Former Chelsea and Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho returned to Benfica last month, 25 years after beginning his managerial career with the Lisbon club.
Mourinho was sacked by Fenerbahce but was quickly snapped up by Benfica, who offered him Champions League football and the chance to go back to West London for his warmest Chelsea reunion yet.
The Blues came out on top on Tuesday, winning 1-0 but losing striker Joao Pedro to a second yellow card deep into second-half stoppage time.
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Mourinho unbeaten in the league as Benfica boss
Jose Mourinho (Image credit: Getty Images)
Benfica have maintained their unbeaten start in Portugal, where the traditional big three already occupy the top three positions in the league table after just seven fixtures.
Porto have a 100% record while Benfica have won five matches and are the only other unbeaten team in the division.
Real Madrid president Florentino Perez (Image credit: Alamy)
Mourinho, who was once offered a role as Bobby Robson’s assistant manager at Newcastle United, left Portuguese football 21 years ago, exiting Porto as reigning European champions to take over from Claudio Ranieri at Roman Abramovich’s Chelsea in 2004.
The self-appointed Special One won the Premier League in his first two seasons and added a third title in a shorter second spell in 2014-15.
After winning a famous treble with Inter Milan, Mourinho was appointed by Real Madrid and spent three seasons at the Bernabeu under the leadership of long-time club president Perez.
Mourinho’s relationships with some of his senior players reportedly became frayed and he left the club in 2013, officially by mutual consent but with Perez’s respect for him intact and after a failed attempt by the president to persuade him to stay.
Jose Mourinho won three Premier League titles during his two stints as Chelsea boss (Image credit: Getty Images)
After his return to Lisbon after a quarter of a century collecting trophies around Europe, Mourinho, who is ranked at no.12 in FourFourTwo‘s list of the greatest managers ever, revealed that Perez had been in touch with him with a message of support.
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“I’d like to say that President Florentino sent me a message saying, ‘I’m very happy that you’ve returned to a club of your calibre’,” Mourinho told the press.
The reunions are coming thick and fast for the new Benfica boss, who takes his team to table-topping Porto for a league fixture on Sunday.
Benfica have been victorious in three of their last four league meetings against their historic rivals and winning both games 4-1 in 2024-25.
Mourinho will also have his moment with Perez. Real Madrid visit the Estadio da Luz at the end of January as the two teams wrap up their league phase campaigns in the Champions League.
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