Mourinho makes Benfica players sleep at training ground after shock loss

Jose Mourinho made his Benfica players sleep at the training ground after a shock 3-1 loss to Braga in the Taca da Liga semi-final on Wednesday.

Braga took a 2-0 lead into half-time thanks to Pau Victor and Rodrigo Zalazar, and though a Vangelis Pavlidis penalty halved the deficit in the second half, Gustaf Lagerbielke secured the win with nine minutes remaining.

Benfica also finished with 10 men after Nicolas Otamendi’s 90th-minute red card rounded off a dismal match for Mourinho’s side.

The semi-final defeat was Benfica’s first in 11 games, and Mourinho suggested his players were expected to reflect on the performance over the next few days at the training base in Seixal.

“The players will sleep in Seixal, and on Thursday there is training, and the day after there’s training,” Mourinho said following the game.

“Since there’s no final on Saturday, our next game is against Porto next Wednesday [in the Taca de Portugal quarter-final].

“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.”

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Mourinho took over at Benfica in September and has overseen 14 wins in 23 matches so far, with the team sitting third in the Primeira Liga.

Benfica had high hopes of claiming the Taca da Liga following Sporting CP’s exit in the other semi-final, as they lost 2-1 to Vitoria Guimaraes on Tuesday.

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

“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.”