Mourinho orders Benfica players to sleep at training ground after cup defeat

Jose Mourinho ordered Benfica‘s players to sleep at their training ground following a 3-1 defeat to Braga in the semi-final of the Taca da Liga.

Nicolas Otamendi was sent off late on as Benfica’s hopes of winning the Portuguese League Cup were stunningly dashed.

Benfica are not in action this weekend before they face Primeira Liga leaders Porto, whom they trail by 10 points in the table, in the quarter-finals of the Taca de Portugal next Wednesday.

And Mourinho they will spend much of the interim period at the club’s Seixal training base.

“The players will sleep in Seixal, and on Thursday there is training, and the day after there’s training,” Mourinho said at a press conference following the defeat to Braga.

“Since there’s no final on Saturday, our next game is against Porto next Wednesday. 

“When we arrive in Seixal [on Wednesday], 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 instead think a lot, like I’m going to think.

Mourinho, who took over in September, has won 14 of his 23 matches in charge. The former Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid and Manchester United boss had overseen an 11 game unbeaten run prior to Wednesday’s loss.

“On Thursday we can start talking, which isn’t what happened in the locker room,” Mourinho addd.

“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 Porto.”