José Mourinho on Vinícius Jr racism aftermath: It hasn’t been easy emotionally

Benfica head coach José Mourinho skipped his pre-match press conference once again and only spoke to club media

Benfica manager José Mourinho has spoken of the toll that the fallout from Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League match against Real Madrid has taken on him and his squad, after Vinícius Júnior was allegedly racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni.

While the noise from that game hasn’t died down, Benfica have another one to focus on tomorrow against AVS.

Ahead of Benfica’s Liga Portugal game against bottom-of-the-table AVS, Mourinho once again opted not to hold a pre-match press conference. Coaches in Portugal are not obliged to do so, but it is customary and expected.

This is the eighth time this season that Mourinho has refused to face journalists’ questions in the build-up to a league game. Instead, the 63-year-old spoke exclusively to his own club’s official media channel.

Real Madrid game still on Mourinho’s mind

When asked about the state of his squad after such a demanding game against Real Madrid, Mourinho spoke of the difficulties in handling such a situation.

“The game was truly demanding, in every possible way,” Mourinho told BTV.

“Until the 50^th minute, it was an incredibly demanding game, be that from a physical point of view, or a tactical point of view or in terms of the concentration you need to play in a game at that level.

“But I also cannot ignore that from the 50^th minute until now – and it won’t end with our conversation – that it has not been easy to deal with, emotionally, everything that happened and is still going on.”

Many will have little sympathy with Mourinho, especially after his unfortunate comments after the game when he referenced Eusébio, but it will be interesting to see how his team responds to this new type of mental demand.

Mourinho calls for focus on league action

While various investigations into the events of Tuesday’s game, where Real Madrid’s Vinícius Junior accused Gianluca Prestianni of racially abusing him, Benfica’s squad must find a way to shut out the noise and not get distracted from matters on the pitch.

Going into this weekend’s games, they lie in 3^rd, three points behind Sporting CP and seven behind Porto – and Mourinho knows they need to get back to winning ways after the disappointment and emotional drama of the midweek game.

“But there’s a game tomorrow, an important game for our ambitions and dreams,” Mourinho said.

“It is essential that we win, we have to be focused and at our best.

“If we want to keep looking up and not down, if we want to look to FC Porto and Sporting and not at Gil Vicente or Braga, we need to win this game.”