‘The liar’, reply to Rui Costa, updates: Mourinho before Benfica-Nacional | OneFootball

Before the match between Benfica and Nacional, in the 29th round of Liga Portugal Betclic, José Mourinho gave his preview in Seixal. In a press conference, the 63-year-old coach - who accused the press of calling him a liar - “fired” in all directions and left no one unanswered, including Rui Costa. Check everything the Special One said.

Nacional need points. How did the week of work go?

“Nacional. You’re right, they need points, not desperately because they are outside the relegation zone and the possible playoff zone, but they are close and they need points, and they are a team that since the start of the season have played for points. They are a well-coached team that knows how to defend very well, with four or with five, and in my opinion they defend even better when they are in a low block. The permissiveness towards a drastic reduction in effective playing time. One of the characteristics of our league. It is a dangerous team on the counterattack. It is a good team and if we focus on the results they had against the teams at the top of the table, I think they won in Braga, but they had very balanced matches, if not in the football played, then in the result, and that is what I expect: a team coming to play for the point, without losing sight of the possibility of taking points. We really need to win, for every possible reason and then some. We really need to win. I read some of the standout lines from Tiago’s press conference, where he says he expects a reactive Benfica in relation to the last performance and result, and obviously that is our intention.”

You said you felt like not using some players. What values are those?

“I said a lot of things and it seems that in the end I didn’t say that much because, although I don’t follow it, Gonçalo makes me follow it because it is part of his job, and it seems I wasn’t clear and direct in saying that I want to stay at Benfica. According to Gonçalo, there have been a thousand and one doubts about that. I think I was direct and explicit in saying that I wanted to stay at Benfica next season. I don’t think I need to grab a piece of paper and a pen and say it again, even in that moment of frustration, regarding my desire to stay at Benfica and fight for titles. That is my goal, Benfica. Frustration? Obviously yes. And players I would not use anymore, one thing is what you say and another is what happens in practice. But I think I also stressed that one thing could be a statement of intent and then there were higher values. They are obvious. And when it seemed there was almost a tsunami regarding those statements, I thought about whether I was the only coach in the world who would change something in his squad. In the world, there are only five who would change nothing in their squad. The nature of every coach, of every club, is to never have a squad considered a perfect squad. One would like to have a taller player, a faster one, a set-piece specialist... I can identify five clubs/coaches who are the only privileged ones in this world, where I have also been. But it is normal for any coach to change something in his squad, especially after a frustrating performance and result that is difficult to accept. Now, in practice, I also clearly said there are other values that come into play, the difficulty of having the perfect squad. Within that storm of emotions, I think I managed to have the clarity to say that I will not do it. In tomorrow’s squad list you will come to the conclusion that it is exactly the same, not exactly the same but almost, because I think Dedic and Moreira come into the squad, therefore, for two players to come in, two players will go out. The pundits will interpret it however they want, but the reality is that the squad will have two different players tomorrow.”

Will you say which players you were referring to?

“Of course I won’t say, I can’t say. As I said earlier, but it seems that despite being young he is also stubborn, I already told him: there are five coaches in European football who do not want to change anything in their teams. But even so, one of those five will tell you he would change something. I’m talking about the five who coach the most powerful teams, with the greatest autonomy in the market, who couldn’t care less about financial fair play. Was I carried away by my emotions and frustrations? It’s possible. We are 64 press conferences in, I think it is normal for me to say things I shouldn’t say or things that some people do not want to understand. I even accept the criticism of ‘bad result, he criticizes others and does not criticize himself’. I accept that too. If I have that flaw, I accept it. But it is a consequence of who I am. But I am someone who has won everything, and many times. I admit I may have that deficiency in my personality as a coach, but it is a consequence of who I am and what I built. But I also have a quality that balances the group, I am very self-critical. In front of the group I am very self-critical and I assess what we could have done more and better. I am very demanding with myself and with others, apart from the players - I mean the staff and the people who work in the structures - and that quality makes up for that flaw I may eventually have.” “People who talk about football and live in that field can change their opinion every day, every hour, from the 89th minute to the 90th because there was a goal that changed everything. There is no point in asking me or president Rui Costa the same question. The president has already answered you. You already asked me if I wanted to continue, I already said yes. You asked me about my agent, I said I’m the one who decides. Tomorrow are you going to ask me again if I want to continue or ask president Rui Costa again? I find it a little strange that you keep asking the same question. If you want to ask president Rui Costa again, do it, but not me. I want to continue at Benfica next season.”

