"I'm the coach of one of the biggest clubs in the world"

PRESENTATION

Introduced as Benfica coach this Thursday afternoon, September 18, José Mourinho, in his first intervention as leader of the Eagles, he highlighted the importance of the Club and the “tremendous honor” he felt at returning to the Reds after 25 years.

At Benfica Campus, before answering questions from the media, the coach made a statement in which he acknowledged being "the coach of one of the biggest clubs in the world".

"I have so many emotions, but I think experience helps me control them. I want to thank you for your trust, I want to thank you for the honor I feel right now", said José Mourinho, addressing President Rui Costa, who was sitting next to him.

"Obviously, being Portuguese, there isn't a single person who doesn't know the history, culture, and magnitude of the Benfica nation and this club, but I want to make one thing absolutely clear: I have to be able to block out all these emotions and look at Sport Lisboa e Benfica and my job, my responsibility, in a very simplistic way. I'm the coach of one of the biggest clubs in the world, and I want to focus on that, I want to focus on this mission, I want to concentrate, not on the difficulty, but on the pleasure, from the point of view of what a coach's job is, to focus on something that is truly exciting", he emphasized.

"It's been 25 years, but I'm not here to celebrate my career. It's been 25 years in which I've had the opportunity to work at the biggest clubs in the world. And to conclude my speech, I would like to say to you, as the representative of millions of Benfiquistas around the world, that none of the other giant clubs I've had the opportunity to coach have made me feel more honored, more responsible, or more motivated than being the coach of Benfica", he declared, turning once again to the President.

"Words are sometimes carried away by the wind. Attitudes are not. And the promise is very clear: I will live for Benfica, I will live for my mission. I left home and said ‘see you on Sunday’ [smiles]. That means that until Sunday, I'm not leaving here. And I think it's a tremendous honor that my experience helps me control my emotions. And I would appreciate it if we could keep this short, because we have a game in 48 hours, and I think that for the Benfica nation, there is nothing more important than the game we have in about 48 hours", added José Mourinho.

PRESS CONFERENCE

President Rui Costa also mentioned recently, as he did at the press conference, that Benfica's next coach must have a winning profile. We all know your record. In that sense, how are you going to make Benfica win?

In some people's minds, I have two careers. I have a career that lasted a certain period of time, and I have another career that, in their minds is, let's say, a not so happy phase. My misfortune is that, in the last five years, I played in two European finals. It's the negative part of my career, the dramatic phase of my career – in the last five years, I played in two European finals. But I'm not important. I'm coming to Benfica at a stage in my career where... Not only in my career, but also as a person... I think we change for the better. I am more altruistic, I'm less egocentric, I think less about myself, I think more about the good I can do for others, about the joy I can give to others. I am not important. Benfica is important, Benfica fans are important – they are the heart of any club, and at Benfica in an even more special way. The players are important, and I am here to serve, to make Benfica win. Benfica's DNA is to win, but I also think that Benfica's DNA is to lose within limits. I see myself very much in the culture, I see myself very much in the profile, I see myself very much in what truly is the people who love football. The people who love football want to win, but they also want to feel part of the effort, part of the mentality, part of the sacrifice. We are privileged (coaches, players) on many levels, but at the end of the day, for 90 minutes, we represent all those people, and it is with this feeling that I have always taken to the field. I have enormous respect for my job, I have enormous respect for my club's fans. We won't always win. We can't lose like we did two days ago. That's not Benfica. Benfica is the team that played against Fenerbahçe for 30 minutes, Benfica is the team that was in Istanbul struggling to play with 10 men and managed to steer the ship to safety and get a positive result. That's the Benfica I identify with, that's the Benfica I grew up with, that wins a lot. When Benfica doesn't win, loses in a way that makes people feel "we lost with them", and I think a lot of that comes from uniting from an emotional point of view. I have a game in 48 hours, I'm going to find a team now where half the players are on their second day of recovery, tomorrow [Friday] will be 24 hours before the game. I have to get involved, but I have to do so very carefully. I can't change things, I can't be radical, I can't get to much involved and want to change everything at once. It has to be done calmly, and I think that's exactly where we have to start, on an emotional level. We have to take the field knowing that we are not just eleven, we have to take the field knowing that we are many millions, and thinking about them.

