Mourinho swipes at Lage after Fenerbahçe v Benfica: One team wanted it | OneFootball

José Mourinho stated that only one team wanted to win in the clash between Fenerbahçe and Benfica, valid for the first leg of the playoff to access the Champions League.

Fenerbahçe and Benfica faced off last Wednesday, August 20th, in the first leg of the playoff to access the regular phase of the Champions League, in Turkey. The result was a 0-0 draw, and at the end of the match, José Mourinho analyzed the match and made a remark about Bruno Lage, the coach of Benfica.

"Fenerbahçe couldn't score because they played against an opponent that defended a lot and defended well. They had enough experience for when they were down to 10 [players]. They knew how to manage the game, use the invisible fouls and the referee's willingness to end this as well. We also don't have many options to change the course of the game. This new player who arrived yesterday would have been important for us today because we don't have wingers and fast players to give a different direction to the game," said the coach who has been with Sporting.

Then, the Portuguese coach hinted that only his team tried to win the match: "It wasn't a beautiful game, but it was a high-level game. It was a game where one team wanted to draw and drew. There was another team that wanted to win but couldn't."

"It's not a criticism at all, but obviously the way they played was about stopping a team they also respected. They have more potential than us. Anyway, I'm glad they recognized our ability. When you play in a midfield with Florentino [Luís], Enzo [Barrenachea], [Richard] Ríos, still with [Fredrik] Aursnes on the right with [Amar] Dedic defending inside... The strategy is correct. They did well. It's a result they think is good for them. Critical? Not at all. I've also played in Barcelona with ten defenders," he added.

Fenerbahçe and Benfica will play the second leg next Wednesday, August 27th, at 8:00 PM, this time at Estádio da Luz. José Mourinho will try to surpass Benfica, while he is closely monitoring the possible signing of a Sporting player in this transfer market.

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