Mourinho on Santa Clara v Benfica: penalties and Schjelderup’s boots | OneFootball

He said everything he thought again and spared nothing and no one. At the end of the match, after the victory against Santa Clara (2-1), the Benfica coach held a press conference, where he analyzed the plays of the match in São Miguel and made several remarks, ranging from penalties to his players' boots.

"I think everyone had their importance. Obviously, scoring a goal, making an assist, and working as hard as he did is important and marks our game. But those who were on the field — some adapted better, others worse — gave what they had to give. It was a game that, at the end of the first half, seemed like it would have a calm second half, but with the 2-1, the game was open. Santa Clara got motivated, organized, and managed to take the game to the final minutes with the result still open. Then it was up to us, in that final part, to control their more offensive game, any set pieces that might happen, and take the points home".

Benfica then allowed opportunities to Santa Clara... I ask you if the team trembled for the victory?

"The game had different moments and objectives. In the first half, we achieved what we wanted: to score and try to resolve the game. The 2-0 was perhaps short, we could have achieved more. If they were wearing different colored shirts, surely there would have been a penalty. The play on Barreiro is huge and the one on Prestianni, if not huge, is at least "big". But for Benfica, it's tough, and I don't really know how to justify it... there are things that continue to be misunderstood. But anyway, after Santa Clara's goal, obviously the nature of the game changed. We always tried to look for the third goal that would give us tranquility and keep us out of any out-of-context situation that might happen. We didn't score the goal, and from the last 10/12 minutes, plus extra time, it was time to close, control, and bring in people who could give us freshness and more solidity to secure the points. Regardless of the sun, which we haven't seen in Lisbon for a few weeks... regardless of the beautiful sun and the beautiful atmosphere, the field is a disaster. I don't know another word. Even the Santa Clara players, with whom I spoke at halftime and at the end, told me that even for them, it's a disaster. This field doesn't help Santa Clara at all. I later learned that there is frustration within the club itself because it seems that the Regional Government has control over this and lets it go against Santa Clara's own wishes. From now on, it's no longer my problem because I won't be back here this season, but Santa Clara, which plays to save itself and needs to win games... a beautiful club on a beautiful island deserves a better field to play on".

Were those field conditions what justified Benfica's performance in the second half?

"It affects everyone. There was a Santa Clara player who saw me talking to Schjelderup about the boots and studs because I was trying to understand how he couldn't stay on his feet. The Santa Clara player told me: "Coach, here with rubber or aluminum boots, small or big studs, there's no solution. The players will always end up falling. Don't get mad at your player". You could also see it perfectly with Trubin: every time he had to put those 100 kg on a support foot to play a long ball, he always fell. Therefore, the field is truly difficult to play on. There are big teams that came here and had the same luck with the field, but more luck with the referee and ended up taking points, harming Santa Clara. Not today, today Santa Clara had good refereeing".

Remember that Benfica managed to secure three more important points, keeping the eagles in the fight for the Liga Portugal Betclic title. After 22 rounds already played, the Clube da Luz appears in third position, with 52 points, the same as Sporting (second place) and four points behind Porto, however, the rivals will still face Famalicão and Nacional, respectively.

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