Jose Mourinho: “Beating Real Madrid is an incredible achievement” | OneFootball

It was a night to remember for Benfica and an especially satisfying one for Jose Mourinho. 

The Portuguese giants produced one of their finest European performances in recent years, beating Real Madrid 4-2 to keep their UEFA Champions League hopes alive. 

Given Mourinho’s history with Los Blancos, his words after the final whistle carried extra weight and quickly became a major talking point.

Mourinho did not hide his pride when asked about the result. From his perspective, Benfica were not lucky winners, but a side that earned every part of a famous victory against elite opposition.

“I think it was very well deserved. Kylian had two chances and scored both goals. For Benfica, beating Madrid is an incredible achievement.

“They hadn’t played against them since the fantastic years when they were in the Champions League finals. 

“And this is fantastic for the prestige of Benfica and the players. And next up, either Madrid or Inter,” he began saying.

More on the match

Mourinho was also asked about his interaction with Real Madrid coach Alvaro Arbeloa at full-time. Mourinho explained that emotions naturally take over in such situations.

“I celebrated. But Alvaro is a football man, and he understood that at that moment, you forget that he’s on the bench, that your people are there. 

Benfica registered a historic win over Real Madrid. (Photo by Jose Manuel Alvarez Rey/Getty Images)

“You forget everything. And he told me not to worry.”

As expected, questions followed about whether Mourinho felt Real Madrid underperformed. 

The Benfica coach quickly rejected that idea and instead shifted the focus back to his own players and their execution of the game plan.

“I saw a great Benfica. I understand that you analyse Madrid, which is what interests you, but we played an incredible game. 

“I told them that these players kill you, and Mbappe killed us. But we played our game very well. 

“We played an extraordinary game. We played our best game in the competition. Against Madrid, if you’re not perfect, you have no chance of winning.”

Conversation with Huijsen

One of the more personal moments of the night came in the tunnel, where Mourinho was seen speaking to Dean Huijsen. The Benfica manager explained,

“Dean was my player at Roma. He’s a friend of my children. Our families know each other well and I have a very good relationship with him. 

“We talked about the game. The boy was disappointed, but I was telling him that they were lucky to only lose by two. It could have been more.”

Source: AS