First of all, I think Portuguese football should say "thank you" for being here. This is obviously also an important moment for Portuguese football. Speaking of feelings, was there always anguish about leaving Benfica the way you did [in 2000], about having managed to put together a team that was nothing special and still win? Is it a special moment and emotional for that reason too?

I try, honestly, to block those feelings, and I think it's important that I manage to do so. As I said before, they are two completely different phases, not only of my career, but mainly of my life as a man. They are two completely different moments. It is the beginning of a career, and today I'm at a moment that I would say is one of great maturity, in which, objectively, I say, if anyone is expecting me to end my career in 4 or 5 years, they are mistaken. I will be the one to decide when I will finish, and I will finish when I feel that I no longer have the same passion that I have today. The President knows that this is true. I wanted to come last night [Wednesday, September 17], I wanted to be here last night, I wanted to be here working, I wanted to be meeting with the analysts, with the assistants. It was only possible to come today around noon. So, to say that I will only stop when I feel that something has changed, and today I feel that what has changed is that I am more "hungry" than I was 25 years ago. In a completely different phase, from a human point of view, perhaps today things would not have been as they were 25 years ago. There are a number of things where I come after: I am the last, I am the last in line, I am here to serve. And that moment is a completely different moment, even in terms of immaturity, which leads to certain types of decisions being made. So, as I said, I'm super happy to be here. I feel a huge responsibility, but I feel more alive than ever. It's a shame that the game is only two days away, but at the same time, it's good. It's a shame because I don't have time to work much, but at the same time, it's good because I'm looking forward to it happening. I'm passionate about this. I really want it. And surely you have some more difficult questions hidden away, such as whether I feel that all Benfica fans are happy that I'm here. If that question came up, I'll answer it in advance. I don't think so. Who is magnanimous? Who has the power to have everyone on their side, everyone in their favor, everyone happy, everyone admiring them? I don't think anyone does. Now, I feel that responsibility and motivation to do good things. And we know what doing good things here means: doing things at Benfica, especially at the national level, means winning titles.

You said earlier that you have coached the best clubs in the world. Why do you say that this is the main challenge and the one that gives you the most responsibility? Is it also because you are here linked to the fact that we have elections in 40 days, does that also affect you a little? And now, regarding the contract, the fact that you signed until 2027, but there is that option of not continuing after next season, could you explain that situation to us?

I think the contract is a contract with great ethics behind it. I just signed it, I didn't draft it, it was obviously drafted by Benfica's Board, by the President, and by my representatives. Obviously, I only sign what I like, what I agree with, but I think it has a tremendous ethical concept. I think the Club has enormous respect for the elections, I think it has enormous respect for the other distinguished members who are running for the Club's presidency, and I think that is commendable. To me, honestly, I was touched that the contract was aimed at this ethical approach. Obviously, the day after the elections, I will be Benfica's coach, but the presence of this ethical aspect in the contract gives me a great deal of freedom or an ease that would not exist under normal conditions... The contract is very ethical, which also makes me happy, because obviously I want to work at Benfica, but I want people to trust me, I want people to be in the same boat, so to speak, as me, because I think it's essential that this happens. If you ask me what my wish is, my wish is to fulfill the two years of my contract with Benfica, to fulfill them successfully, so that the success allows the Club, after or before the end of the contract, to want to renew with me, because my goal is to be successful, and, as I said before, at Benfica, especially at the national level, success means winning competitions.

We already know that this is not a celebration of your career, we already know that a lot has changed, but what I wanted to understand is what remains of the José Mourinho of 25 years ago. What is the desire of the man who, at 62, is sitting in that chair and returning to Portugal to coach Benfica?

