Rui Calafate scathing on Benfica key figure's work: Miserable | OneFootball

Rui Calafate believes that José Mourinho ended his spell at Benfica in clear failure and that the football played was at times "miserable". The commentator begins by addressing the rumors that link Mourinho with Real Madrid and points directly to Jorge Mendes’ influence in shaping that narrative.

“For several weeks now, there has been a sense that Jorge Mendes is the guiding hand behind the narrative that the Messiah who will put the Real Madrid house in order is José Mourinho,” he wrote in the newspaper 'Record'. The analyst argues, however, that the coach’s return to the Santiago Bernabéu is far from unanimously welcomed.

“Iker Casillas, who is no great admirer of the former coach, said something that is true: there are other managers in a better moment in their careers to take charge of his boyhood club. Mourinho has pedigree, numbers, and titles at the Santiago Bernabéu, yet right now he is relying solely on the perception that his supposed iron fist will crush the warlike atmosphere in the dressing room”.

The criticism then extends to the work carried out at Benfica, which Rui Calafate considers insufficient in every respect: “The evident decline in his winning trajectory, as well as this spell at Benfica, are not a good calling card. It is obvious that, for Benfica fans, there is enormous impatience over the lack of action from the president, who was re-elected for having hired José Mourinho and who then became contested and insulted because of that same José Mourinho’s failure”.

In the final stretch of the column, Rui Calafate offers a strong conclusion: “Mourinho failed in every objective: the quality of play was miserable in most cases, the model was based on cynical football in which the Eagles were never comfortable in possession or control, and on top of that several assets lost value. Let’s be clear: José Mourinho failed at Benfica and with that he definitively mortgaged the dream of leading the National Team. He lost his charm and unanimity, he became ordinary. Let him go to Madrid”.

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