Mourinho on joining Benfica: Mário Branco wasn't even present... | OneFootball

José Mourinho explained how he came to Benfica, and Mário Branco's involvement in the whole process. The Eagles' coach spoke with journalists, in a press conference previewing the match against Rio Ave, counting for the first round (postponed) of the Liga Portugal Betclic - a game in which he has some heavy reinforcements.

The coach of Benfica was asked if there were contacts when Bruno Lage was still leading the team: ""If you want to believe me, great, if not I can't do anything. There is the truth of other people, but I will repeat so that there are no doubts. In the summer I had no contact with Benfica, with the president, or mandated agent. Director Mário Branco was not even at Benfica".

"I had a contract with Fenerbahçe and wanted to fulfill it until the end. In my head, I was far from thinking about returning to Portugal as a club coach. But I had no contact with the Federation. I had zero contacts with Benfica. A few years ago I had contacts with Benfica but things did not happen at that time", explained José Mourinho next.

José Mourinho continued, recounting the rest of the process: "After the entry of the general director, this type and connection they try to make... To become a great friend of a person in football is difficult. If in a year we became friends it's because on the other side was a serious professional, who when he came to Benfica and there was a 25% chance of Benfica playing with Fenerbahçe, our contact ended. There were zero contacts".

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