Jose Mourinho appointed Benfica boss to set up Chelsea return | OneFootball

Jose Mourinho has been appointed as Benfica's new head coach - and one of his first assignments will be against his old club Chelsea.

The Lisbon club turned to the 62-year-old after dismissing Bruno Lage in the early hours of Wednesday morning following a Champions League home defeat to Qarabag of Azerbaijan.

Mourinho returns to Benfica after a short stint in charge of the club 25 years ago.

Since then he has enjoyed great success at Porto, before moving to Chelsea where he won three Premier League titles across two spells.

He will now be welcomed back to Stamford Bridge when Benfica play Chelsea in the Champions League on September 30.

He joined Chelsea in 2004, the summer after they had been taken over by Russian billionaire Roman Abramovich.

Mourinho proclaimed himself as a 'Special One' and led the Blues to two Premier League titles, an FA Cup and two League Cups in a first stint which ended in 2007.

He won a third league title and another League Cup crown in 2015.

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Mourinho's appointment was confirmed on Thursday (REUTERS)

Mourinho lifted the Champions League and UEFA Cup at Porto, and also won Europe's top club prize with Inter Milan in 2010.

He won the Europa League with Manchester United in 2017 and the Conference League with Roma in 2022.

His most recent role before accepting the Benfica job was with Turkish side Fenerbahce, who dismissed him last month after he was unable to lead them into the league phase of the Champions League.

He was briefly in charge of Benfica between September and December 2000, his first head coach assignment after working as an assistant to Sir Bobby Robson and Louis van Gaal at Barcelona.