José Mourinho: “It is also going to be a tough game for us”

Manchester United and Sport Lisboa e Benfica face tomorrow, Tuesday, in the matchday 4 of the Champions League, in England. The mage will start at 7:45 pm at Old Trafford.

In the match's preview, carried out this Monday at the Press Conference, José Mourinho, Manchester United's launched the match and repeated a message he has been emphasizing since the start of the competition.

"The first objective is to guarantee the qualification and, in that sense, a draw should be enough. The second objective is to finish first in the group. We will play, we will see, we will analyze the match and see what is possible. We know it is going to be a qualify  match. Benfica has the ambition to win a try to have a last chance to qualyfie for the last 32 and it will be a tough game for us, but Benfica also knows they won't have an easy game”, said the Portuguese coach.

Asked to comment Benfica's participation in the competition, and if it has been a disappointment, José Mourinho was empathic and explained the reason why.

“There no need to send messages on to the players, because they on the pitch, and the players felt it was easy to beat Basel, they felt it was easy to beat CSKA and they felt it was not easy to beat Benfica and that instead of  a 0-1 result, it could have been scoreless draw. The players felt that my message was correct. Benfica has a lot of quality, either individually, collectively  or tactically. Benfica is better than the other two opponents”, he stated.

“Disappointment? No! This competitions are treacherous and all can happen. In the Benfica-CSKA match, like watch and re-watch, is a bit difficult to accept that Benfica have lost that game. It is football, but Benfica is better than the other two teams ”, he added.

Looking ahead, “at this moment we are only thinking about Benfica, about the Champions League game and about no other game ”, concluded the coach. 

Text: Sónia Antunes