Title, future, players who shouldn't play: Mourinho on Casa Pia v Benfica | OneFootball

did not hide his frustration and disappointment after yet another game in which Benfica fell short of expectations. At the end of the draw against Casa Pia (1-1), the coach ‘fired’ in all directions, targeting the opponent, the refereeing team and even Benfica’s own players, effectively admitting the title race was over. Check out everything the Special One said.

Overall reading?

"We lost the chances we still had of being champions and fighting for the title until the end, as well as control over the fight for 2nd place, which at this moment no longer depends only on us. We lost a lot with this result, that is the most important thing to take away. As for the game, if we start from that basis, we did not do everything to achieve it. If in the first half we lacked intensity and determination and showed a sluggish tendency and what I would call ineffective control, the second half was completely different. Prestianni’s introduction also gave us a lot. The team started playing faster, building better, having a much more purposeful flow, the goal, more corners, more chances, and against a team that was hungry for the point and not the points, as the coach said in the preview. They played for the point. The referee, without having any influence at all on important decisions because it doesn’t seem to me that there were any, contributed to this being a very poor game. And then, when we are winning a game of this nature, against an opponent that almost did not have a shot on goal, we are the ones who have to provide the assist. In the end, we - I don’t even want to say draw the game - lost the title and put ourselves in trouble for 2nd place because we stopped depending on ourselves".

Otamendi’s words and the flash-interview statements:

"I was not successful. Lack of character I think is a bit aggressive, because there are no bad people there, there are good people, who work, but my frustration is seeing how they train and then arriving at a game of this importance and having a first 45 minutes without the urgency and need to win... Casa Pia, because they were fighting for this point, simulated, threw themselves to the ground, the bench almost came onto the pitch, players with cramp going back down... they did almost everything to get their little point. I don’t criticize them. I criticize the referee, who allowed it, the VAR lady who gave 6 minutes, and I criticize my team. When you tell me I was unable to convince them, my intervention at half-time was to improve tactical aspects and the other was mathematical, which I don’t think they do, and I started doing the math on the FlipChart. The math was very simple: we are 8 points behind FC Porto. If we win, we go to five. If we beat Nacional, we go to two and FC Porto goes to Estoril only two points ahead. If we draw this game, from 8 we go to 7. It’s over. Simple. If we lose today, even by beating Sporting we are not in control of the situation regarding 2nd place. The second half, as it unfolded, was there to be won easily. Casa Pia’s goal is that kind of situation where you don’t feel like you are playing for your life. Maybe I have an old-fashioned mentality, but I am one of those who thinks you play for your life in every minute, every play and every ball. I have not been good enough to change certain characters, not bad characters, I repeat, but characters to fight for the title".

Pavlidis, Ivanovic and Anísio on the pitch. Was it worked on?

"Of course. We even trained it yesterday. The idea was obvious, we had no problem in one-on-one situations with the striker, but the risk was already inherent in the draw. Prestianni and Schjelderup were our two best players. A single midfielder and then the three attackers, with Sudakov behind them. Whenever we did it in training things went very well. Today when that happened it was in the 80th minute. From the 80th to the 90th minute there was no game. Then, of the 6 that that lady decided to give, there was no game either. There was a great cross from Pavlidis on the right and then nothing. It didn’t work".

Did the two wide wingers help improve the team’s performance?

"The reason why Prestianni did not start is very simple: since he came from Argentina he had not trained a single day. He arrived sick. He went there, did not play. He came back with a fever, he did not even go to the training centre so as not to create problems for his teammates. Yesterday he made himself available to come and help and that is why I did not start him, because if there is one thing that is working well right now it is Prestianni on the right and Schjelderup on the left. Then there are the parallel issues, which I don’t even want to use as an excuse, but as a coach I feel it. Dedic is Dedic. His intensity, irreverence, the way he attacks defenders is important. And a two-match suspension when most red cards in this league never lead to two-match suspensions. Others get one game and Dedic gets two. I hope in Porto they don’t misunderstand me or tell me to keep quiet, but we got a Bah somewhat in the same image as the Froholdt that FC Porto got: physically drained by 120 minutes of play, psychologically by having lost qualification for the World Cup, and I really missed Dedic in a game like this".

CNN just broke news saying Jorge Mendes is doing everything so Mourinho does not stay at Benfica. Is it true?

"If something happened during the game, I don’t know, and before the game nothing happened. Jorge Mendes is my agent but I am the owner of my decision. My decision is that I would like to continue at Benfica".

What objectives does Benfica have now?

"First place is impossible. The main objective is to fight for second place, which no longer depends on us. Even if we win all the games, which will be extremely difficult but possible, until the end of the championship, Sporting would also have to drop two points. But the objective is to fight for this. It is possible to win all the games and for Sporting to draw one. This is objective number one. I have to think carefully. I have to think carefully together because right now I feel like not playing some players anymore. But higher values prevail. They are assets, even if I did not want to continue with some of them, maybe it is easier not to continue while trying to increase their value rather than trying to be hostile, but basically that is it. On a sporting level, the achievable objective is to finish in 2nd place. But that is the only objective".

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