Mourinho makes Benfica players sleep at training ground after defeat

Jose Mourinho made his players stay at Benfica's training ground following a League Cup semi-final defeat against Braga, and the Portuguese manager said he hoped they "don't sleep and instead think a lot".

Benfica lost the Wednesday match by 3-1 and ended up with 10 men after Nicolas Otamendi was sent off.

Mourinho, who was appointed as Benfica manager in September 2025, said that his players will sleep in Seixal after the match for the foreseeable future.

"The players will sleep in Seixal, and on Thursday there is training, and the day after there's training," Mourinho said at a news conference after the match.

"Since there's no final on Saturday, our next game is against Porto next Wednesday. When we arrive in Seixal [on Wednesday], everyone will go to their rooms. I hope the players sleep as well as I do, which is to say that they don't sleep at all.

"That's what I wish for them. That they don't sleep and instead think a lot, like I'm going to think."

Mourinho has won 14 matches with Benfica out of 23 after joining the club, and Wednesday's loss halted an 11-game unbeaten streak.

"On Thursday we can start talking, which isn't what happened in the locker room," Mourinho said.

"In the locker room it was a monologue, and monologues don't work for me; I like to have a dialogue with the players.

"We'll talk about the differences between the first and second halves and prepare in the best way possible for the game against Porto."