"We must go hunting for points"

PREVIEW

The determination to win points in London was clearly evident in José Mourinho's words in the preview of Chelsea-Benfica, a match from gameweek 2 of the Champions League, scheduled for 8:00 pm this Tuesday, September 30, at Stamford Bridge Stadium.

It's an important Champions League game, with two teams still searching for their best form. What kind of game are you expecting? Do you think the first 20 minutes could be crucial?

I think that much more than the first 20 minutes will be crucial. I'm expecting two teams that want to win. Obviously, I don't believe Chelsea will play for anything other than a win. They're playing at home, they lost the first game, and for us, because of our club culture and also because of the identity I want to gradually give the team, there won't be any stadium or opponent that will make us think otherwise. If we have to defend well to win the game, obviously we have to defend well to win the game. But the goal from an emotional point of view and in terms of tactical approach is to try to win the game. They lost, but they lost in Munich in a much easier schedule than ours. Ours is much more complicated. The points we lost were, at the outset, points that we thought we would win. And we must go hunting for points in all seven games ahead of us. Is Chelsea at Stamford Bridge more difficult? Real Madrid at Luz? Newcastle in Newcastle? I honestly can't say which is the easiest or the most difficult, the most likely or least likely to get points. Tomorrow [Tuesday] we have to go for them.

What do you value most about returning home for the Champions League? Because it feels like home, with the pictures of the trophies you've won on the walls. And another question about Benfica: there's a lot of talk about the European dimension. What steps does the team need to take to achieve that goal?

Having a European dimension does not mean thinking about winning the European competition right away. We are so far from that—especially since the competition has just begun—that even thinking about it is detrimental. Right now, we are at a stage where every point is crucial, in a format that we all have little experience with. I am familiar with the format because I played in the Europa League last year, but it is a bit of an unusual format. You're in a league with so many teams you don't play against that you have no control over your fate in relation to those teams. Every point is crucial. And I don't think anyone will take offense if I say that, looking at Benfica's schedule, the three points against Qarabag were the points that would be the foundation for building on, and then one point here, three points there, and qualification would come. We are in a more complicated situation because of that, but we have to go into every game with the intention of getting them. Being at home... Yes, I'm at home, but I've played here with Tottenham, with Man. United, with Inter, in the Champions League, and for 90 minutes I didn't think for a second about where I was, who I was playing with, not at all. So, as they say: “I'm not a blue anymore.” I'm red and I want to win.

Taking those words on board: it's a game with a lot of responsibility—but it's still very exciting, because it's a Champions League game. From what you've seen or worked on in recent days, in recent hours with the players, do you feel that Benfica can achieve something special in this game?

The work was no work. But this no work was exactly what the players needed most. They finally had three days between games. Since I arrived, the three games we played were always with two days between them, and when that starts to accumulate, we reached the last game against Gil Vicente in great difficulty, with some players even showing red lights in the analysis and data we have game after game. Finally, we had three days off. The tactical organization work for tomorrow's game [Tuesday] is more passive than active on the pitch. wasn't possible for logistical reasons, and for today's training, I had two options: one, the training is open, you are there, and I can't work tactically; the second option was only 15 minutes for you, but open to the cameras that are there, which I put there many years ago, which means that the training would still be open. Therefore, today's training is an activation training without much tactical work. Now, I think the players are very focused on everything we talk about, on everything we analyze. That was the work we did yesterday, that we did today, and that we will continue to do tomorrow, to try to be the best we can be. If you ask me whether I believe more in this type of work or in field work, there is no comparison. I believe much more in field work, but I think we will have organizational principles, and when we have organizational principles and the players are safely focused, I think we have a good chance of competing with a great team.

Benfica has a dark history with Chelsea, having never beaten them and losing a European final. As for José Mourinho, on your visits to Stamford Bridge, you've only been successful once, with Inter's victory, and that season you ended up becoming European champions. You're also a coach who's used to breaking records and making history. Do you think you can end Benfica's bad luck at Stamford Bridge?

I don't think Benfica has played here that many times... If we were talking about 10 games, 9 losses, and 1 draw... But what are we talking about? A couple of games, at most? Four? I thought they had come fewer times. The European final was lost in extra time [compensation], and I don't really pay much attention to those kinds of statistics, honestly, I don't pay much attention to them. Portuguese teams don't usually do very well against English teams because they are strong. I think it's the pragmatism of it. They are strong teams, with greater intensity and more playing time. In Portugal, there are a lot of stoppages, and many teams prefer to prevent their opponents from playing rather than playing themselves. So English teams are usually a level above ours in different ways. But of course I believe. Of course I believe.

If I gave you a sheet to sign now, taking into account the schedule, taking into account the strength of the opponent, taking into account that you have a game at the Dragão, would you sign for 0-0?

No. [Would you play?] Yes. Maybe in the 88th minute I would sign three times. It depends on the game. It depends on the game. I always say that a draw is great if the opponent is much better than you. If Chelsea are much better than us, if Chelsea dominate us, if Chelsea push us back, if they don't let us play, if we can't create anything, then a draw is fine, we'll take it with great joy. Since the game hasn't started yet, and we're not talking about knockout, in knockout we control a little bit what we did in the first game, what we did in the second, but in this case we're playing for points. I think any point is a point that counts, any point in this type of format is a point that helps you achieve, if not the first goal, the second goal, but right now, no, right now we're going to play.

