Mourinho aims dig at Lage after Fenerbahçe v Benfica: one team wanted it more | OneFootball

Fenerbahçe and Benfica played, last Wednesday, August 20, the first leg of the playoff to access the regular phase of the Champions League, in Turkey. The result did not go beyond 0-0 and, at the end of the meeting, José Mourinho analyzed the meeting and left a 'jab' at Bruno Lage, coach of the Reds.

"Fenerbahçe did not manage to score because they played against an opponent who defended a lot and defended well. They had enough experience to manage the game when they were left with 10 [players]. They knew how to use invisible fouls and the referee's desire to end this too. We also don't have many options to change the course of the game. This new player who arrived yesterday would have been important for us today because we don't have wingers and fast players to give a different direction to the game," said the coach who has been through Sporting.

Next, the Portuguese coach left in the air that only his team tried to win the match: "Not having been a beautiful game, it was a high-level game. It was a game where one team wanted to draw and drew. There was another team that wanted to win but couldn't."

"It's not a criticism of everything, but obviously the way they played was with the intention of stopping a team that they also respected. They have more potential than us and that's it. I'm glad they recognized our ability. When you play in a midfield with Florentino [Luís], Enzo [Barrenachea], [Richard] Ríos, still with [Fredrik] Aursnes on the right with [Amar] Dedic defending inside... The strategy is correct. They did well. It's a result that they think is good for them. Critic? It doesn't have to be. I've also played in Barcelona with ten defenses," he added.

Fenerbahçe and Benfica will play the second leg next Wednesday, August 27, at 8:00 PM, this time at the Estádio da Luz. José Mourinho will try to overcome the Reds, at a time when he is strongly attentive to the possible signing of a Sporting player in this transfer market.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.