The first club to fire a coach in the Champions League, Mourinho is about to "jump into the fire"

(Dan Tri) - Benfica has decided to "fire" Bruno Lage immediately after the shocking 2-3 defeat to Qarabag in the Champions League last night. Coach Mourinho is on his way to take up his position at this club.

Last night, Benfica suffered a shocking 2-3 defeat to Qarabag at their home ground Da Luz. This defeat angered the club's management. They immediately announced the sacking of coach Bruno Lage at 1:20 a.m. (local time).

Coach Bruno Lage was sacked shortly after Benfica suffered a shocking defeat to Qarabag at home at Da Luz in the opening match of the Champions League (Photo: Getty).

President Rui Costa held a press conference to announce the decision. This is Bruno Lage's second term at the Lisbon club. The 49-year-old strategist returned to Benfica from September 2024. He helped the club win the Portuguese League Cup last season and started this season by winning the Portuguese Super Cup and 3 wins and 1 draw in the Portuguese championship.

He also led the Eagles past Nice and Fenerbahçe in the Champions League qualifiers. However, a draw with Santa Clara last weekend (despite playing with an extra man for an hour), combined with a shock defeat to Qarabag, made it impossible for Lage to keep his job.

The most mentioned person to replace him is none other than Jose Mourinho. The veteran Portuguese coach just lost his job after being fired by Fenerbahce after losing to Benfica in the Champions League play-off round.

Although President Rui Costa refused to confirm the appointment of coach Mourinho, he emphasized that he was only looking for "a coach with the genes of a champion".

Coach Mourinho is about to return to take over his old club Benfica (Photo: Getty).

TV channels CMTV and CNN Portugal both confirmed that the two sides have reached an agreement in principle. The contract is being finalized, with coach Mourinho's expected salary falling to around 4-5 million euros/year. Even the compensation terms if he is fired have been agreed.

Notably, the "Special One" has just pocketed 15 million euros in compensation from Fenerbahce Club. Up to now, the "Special One" has become the first coach in history to receive a total of 100 million euros in compensation for dismissal.

Mourinho's return to Benfica promises to be an emotional one, as this was the first club he led when he first started his coaching career in the 2000/01 season. At that time, he was only involved in less than 10 matches but managed to leave his mark with a 3-0 win over Sporting Lisbon, before moving to Porto and creating a magical journey.

As Benfica prepares to hold a presidential election next month, Rui Costa also wants to use coach Mourinho as a strategic card to defeat strong candidate Joao Noronha Lopes and be re-elected as Benfica's president.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/clb-dau-tien-sa-thai-hlv-o-champions-league-mourinho-sap-lao-vao-lua-20250917115831440.htm