent's goal. Even in Vila do Conde, we scored very little for all that we produced. We have to get there and finish."

Is it practically impossible to continue in the Champions League? "Even if it's practically impossible, practically isn't impossible. But even if it's practically impossible, in this group, regardless of the objectives, you have to give what you have and play with the responsibility of being Benfica and giving your all. It doesn't change much whether it's practically or truly impossible. We know it's Real Madrid, we know we're a Benfica with limitations, but we’ll give it everything, just like we did today. The word you used, 'bad luck'... we had to score. Playing like we did, creating like we did, controlling like we did... When you don't score, you open the door to suffering, especially against teams with players of this level. I was on the bench with my instinct from 1,250 games on the bench and I was telling my colleagues that the way the game was going, if we didn't score, we were putting ourselves in a position to suffer. The team was playing well from Trubin onwards. I saw things coming off beautifully. We reached the second phase with great quality and then in the final 20 meters it’s hard to score. Against Rio Ave, with the way we played, if you 'kill' the game, you leave with a bag full, but we won 2-0 with an own goal. Our wingers have difficulties scoring, they play well, they play better and better, but they don't score. Our second-string players are not goal scorers. And today we couldn't even score from a penalty. It was a good game from Benfica, but to win we have to score. The players gave what they have and gave a lot. There are people here who accumulate minutes, Aursnes, Barreiro, Dedic, Dahl, Otamendi... They give everything they have, but that's it. Now it’s Estrela da Amadora."

Tactically, what difficulties did you find in the final third throughout the game? "None. The couple of times a good goalkeeper was needed, they had one. Then, there were a series of blocked shots, credit to players who know how to defend, who culturally work a lot on one-on-one situations, pressing the player in possession, covering and double covering, but in that area of the pitch we have to be different. We need a different player profile, but it could also be a player who doesn't have that profile and is still developing. Just look at the goal numbers of our wingers and they don't reach double digits. We don't have players who reach double digits and I think that's what's missing. Trubin wasn't exactly a great player in build-up, but the team now knows how to find solutions and play out, but we have to score more goals. Even though we lost the game, I leave here proud of what the boys did."

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