Exclusive Glorioso 1904 - Norton de Matos tips ex-Porto for Benfica | OneFootball

Luís Norton de Matos would welcome Paulo Fonseca’s arrival at Benfica, replacing José Mourinho. In this Glorioso 1904 Exclusive, the former coach of the Eagles’ B team spoke about Special One’s possible successors, analyzed the league campaign, discussed the consequences of failing to qualify for the Champions League, and addressed the upcoming match against Estoril.

"I think Benfica have had a somewhat inconsistent league campaign. The way it started, which forced a change of coach, and when these changes happen it’s because something didn’t go well or it was concluded that there were issues to sort out... José Mourinho, in adapting to Benfica, had to make adjustments. Although Benfica are still unbeaten in the league, there were draws that proved costly, such as, for example, against Casa Pia. Benfica started from a very big gap behind Sporting and Porto. They had the bird in hand and now no longer depend on themselves to reach second place", he began by telling our newspaper.

The 72-year-old coach has no doubts that missing out on second place in the league will be harmful for the Club. "The main consequence of not going to the Champions League is always the financial issue. The Champions League is a financial cornerstone, coming from competition revenue, ticket sales and merchandising.", he reflected.

After the damaging draw against Braga, the Reds will travel to Amoreira next round to face Estoril. Luís Norton de Matos has no doubts that the canary-yellow side will cause problems for Benfica. "Estoril are always a team that creates huge difficulties, they are a very well-organized team, they have had a good league campaign despite some ups and downs. It is a team with quality players and one that will force Benfica to be super focused and super aggressive, from the point of view of the intensity of the game, in order to achieve their objective and hope that Sporting slip up against Gil Vicente", he analyzed.

To conclude, Norton de Matos spoke about José Mourinho’s possible successors, should the "Special One" leave for Real Madrid. In addition to the names Marco Silva and Ruben Amorim, the coach also spoke about Paulo Fonseca, the current Lyon manager and former Porto coach. "I think a Portuguese coach, something I am in favor of, who knows the mentality of the clubs and the players, like Marco Silva and Ruben Amorim, will always be a good option. I would also mention a coach I personally like a lot: Paulo Fonseca. He is a very organized coach, his teams play well, he is currently in France and has already worked in the Italian market, which are two leagues more difficult than the Portuguese one", he concluded.

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