Have you reconsidered your position on the league?

“There I go getting insulted again. If my career reflects anything, it is perseverance, work, resilience. That is what my career reflects. Any word I may have uttered that now seems to have become universal law, I do not see myself in that. One of the things I do, which is not speaking to the players after matches, has something behind it. Because you risk saying things you do not want to say. The next day, yes. The only thing everyone can avoid except the coach is the post-match press conference. If you avoid it, you pay a fine of 2,500 euros or more. Not only because of the fine, but because of the circumstance. I am not the kind of person to say I’ll pay the 2,500 euros and not go to the press conference. It is part of our work and we greatly risk saying things that often we should not say. But I have a sense of reality, I am very realistic. What stimulates me a lot is the fact that it is mathematically possible, especially when it depends on yourself, and another thing is mathematically possible in the hands of others. Our qualification for the Champions League this season reflects very well what Benfica is and what I am. I had a lot of responsibility in that qualification, when match after match there were a lot of people dead and buried, there was always someone pulling and holding on. The way we qualified has the head of someone who put the ball in there, but it also has someone’s finger on it. As for the league, mathematically it is possible. I don’t need anyone to tell me. Not even friendlies are taken lightly at Benfica, it is always serious. But realistically I find it difficult for FC Porto to lose seven points. Now, it is our duty and one thing is my words saying ‘it’s over’ and another thing is my daily work and saying we must always work ‘more, more and more’ and ‘better, better and better’. The two points we lost against Casa Pia pushed me to make that statement. The president spoke and when a president speaks I keep quiet. But, even because of the relationship I have with him, he allows me to say, without him getting upset, that he knows me well. I’ve only been here 8-9 months, but he knows me well because he spends a lot of time with me. And he knows that I do not see myself at all in that situation of saying we gave up. What matters is that Benfica have to be stronger at every level than they were against Casa Pia.”

Have you already identified what you did wrong? The changes in the squad list.

“And Aursnes and Barreiro come in. I forgot. And I have to be very careful with the things I say here because they called me a liar last week over a detail. I said that Prestianni had never been here and they took it literally and called me a liar because a player who in three days of training spends two days in bed at home and shows up at Seixal one day, where he does a small restricted session, my expression ‘he didn’t even come to Seixal’ was enough for them to label me a liar. So I ask one question regarding liars: there was a meeting between me and the players a couple of days ago, two journalists who work for the same company, one wrote ‘fantastic meeting, held with great empathy, the coach always with a low tone of voice, without any direct accusation’. Same company, a colleague, ‘the meeting was a volcano, the coach directly humiliated Lukebakio in front of the rest of his teammates’. That is where there is a lie. One of the two is a liar. The liar was the one who said the meeting was a volcano. The other one had good information. He had the correct information.”

Effective playing time:

“There are nine draws, some of which were achieved, I would say, in extremis and with merit for having managed those draws, some in which we were also robbed of victory and some also through our own fault, which obviously includes me. This game against Casa Pia is the game, out of all of them, that hurts me the most as a coach of a team and as an individual, mainly because of the attitude we had. We did self-criticism and analysis individually and together. There are things we have to improve in these kinds of matches, the easier matches. In the easier matches there has to be a different approach. In a 50-minute game, because I think it had 50 minutes, I thought this was a Turkey thing, but after all it is the same or worse in Portugal. In 50-minute games, you have to hammer away and kill the game as quickly as possible. You cannot have this type of approach where the opponent can become totally settled. And then, when you score and climb over the wall, we cannot concede the goal we conceded, just as we cannot concede the goal we conceded at home against Rio Ave, we also cannot concede the goal we conceded at home against Santa Clara... The other day I used an expression with the players that is perhaps a sad expression, but if they call to say your house is being robbed with your family inside, how long do you take to get home? You fly. You fly. And you get caught in a thousand speed checks and you put people in the street at risk, but you go. And in football it is a bit like that. Teams that play for important objectives, the game has to have that kind of urgency. The goal we conceded has ridiculous contours. It is a team that does not get past midfield the whole game, that does not have a shot on target for practically the whole game. In the second half they did not get past the halfway line. We had three chances to clear the ball. My friend, put the ball in the stands, it’s a throw-in, you defend and you win 1-0 in a game in which you were poor, but you won. I have to be more aggressive, but eloquent with them. If there is anyone with 27 titles who wants to criticize me, I accept it. With fewer than 26, I think I’m the one who’s right.”

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