Mourinho boys couldn't defeat 10-men Benfica

Before the final leg of the Champions League qualifications between Fenerbahce and Benfica, Jose Mourinho was in his element, and teased/played mind games how he always defeated Benfica when he was a coach in Portugal. He stopped short of saying that he would do that now and said that the Lisbon team are a serious contender and he was right. He played at home with fanatic supporters behind him, he had one player more on the field from the 71st minute and yet he was nowhere near the victory: Fenerbahce – Benfica 0-0.

Expectations are high in Istanbul. Fenerbahce spent a lot of money in this transfer window and brought in Jhon Durán as well as Nelson Semedo, Sofyan Amrabat, and Milan Skriniar so a proper title challenge is expected as well as the Champions League group stage. The last time the Turkish giant played in a group stage was in 2008/09 season! Mourinho is under a lot of pressure and he did typical Jose thing – he ‘closed’ the game with a firm defensive setup even thou he played at home. Benfica was a better team but failed to make clear chances, and when their player got the second yellow card and went out, Fenerbahce couldn’t respond. Duran showed nothing and was also on the verge of getting a red card, so he was subbed for Talisca, who played much better and had the only good chance 10 minutes from end. It is clear that Mourinho will drag this tie into two 0-0 scores, extra time and penalty lottery.

It’s just started, and Mourinho is already in trouble

Benfica came close already in the second minute of the game when Richard Ríos took a shot outside the box and Egribayat saved on the goal line. But soon things started to go Mourinho’s way as he managed to ‘kill’ the game by controlling Benfica’s attacks and the match soon became boring and without real opportunities for scoring. The guests tried again in the 29th minute but Fenerbahce keeper was good again after a dangerous free kick from Akturkoglu. The biggest chance for Benfica happened near the end of the first half. Egribayar's poor clearance and Silva's header, which he had anticipated, was miraculously not a goal, as the ball ended up hitting the Fener keeper's head.

Second half was as boring as the first one. Fenerbahce had some sort of chance in the 70th minute but Nesyri’s header was too soft and ended up in Trubin's hands. A glimmer of hope for the home team appeared a minute later, when Benfica midfielder Florentino Luís got the second yellow card and was sent off. Only then did Fenerbahce started to be a bit more aggressive and only through Talisca, but that was far from enough. The Brazilian had a good shot in the 80th minute but Benfica keeper saved it, the ball hit the bar and fell in front of El Nesyri, who scored but was offside prior to Talisca’s shot. And that was all from Mourinho’s team. Very disappointing.