When José Mourinho left Portuguese football, you left as a European champion. Looking at national and even international football, do you feel that it is now more difficult for a Portuguese club, and Benfica in particular, to become European champions, or at least reach the later stages of the competition, than it was 20 years ago? And, while we're at it, could you also clarify, because Lukebakio didn't make it very clear, whether Lukebakio has enough stamina to play two consecutive games as a starter?

No, he [Lukebakio] will play. He will play, he will start. I don't know for how long. The other day, 60-something minutes, we'll see tomorrow. The intensity of the game, what the game demands of him, the way he will surely adapt to a different pace, intensity, and density, but he will start. I prefer that he start saving himself for 30 minutes, when he can probably play more than 30. We'll put it into play and then see how long it lasts. Formats change. The first time I played in the Champions League, as Mr. Robson's assistant, it was still the format where the knockout stage was at the beginning, followed by the group stage with four teams, then the semi-finals were played as a single match at the home ground of the team that finished first in the group. In that semifinal, it was Barcelona vs. FC Porto in Barcelona, and Milan vs. Monaco in Milan in a single-leg semifinal. Then we moved on to another format, then another, and now we're in this one. When I was European champion for the first time, we were talking about groups of four... It was the format that lasted the longest. Groups of four, then moving on to the round of 16, then the quarterfinals, then there were times when there was one team per country, then obviously it started to expand to feed more people and the most important federations, and now we are effectively in a format that I am still learning to understand. I'm still learning about it. But I understand your question in the sense that there are so many sharks economically in Europe that it is becoming increasingly difficult for Portuguese teams. I say: Benfica is a giant, a giant, I equate it, historically and socially, with the biggest clubs in Europe, much bigger than clubs that are economically much stronger than Benfica. One thing is the size of the club, its history, social dimension, and culture; another thing is economic power. Right now, in European football, some clubs are very, very powerful economically, but we can compete with them on the field. That is why, in response to your colleague, if it were a draw tomorrow, I would not sign anything! We are going to play, we are going to have fun, we are going to compete, and we are going to try to win.

If you look to your right, we see a photograph of you showing three fingers. If you look to your left, we see a photograph of you with your second Premier League trophy. There are five photographs in this room, and three of them are of you. I know you said you weren't blue anymore, but in your heart, will you always be a little bit blue? Is it like coming home?

Of course, I will always be blue. I am part of their history [Chelsea's], and the club is part of my history. I helped Chelsea become a bigger club, and they helped me become a bigger coach. When I said I was no longer blue, I was talking about the job I have to do tomorrow [Tuesday]. Regarding these photographs, not many clubs do this. There are many, many clubs where it seems there is a fear of showing what happened in the past, and there is a continuous transformation in the photographs. Sometimes it seems like they want to erase people who made history in the past. This shows that Chelsea is a great club, because great clubs respect principles.

In this room, when you arrived here [to become Chelsea manager in 2004], you said you were the Special One.

I didn't say that [smiles].

Não disse isso?

No, no. I didn't say that.

A special one.

Exactly [smiles].

You are a special one.

Exatamente.

This place is special to you. Do you hope to return here one day and coach Chelsea again?

You never know. After 25 years, I expected to return to Portugal, but for the national team, not for Benfica. And now I'm at Benfica. So I don't have any career plans. I don't think about what might happen or not. The most important thing is to give your all wherever you are. You leave a club, as I usually do, without saying a word. You close the chapter without saying a word and think about what comes next. I left Fenerbahçe a month ago without saying a word, and now I'm at Benfica and I'm very happy. It's a big responsibility, even for someone like me, with many years... Many years of age and also of soccer... Benfica is a huge responsibility, for several reasons. Some I keep to myself, but coaching Benfica is a big responsibility. And you know how I am. And let's move on to tomorrow [Tuesday]. Until the start of the game, it will be my Chelsea, after the game, during the game, it's my Benfica, that's what matters. 

You've already been asked about your emotions, about Benfica, but I want to know, as a person, how José Mourinho and his team experienced the last 11/12 days, returning to Portugal, going to the Estádio do Dragão, two days later being presented as Benfica's coach, and now returning to an elite competition, the Champions League, precisely to face the club that made him greater and that you made greater, Chelsea. How has José Mourinho, as a person, experienced these last few weeks, and tomorrow, in the Champions League?

As a person, nothing has changed. And the fact that I am in Portugal and that the training center is close to my home... nothing has changed at all. I still often sleep at the training center, on campus, because I have so many things to do. I don't have time for... I'll even say something that might be interesting to the Portuguese: I only had one training session with the whole group together because, in all the other training sessions, there was one group that played, another that didn't play, one group that was recovering, and another that was developing. So I don't have time for anything else, just trying to prepare for games, play games, and try to help the boys. Tomorrow we play. On Wednesday we land in Lisbon, and it will be the first day I can say to the boys, “Go home and see you tomorrow.” It will be the first time. So going to clubs in the middle of the season, I don't have much experience with that. It happened to me when I went to Benfica for the first time, when I went to Tottenham, only then. I don't have much experience with that, but it's very difficult, so I don't even have time to think about myself. You can hear my voice [hoarse].