Last weekend the Portuguese media was dominated by the potential negative effects of José Mourinho’s scathing criticism of his players after Benfica had toiled to an unconvincing victory in the Portuguese Cup against lower league Atlético CP.
One week later and it’s a different story. After beating Ajax 2-0 in Amsterdam in the Champions League, Benfica produced a remarkable comeback to earn all three points in a 2-1 victory in Madeira against Nacional.
In the 89th minute the Eagles were losing after Chuchu Ramírez had given the islanders the lead on the hour mark.
But substitute Gianluca Prestianni fired in an equaliser in the last minute of normal time, before another substitute, Andreas Schjeldurup, set up a dramatic winner deep in stoppage time for Greek striker Evangelos Pavlidis.
The win sees Benfica pull level on points with city rivals Sporting, ahead of the Lions’ game against Estrela da Amadora tomorrow, with the two clubs meeting in the Lisbon derby next Friday.
Benfica coach José Mourinho’s post-match reaction
“It was a completely deserved victory. If we’d lost, I wouldn’t have said a single word of criticism against my team because they played well from the first minute. Conceding a goal was tough from the emotional point of view, but the team lifted itself up, pulled together and won.
“During the championship points will be lost and won in the final minutes. It’s a fact that Benfica have lost six points in the final minutes and tonight we gained two, but it’s difficult for me to admit the game was won in the final minutes because this victory was constructed from the first minute. Benfica completely dominated from start to finish.
“Prestianni and Schjelderup? The did well when they came on, but those who were substituted also played a good game. I never thought during the game that we wouldn’t win, but they entered fresh and gave more mobility to our game, just like Ivanovic did as well, but the team played a very good game.
“The three points are what matters, but I liked how we were organised and the psychological strength we showed to withstand the pressure.
“Why didn’t I celebrate the 2-1 goal? Euphoria sometimes leads to a loss of organisation. We were playing wide open and I wanted to organise the team for the final minutes, because football can play tricks on you.
“The derby? Now it’s a question of resting, not thinking much about football. The lads have had two tough games; they ran a lot against Ajax. They were two extremely important victories, which cemented ties and give us lots of joy. There are still a lot of days before the Sporting game.”
