Jose Mourinho hasn’t made the greatest of starts since his appointment at Benfica on 18 September 2025.
His first five games seeing a defeat in the Champions League at Chelsea and in the domestic league two wins and two draws.
The game directly before the international break was a goalless draw against Porto, Benfica already four points behind the league leaders in third.
With the internationals behind them, Benfica had a soft introduction back to playing, facing second tier Chaves in the domestic cup competition.
With Newcastle United in mind, Jose Mourinho made four changes to his first choice team that had faced Porto, a routine and uninspiring 2-0 cup win on Friday night against Chaves.
Jose Mourinho talking to the Portuguese media about the limited full group training his Benfica squad have managed ahead of that domestic cup match on Friday night and of course in advance of facing Newcastle United on Tuesday, quotes carried by Sports Witness:
“I can say that we trained Thursday and the day before…on the other days, one player arrived, then another.
“We did some of the things, we trained, but at a slower pace than I wanted, both in terms of passing and in terms of finding an inside game.
“Newcastle?
“It is going to be very difficult.
“They have a very strong midfield.
“St. James’ [Park] is also a good place to play.”
