{"id":23980,"date":"2026-02-23T18:54:49","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/mourinho-defends-benfica-strengthens-prestiani-after-controversy-changes-bernabeu-plans\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T18:54:49","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T18:54:49","slug":"mourinho-defends-benfica-strengthens-prestiani-after-controversy-changes-bernabeu-plans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/mourinho-defends-benfica-strengthens-prestiani-after-controversy-changes-bernabeu-plans\/","title":{"rendered":"Mourinho defends Benfica: strengthens Prestiani after controversy, changes Bernab\u00e9u plans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"ue-c-article--first-letter-highlighted\"><span class=\"capital-letter\">B<\/span>N&#8217;fica will do their best at the Bernab\u00e9u in hopes of reversing the tie. It has been a difficult week for the team, but Jose Mourinho has had to be at his best as a psychologist. First, the situation with Prestiani must be resolved within the group. The Argentine player declared in front of all his teammates that he did not call Vinicius a &#8220;monkey&#8221;, apologized to the team for being the protagonist of an episode that affected the atmosphere in the dressing room, and said that he was ready to play at the Bernab\u00e9u.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Mourinho spoke privately to the player and expressed his complete confidence. In the absence of sanctions from UEFA, the manager wants the best Argentine player in Madrid. The message is clear. Be prepared for a hostile environment, isolate yourself from noise, and focus only on the game.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Expect some tension before the ball even starts rolling. Expectations will be high to see what will happen between Vinicius or Mbappe and Prestiani when the players exchange greetings after the UEFA national anthem. The Argentine is ready to ignore any provocations and focus solely on what happens over the next 90 minutes, or 120 minutes if necessary.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"ue-c-article__subheadline\">tough match<\/h2>\n<p>Mourinho has also tried to keep his team out of the media spotlight. He did not appear at the pre-match press conference before the league match against Aves and declined to comment on the incident after the 3-0 win. This is a way to avoid adding fuel to the fire.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>On a psychological level, Mourinho is a master. He therefore changed the usual preparations for the match and announced that the team would practice at the Bernab\u00e9u the day before the match. Benfica usually train at the training ground and then travel in the afternoon for an official press conference. Not this time.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Coaches want their players to have first contact with the stadium and mentally prepare for the next day&#8217;s game.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>If UEFA allows it, or if any sanctions have to be imposed, it will be Mourinho himself who will face the media. He expects many questions in the press room, especially about the racism allegations and the Vinicius-Prestiani clash, so he prefers to take center stage and control the discussion rather than leaving it to his assistant coach.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<p>Expectations are also high from where they will follow the match. There is no possibility that the hotel will do so. A similar situation happened at Chelsea and Real Madrid. On May 3, 2011, after the famous &#8216;Why?&#8217;, Madrid traveled to the Camp Nou to try to come back from a 2-0 deficit and Mourinho stayed at the Hotel Rey Juan Carlos I. Stadiums make it more difficult to maintain privacy and get messages across to your team. So it&#8217;s no surprise that he repeats his strategy of staying away from the cameras and the spotlight and taking full control of the situation.<span class=\"xai-icon\"\/><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.marca.com\/en\/football\/real-madrid\/2026\/02\/23\/699c2d4d46163fb85b8b456f.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BN&#8217;fica will do their best at the Bernab\u00e9u in hopes of reversing the tie. It has been a difficult week for the team, but Jose Mourinho has had to be at his best as a psychologist. First, the situation with Prestiani must be resolved within the group. The Argentine player declared in front of all<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23981,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-23980","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Mourinho defends Benfica: strengthens Prestiani after controversy, changes Bernab\u00e9u plans - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/02\/23\/mourinho-defends-benfica-strengthens-prestiani-after-controversy-changes-bernabeu-plans\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mourinho defends Benfica: strengthens Prestiani after controversy, changes Bernab\u00e9u plans - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"BN&#8217;fica will do their best at the Bernab\u00e9u in hopes of reversing the tie. It has been a difficult week for the team, but Jose Mourinho has had to be at his best as a psychologist. First, the situation with Prestiani must be resolved within the group. 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