Mourinho on the press, Otamendi, Real after Benfica v AVS SAD | OneFootball

He was at the press conference after the Benfica victory over AVS SAD (3-0). Among various topics, the coach criticized the media for not giving more attention to José Neto's starting position, addressed Nicolás Otamendi's halftime substitution, and the controversial match against Real Madrid.

What differences did you find between the AVS SAD from your debut at Benfica and today's AVS SAD?

"AVS SAD is better organized, defensively compact, resilient, because their situation was not easy, losing 3-0 at halftime, but they showed resilience to keep playing until the end. You can tell they will do their best until the end and will fight for victories and to earn more points. Today, we are more of a team than we were in that match at Aves, we are more of a team, with perfectly defined playing principles. We continue in this hunt for points, doing our duty which, regardless of the standings, is to give our all. And that's what we did today."

You said this week was not easy, did the criticism you faced have an impact on you, regarding the accusations of racism from Vinícius Júnior?

"I don't want to comment. I repeat that it has been difficult for everyone, I won't specify at what level the difficulties were. Today we were all able to be professional and do our job."

Ivanovic, with you, only has a place on the wing, or do you still see him as a striker?

"From the moment we won the game, it was more about managing. I wanted to rest those who came off and try to fit the pieces as best as possible to keep the team balanced. I wanted to take off Pavlidis and Schjelderup and give minutes to Ivanovic and Anísio. Anísio is more of a forward who plays with his back to the defense, who uses his technique in tight spaces, Ivanovic is a central forward in depth, for transitions. When we play against teams that play in low blocks, Anísio is more of a reference player than Ivanovic. We like Ivanovic, both as a person and as a professional."

Is the first-half performance a boost for Benfica four days before visiting the Bernabéu?

"It has more to do with Barcelos than with the Bernabéu. If we hadn't won today, we would go to Barcelos with a different outlook. Assuming that one of our direct rivals has already won, assuming the other will also win, we keep the distance and will go to Barcelos with the mentality that the game is also decisive for us. So, the fact that we won today doesn't motivate us for Wednesday, it motivates us for Barcelos, because they are completely different things."

Was Otamendi's halftime substitution for physical management? And were you satisfied with Bah's performance?

"I made many changes to the team and wanted to keep three or four players there, and I thought Otamendi, despite being the oldest and one of those with the most minutes, I thought his presence was important, even to not send the wrong message to the group. In that central position, we have three center-backs of a very high level and in this case, at halftime, I took Otamendi off and put Tomás Araújo in. In fact, we even played a big game in Porto, where Tomás and António Silva played, today playing Otamendi was more symbolic in the sense of sending the players the message, at least not the wrong one, that the game would be easy, that the game wasn't important. Seeing the game as it was, I split the minutes between him and Tomás, keeping António in the game, who hadn't played in the previous match. With Bah I was more than satisfied. I had doubts about whether he should start or come on during the game and he took the responsibility for me that, perhaps, 90 minutes would be too much, but coming on for 20 or 25 minutes would be too little. So we decided he would start and go as far as he could. If the game had a higher level of difficulty, we had Dedic on the bench to come in. If the game was more or less under control and we didn't have that kind of need, then Sidny Lopes Cabral would drop back. Now we have Bah, Dedic, and Banjaqui at right back again. And that's it, if it were another club starting with 17-year-old players as we do and do quite often, I think it would be front-page news, I think it would be the opening of many programs, but because it's Benfica it's something that almost goes unnoticed, but as a coach I don't let the work done with the players until they reach the first team go unnoticed, including at the Federation. If I were in the stands today and didn't know the players, I wouldn't believe that Benfica's left-back is 17 years old."

What dynamics did you ask José Neto and Bah to have in their relationships with Schjelderup and Sidny?

"It was easier on the left than on the right. On the left, we wanted to build with three at the back with Neto inside and Schjelderup outside. And it's an almost natural dynamic that matches both their characteristics. And everything was very fluid on that side. On the opposite side, it's the first time Bah has played with Cabral. Bah likes to attack the depth more on the outside than inside, just like Cabral. There were a few clashes regarding the areas occupied. But we already knew that could happen."

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