An angry Benfica coach Jose Mourinho said he hopes his players had a sleepless night after their shock defeat to Braga in the Portuguese Allianz Cup semifinal on Wednesday.
Benfica trailed 2-0 at halftime and lost 3-1 in Leiria.
Mourinho said during his news conference after the game that his players will be sleeping at the club’s training ground in Seixal for the next few days to reflect on their surprise elimination.
“Thinking we’d be playing the final, we’re not going home, we’re going to Seixal,” he said. “The players will sleep in Seixal, and tomorrow there’s training, and the day after tomorrow there’s training.
“But there’s no game on Saturday. Since there’s no final on Saturday, our next game is against FC Porto next Wednesday [in the Portuguese Cup quarterfinal]. When we arrive in Seixal, everyone will go to their rooms. I hope the players sleep as well as I do, which is to say, that they don’t sleep at all. That’s what I wish for them. That they don’t sleep and think a lot, like I’m going to think.”
Benfica had high hopes of lifting the trophy after Sporting CP had lost 2-1 to Vitoria Guimaraes in Tuesday’s semifinal.
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Mourinho, who took the reigns of Benfica in September, was frustrated with his players’ lack of communication.
“Tomorrow we can start talking, which isn’t what happened in the locker room,” the former FC Porto, Chelsea and Manchester United coach said.
“In the locker room it was a monologue, and monologues don’t work for me; I like to have a dialogue with the players. We’ll talk about the differences between the first and second halves and prepare in the best way possible for the game against FC Porto.”
Benfica are third in Primeira Liga, 10 points adrift of leaders Porto.
