After the draw against Tondela (0-0), José Mourinho assumed that “it is very difficult” for Benfica to win the title of champion this season. The Benfica coach, in a press conference, lamented the lack of effectiveness of the Reds, but stressed that the team is “playing beautifully”. Arbitration by Luís Godinho «There are many dubious situations in the game. I can’t say “it’s a penalty, it’s a card, I can’t, because they’re dubious. But everything that was dubious was against us. The five minutes [de descontos] shows an attitude in the game. Today, to give five minutes of added time there has to be a very clean game, without stops, where both teams want to win and no one wastes time. Giving five minutes in a game like this shows a certain attitude. As calmly as I am speaking, I spoke to him. But I think he is satisfied with his work and I hope he has a good trip to Alentejo, which is having bad weather.” Benfica is five points behind Sporting and could be 12 behind FC Porto «Goodbye to the title? No. At Benfica there is no goodbye to the fundamentals and the fundamental thing is to give everything you have and go to your limits. Obviously, in a very pragmatic way, mathematically it is possible, but it is very difficult to cancel a difference that could be 12 points. But it doesn't change the direction, in the sense that the group is good, united, works well and respects the club it defends. We can be five or 50 points behind, it doesn’t change our attitude towards this responsibility of working for Benfica.” Bad condition of the lawn «I don't think Tondela created these conditions to make the game difficult for us. The weather conditions meant that the field was heavy, with a lot of water in some places, with a strange wind, which at times seemed lateral and at others seemed frontal. It was difficult to play and carry the ball, damaging the team that wants to play and win. But, if we created between 20 and 30 goal situations, it's because the field allowed us to do so. I don't want to say that it was because of the field that we didn't win. We didn’t win because we didn’t score.” Emotional management of the squad «It is managed based on principles, which are Benfica's principles, which are also mine. When we return to work, we will return with maximum professionalism.” Benfica's tactical nuances “We are playing well. We build in threes and fours, we have diversity in creation, we do very beautiful things in construction, even in the first phase. The team is playing well, they play beautiful and good football, they create many goal situations. We scored four goals against Estrela and Real Madrid, but throughout the season we have regretted playing more than what we scored. We are a team that scores less than what it plays. (…) We are not a team with many people with scoring DNA. This is an obvious thing.”
