Jose Mourinho: Benfica appoint manager days before Champions League trip to Chelsea

Jose Mourinho will return to former club Chelsea in the Champions League on September 30 after being named manager of two-time European champions Benfica.

Mourinho, 62, briefly led Benfica in his first managerial role in 2000 and won three Premier League titles across two spells at Stamford Bridge.

The Portuguese left Turkish side Fenerbahce after less than 15 months in charge in August following the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, losing 1-0 at Benfica in the play-offs to suffer an aggregate defeat by the same scoreline.

Benfica, who finished second in the Primeira Liga last season, sacked Bruno Lage on Tuesday after his side spurned a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Qarabag in the league phase of the Champions League.

The record 38-time Portuguese champions have moved swiftly to give the self-dubbed ‘Special One’ a two-year contract.

After finishing 11 points behind champions Galatasaray in second in Mourinho’s first campaign in Turkiye, Fenerbahce started this season with a 0-0 draw at Goztepe, who won promotion in 2023/24 and came eighth last season.

They overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit to beat Feyenoord in their first Champions League qualifying tie courtesy of a 5-2 win at home, but the immediacy of Mourinho’s departure suggested their defeat to Benfica in the next round decided his fate.