Benfica suffered a 2-2 draw against Porto that almost definitively crushed their hopes to come back in Primeira Liga, and manager José Mourinho was once again sent off, seeing red after an incident with Porto's bench. Speaking in press conference, Mourinho explained that he had been called "traitor" by Porto's assistant manager Luis 'Lucho' Gonzalez "50 times".
"He called me a traitor 50 times. I'd like him to explain to me a traitor to what? I went to FC Porto, I gave my soul to FC Porto, I went to Chelsea, I went to Inter, to Real Madrid, I went around the world and gave 24 hours of my life every day. That's called professionalism", explained Mourinho.
Mourinho actually started his managerial career as assistant manager in Porto in the 1990s (and later Barcelona), but his debut as manager was with Benfica in 2000. He rose to prominence when he led Porto to Champions League in 2004, but he left that year to Chelsea, and didn't return to managing a Portuguese team until 2025 with Benfica.
"When he went to Marseille [from FC Porto in 2009], did he betray FC Porto? He could have insulted me in another way, maybe he would have thought it better, but I think it's an attack on my professionalism", explained Mourinho. "Traitor why? For giving everything to Benfica?"
The 2-2 draw, while bitter for Porto as they were winning 2-0 before Benfica's two goals in the second half, still works for them to stand four points clear in the league ahead of Sporting (66 and 62 points), and seven points ahead of Benfica (59 points).