Image source: sports.yahoo.com
Jose Mourinho announced he will force his Benfica players to sleep at the club’s Seixal training ground for several days after the Portuguese giants suffered a 3-1 League Cup semi-final defeat to Braga on Wednesday, ending their hopes of reaching the final with a disappointing home performance.
Mourinho Orders Benfica Squad to Sleep at Training Base After Cup Semi-Final Exit
Benfica crashed out of the League Cup semi-finals following the heavy defeat at home, with the match ending in further frustration when former Manchester City defender Nicolas Otamendi received a red card in the 90th minute. The result denied Mourinho’s side a place in Saturday’s final and prompted an angry response from the Portuguese manager.
Mourinho, who was appointed Benfica boss in September, delivered a scathing assessment of his squad’s performance during the post-match press conference and revealed his immediate punishment. “Thinking we’d be playing the final, we’re not going home, we’re going to Seixal,” Mourinho fumed. “The players will sleep in Seixal, and tomorrow there’s training, and the day after tomorrow there’s training.”
The former Chelsea and Manchester United manager expressed his hope that his players would experience sleepless nights reflecting on their performance. “I hope the players sleep as well as I do, which is to say that they don’t sleep at all,” Mourinho stated. “That’s what I wish for them. That they don’t sleep and instead think a lot, like I’m going to think.”
Mourinho has won 14 of his 23 matches in charge of Benfica, though the club remain 10 points behind fierce rivals Porto at the top of the table going into the second half of the season. The teams will meet next Wednesday in the Portuguese Cup quarter-finals at the Estadio do Dragao, with Mourinho indicating he plans dialogue with his players before the crucial fixture.
The 61-year-old manager confirmed that Thursday’s training session would provide an opportunity for proper discussion with his squad. “On Thursday we can start talking, which isn’t what happened in the locker room,” Mourinho added. “In the locker room it was a monologue, and monologues don’t work for me; I like to have a dialogue with the players.”
