Image source: bbc.com
Jose Mourinho ordered his Benfica players to sleep at the club’s training ground following their 3-1 League Cup semi-final defeat to Braga on Wednesday, with the Portuguese manager stating he hoped they “don’t sleep and instead think a lot” about the performance that ended their 11-game unbeaten streak.
Mourinho Orders Benfica Squad to Stay at Training Ground After Cup Semi-Final Loss
Benfica lost Wednesday’s tie 3-1 and ended the game with 10 men when former Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi was sent off. Mourinho, who was appointed manager in September, suggested his players would be staying at the club’s training base in Seixal for the foreseeable future as punishment for the disappointing result.
“The players will sleep in Seixal, and on Thursday there is training, and the day after there’s training,” Mourinho said at a news conference after the Braga defeat. “Since there’s no final on Saturday, our next game is against Porto next Wednesday. When we arrive in Seixal, everyone will go to their rooms.”
The 62-year-old manager expressed his frustration with the performance and hoped the enforced stay would prompt reflection from his squad. “I hope the players sleep as well as I do, which is to say that they don’t sleep at all,” Mourinho continued. “That’s what I wish for them. That they don’t sleep and instead think a lot, like I’m going to think.”
Mourinho indicated that meaningful discussions with his players would begin on Thursday, explaining that the immediate post-match period was not conducive to dialogue. “On Thursday we can start talking, which isn’t what happened in the locker room,” he said. “In the locker room it was a monologue, and monologues don’t work for me; I like to have a dialogue with the players.”
The defeat halted an impressive 11-game unbeaten streak for Benfica, with Mourinho having won 14 of his 23 matches in charge since returning to the club where he began his managerial career in 2000. Benfica now face Porto in the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals next Wednesday, with Mourinho’s side currently sitting third in the Primeira Liga, 10 points behind leaders Porto.
