Manager Jose Mourinho would have been happy to make nine substitutions at half-time before Benfica’s side finally achieved victory, as their performance was so dismal. The Portuguese club defeated Atlético CP of the lower league in the Taca de Portugal, but the Special One declared that he was “betrayed” by that particular performance, insisting that the tactical approach was completely sound, but that the players were unable to carry out his instructions.
Mourinho made four substitutions in the second period as players emerged, but stressed that he could have substituted almost the entire starting XI. The former Chelsea manager has only been back in his home country for a few months, but he hasn’t shied away from criticizing his team.
Benfica finally broke the deadlock with a goal from Ricard Ríos in the 73rd minute. Vangelis Pavlidis added another goal four minutes later to take the tie through to the fourth round, but Mourinho expressed his frustration after the final whistle.
“We made four substitutions at half-time, but we should have made nine. Those nine players were not on the pitch. Only two should have stayed. Is the system working? The system is working. The players who are there are not working. I don’t like players who betray me.”
“At half-time in the locker room, we decided which players we were happy to keep. There were two players who wanted to play. The game should be taken seriously. The other nine were not.”
Mourinho admitted that Benfica’s tactical set-up had to be changed when introducing the new legs, but made it clear that some members of the squad should not question why they are missing games despite substandard performances.
He added: “We didn’t want to specify what we needed to do internally, but we were forced to change the system to remove some of the players we wanted to remove.”
“The problem was not the system, it was the players. Some of the players were not in the game from the first moment. I have already told them not to come knocking on my door because they will not play.”
Benfica remain unbeaten in domestic competition this season, but a series of draws have left them six points behind league leaders Porto, who have won 10 of their 11 games.
Mourinho has won seven of his 13 matches since returning to the Estadio da Luz, but all three of his defeats have come in European competitions.