What hasn't changed at all is that I'm desperate to win the next game. Twenty-five years ago, I was desperate to win the game; twenty years ago, I was desperate to win the game; ten years ago, I was desperate; five months ago, I was desperate; when I played against Benfica a month ago, I was desperate to beat Benfica, and now I'm desperate to beat Desportivo das Aves [AFS]. That's me, that's my essence. What's different... obviously there's a lot more maturity, that practically everything in football becomes déjà vu. It's very difficult for something to happen that I haven't already faced in my career. Now, I'm coming to a club that has a very high level of human and professional structure. The people I bring with me are great and are my people on the first day. On the second day, they are no longer my people. On the second day, my people are everyone else, but working at a club that is so advanced on a technical and human level, such as Benfica, is obviously fantastic for me.

When you arrived at FC Porto in 2002, you promised you would be champion. Today, can you promise the same to Benfica fans? In a context of elections and some instability at Benfica due to recent results, and considering that José Mourinho has not exactly had easy situations at the last clubs you represented, do you think you can be happy at Benfica? Do you think this is a good situation for you?

Regarding what I promised 20 or so years ago, it's a bit like what I said earlier. Promises are worth what they are worth. At the time, I promised and I delivered; I could have promised and not delivered. These are phases in the life of a 60-year-old man or a 40-year-old man. Right now, I'm not making any promises. What I promise is that I think, and I truly believe, that Benfica has everything it takes to win the Championship. Benfica has lost two points. We will surely lose more throughout the Championship, hopefully not too many. But we are practically starting from scratch. And Benfica has enough potential in that locker room to be champions. And I'm not hiding. I could be here saying "maybe yes, maybe no"... Not a promise, but the conviction that we can and should, I'm not hiding. The ideal situation for me is to return to coaching one of the best teams in the world. To coach one of the biggest clubs in the world. My career has been rich so far. I've coached the biggest clubs in the world in different countries. I made the wrong choice, but no regrets. Because regrets in life don't help us at all. But the awareness of what we did well and what we did badly exists. I was wrong to go to Fenerbahçe. It wasn't my cultural level. It wasn't my level in terms of football. It wasn't my level. Obviously, I gave it my all until the very last day. Obviously, I also had to mourn my departure, as Bruno [Lage] is surely doing now, because nobody likes to leave. But coaching Benfica means returning to my level. And my level is coaching the biggest clubs in the world. 

You said earlier that you are not universally liked, and indeed it is difficult to be universally liked when you are a coach at a club. But José Mourinho was perhaps universally liked a few years ago, when you won titles at Chelsea and FC Porto. It seems – based on opinions that are often circulating – that José Mourinho has become a more defensive coach. To convince those fans who disagree with your choice as Benfica coach, do you promise attractive, attacking football? You were at the Estádio do Dragão a week ago, and you will be back there on October 5 for the "clássico" match. What kind of reception are you expecting?

I'm expecting a different reception. I think the reception they gave me is normal, because I'm a historic coach at the club and people recognize that. I hadn't visited the Estádio do Dragão for roughly 20 years, and having returned there, I think the reception ended up being normal. Returning as coach of the great rival, knowing that my goal is not to enjoy a visit but to try to win a game, obviously, I'm expecting a different reception. But the respect I have for them and the respect they have for me, I think that won't change. I'm returning as coach of the great rival. There's not much history, there's not much to say, but I don't have any kind of problem with that. Regarding the first question? Regarding the first question? With the ball, we have to attack with eleven players and maintain some balance, and without the ball, we have to defend with eleven players. And bite hard, because Benfica, in my opinion, hasn't bitten hard enough in recent games.

I would like to know your opinion about this return to Luz, after everything that happened during your first spell here, when Vale e Azevedo's successor made some rather inelegant comments about you at the time. Does this feeling of returning in a pre-election period bother you in any way, that something similar might happen in these elections?

No, no, not at all. Not at all. I don't think about that at all. I think about the mission, the responsibility of the mission, of serving. And when you think about serving, you give more than you receive, and you always worry about giving and not receiving. And that's where I am right now. I don't think I owe Benfica anything for giving me the opportunity to be Benfica's coach 25 years ago. I don't think I owe anything, because otherwise I might think the opposite, that a job that gave me hope, tremendous hope, was interrupted. I don't think anything. It's like I say, it's a block, and it's easy to block something that happened 25 years ago. I'm extremely focused on a mission, and right now, do you know what my only concern is? My only concern is that I need to go train and time is passing.