Artem Dovbyk says who is to blame for Sudakov's lack of form at Benfica | OneFootball

The start of the new season could represent a turning point for Georgiy Sudakov at Benfica. After a first year marked by difficulties under José Mourinho, the Ukrainian international believes Marco Silva’s arrival could open new doors for him. Someone else who looks at that possibility with confidence is Artem Dovbyk, Roma striker and national-team teammate of the Benfica midfielder, who explained what, in his opinion, went wrong in the relationship between the player and the Portuguese coach.

"I think everything will be fine. Football is like that, things change every six months or from one year to the next. A coach comes in who likes you, and you start playing. A coach comes in who doesn’t like you and... it happens to everyone", he said in comments to the Ukrainian podcast Direct Red Card.

The giallorossi player went even further in his analysis of José Mourinho’s working methods: "He has a very clear hierarchy. He has two or three players who are untouchable to him, and then he has three or four who, no matter what they do, are always blamed for everything. I think Sudakov may have ended up in that group of players... Deep down, he still may not have done anything special, but it seems that, to the coach, he is already to blame for everything", he said.

The Ukrainian international also recalled a story Eldor Shomurodov told him to illustrate how the new Real Madrid coach views the details of the game. "I remember one Shomurodov told. They were playing against Juventus and there was a moment when he was fouled, Juventus carried on with the attack and scored. Eldor got up quickly and tried to chase someone down. Mourinho showed him that moment after the match and said: 'We conceded the goal because of you, because you should have stayed down on the pitch so the referee could see whether it was a foul and, who knows, disallow it'", he revealed.

. After a season in which he never managed to take on the expected leading role, the Ukrainian midfielder heads into 2026/27 determined to earn a prominent place in the Benfica team.

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