José Mourinho reacts to Benfica v Tondela win: mission accomplished | OneFootball

José Mourinho revealed he was satisfied with the result achieved on the night of Wednesday, October 29. The Benfica coach considered that the most important objective – reaching the final four – was successfully accomplished. However, he warned that the Eagles were too relaxed against Tondela.

Speaking to the press, the Special One acknowledged that the team performed well, but at times made things too easy: "Mission accomplished, yes, but with too much tranquility. For a long time, we played with little ambition and little rhythm. I was watching the first half and felt that I had failed in my attempt to push them harder."

However, José Mourinho explained that he did not like the approach the Eagles took during the first 45 minutes, recalling that in the second half, the response was different: "The team felt the game was easy and I didn’t like the first half. In the second half, we started well."

"It would have been a beautiful goal, it was disallowed for offside, but it would have been a very beautiful goal in its build-up. Then, those five minutes we spent waiting helped to make the temperature of the game too cold," added the Benfica coach to journalists.

"The feeling that remains is that, if I had started the game with the players who have been regular starters, the result would have been different. Objective accomplished, yes, but on a night like this, midweek, quarter-finals of the League Cup, having 53,000 people here is almost as fantastic as having 85,000 at the elections," he concluded.

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