Mourinho utilised his session with the media to shield his players and reflect on his time with the squad. He said: “It’s a group I had a lot of fun with, a group I always went to training with happy to be with. I always left training happy to have worked with them. It’s a good group of men.”
Furthermore, the manager was defiant when pressed on why he has refused to provide clarity on the ongoing Madrid links. “Of course, it’s up to me to give that answer. Have you ever seen me hide my decisions, my responsibilities? Now, nobody can force me to decide, much less communicate decisions, because I’m the one who decides when,” he said. “In my head, since the talk of possibilities began, I’ve only seen one thing: to work and do my best, and I won’t stop until the game against Estoril. That’s the respect Benfica deserves, that’s the respect my profession deserves, and nobody should touch that. Unless some idiot does, but in my professional dignity, my honesty, and my respect for a club like Benfica, nobody should touch that. Therefore, I have the right to remain isolated.
“I continue to say that I haven’t spoken to anyone from another club; now there’s talk of Real Madrid, but it could be any other club. I haven’t spoken to anyone from any club. But from the moment we entered this final phase of the season, I think it made absolutely no sense to do anything other than concentrate on my job. Starting Sunday I’ll have that opportunity.”
Mourinho added when pressed on his comments on the squad: “When you say it sounded like a farewell, it doesn’t sound like a farewell at all. It sounds like the respect I have for them and it sounds like a pre-emptive defence, because football has these things, football is very ungrateful many times, and for them to be criticised today seems unfair to me… When I criticised them after Casa Pia, it came from my heart, it came from my soul, I was heavily criticised for it, but that’s my nature, my nature is to always try to be fair to my players.
“And today, the day when it’s thought that Benfica won’t finish second, is the day I have to step aside and defend them because I think they deserve it. And I’ll stop here because I don’t want to start next season punished. I’ve decided to stop here. There’s only one game left, only eight days left, normally suspensions are for 20 days, 30 days, 40 days, five games, four games, I don’t know what.”