Mourinho hits out at Conte: ‘That sounds like an excuse’

Jose Mourinho suggested Antonio Conte’s reaction to Benfica beating Napoli was ‘an excuse’ and explained how his tactical surprises swung the Champions League clash.

The Special One pulled a surprise at the Estadio da Luz this evening when he left centre-forward Vangelis Pavlidis on the bench in favour of Franjo Ivanovic.

It worked, because the goals were scored by Richard Rios with a flick at the near post, then Leandro Barreiro sealing the 2-0 result after the restart.

“The team had been doing well for 3-4 weeks, I saw a good performance against Sporting, so I expected a good performance here too,” Mourinho told Sky Sport Italia.

“I also knew that we were up against a fantastic Napoli team, with a top coach who plays this three-man defence that creates problems for opponents, but we did very well and deserved the victory.”

Conte spent most of his post-match comments explaining that Napoli were out of steam physically amid an injury crisis and lacked sharpness.

When this talking point was put to Mourinho, he was frankly unimpressed.

“Saying Benfica were fresher physically feels like an excuse,” responded Mourinho.

“We interpreted the game well, I decided to play Ivanovic rather than Pavlidis upfront and that changed the way we attack. Pavlidis is someone who makes the kind of movements with the midfield that makes it easy for a team like Napoli to press him. Ivanovic gives more instability to a team that defends with three.

“The players showed character and intelligence, a Benfica mentality, which means when you are having the biggest difficulty, you step up. We knew that without a win here, we were out, but now that we have six points, we’re in the running.”

Benfica had lost their first four Champions League games this season, but have now won two on the bounce after a 2-0 away to Ajax and this 2-0 at home to Napoli.

Another issue discussed after difficulties in recent weeks is that Serie A plays at a lower tempo than many other European leagues, so their teams struggle in the Champions League. Does Mourinho agree?

“It’s difficult for me to say. In Portugal, we have a similar problem. The last time a Portuguese team won the Champions League was over 20 years ago, the last time an Italian won was 15 years ago, so there’s something in it.

“Those teams who win the Champions League tend to be the ones who invest the most, and yet there are some who invest and invest and cannot win. Inter were in the Champions League Final twice in the last three years, so on the other hand, the Italian teams can’t be doing too badly.”

Of course, the last time a Portuguese or Italian team won the Champions League, they both had Mourinho on the bench.