The final nail was put in the coffin of Benfica’s title challenge on Monday night, but now they’ve got other issues.
The Eagles drew to Casa Pia to end their faint hopes of a Primeira Liga tilt, but the match was also dominated by questions about Jose Mourinho.
During the game the often reliable CNN Portugal said that Mourinho’s agent Jorge Mendes was ‘doing everything he can to prevent Mourinho from staying at Benfica’.
Unsusprisingly, that was one of the first questions at Mourinho’s post-match press conference.
“If anything happened during the game, I don’t know, and nothing happened before the game,” he responded with a look of surprise.
“Jorge Mendes is my agent, but I am in charge of my own decision.
“My decision is that I would like to continue at Benfica.”
Mourinho joined Benfica at the start of the season signing a two-year contract.
Ahead of facing former side Real Madrid in the Champions League, he made it clear his deal has an easy-to-active break clause after the first year.
That was seen by many as an attempt to play both sides, either by attracting Florentino Perez, or forcing Benfica to give him a better deal.
However, it’s since been widely reported that the Eagles aren’t interested in such a move, with other priorities and Mourinho not impressing upon his return.
Furthermore, Mourinho has likely ended his chances of a Madrid return with his comments about Vinicius Jr after his confrontation with Gianluca Prestianni.
Nevertheless, he continues to be linked to other jobs, such as the Portugal and Italy national teams.
Leave a Reply