Mourinho to Benfica? Sporting dash Special One's hopes with Eagles | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho may be about to embark on a second stint at Benfica. Following the humiliating defeat against Qarabag, the board decided to dismiss Bruno Lage, where the former Fenerbahçe coach has been pointed out as the likely successor. In his first stint at Luz, in 2000/01, a game against Sporting ended up dictating his 'goodbye' from the red club.

On October 18, 2000, the board of then-president Vale and Azevedo decided that Jupp Heynckes should leave the technical command of the eagles and, for his successor, launched Mourinho who had as his greatest credits in his resume stints at Sporting, Porto and Barcelona as Bobby Robson's assistant coach: "He is a young coach with great ambition. We are convinced that it will be a winning bet".

Three days later, Jose Mourinho made his first game in charge of Benfica, where he lost 1-0 against Boavista. His stint at Estadio da Luz ended up lasting only 11 matches. Interestingly, his last match as coach of the reds was a 3-0 victory against Sporting.

His confrontation against the lions took place during the red elections, in which Manuel Vilarinho became the new president of the club. The newly elected top leader of the eagles early on made it clear that Jose Mourinho was not his coach and that it would indeed be Toni.

In order to feel legitimized, Mourinho asked for a contract renewal from Vilarinho and, when this was refused, he resigned. "As we felt like interim coaches, I and (Carlos) Mozer presented a proposal to the board to renew for a season, but it was rejected", said the Special One in a clarification conference.

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