'Feels like an excuse' - Jose Mourinho hits back at Antonio Conte as Napoli boss blames fatigue for Champions League defeat to Benfica

The latest chapter in the long-standing rivalry between Mourinho and Conte was written at the Estadio da Luz on Tuesday night, with the Portuguese tactician claiming the bragging rights after his Benfica side secured a vital victory over Napoli in the Champions League league phase. However, the post-match narrative quickly shifted from the action on the pitch to a war of words in the press room, centred around the physical condition of the two squads.

Conte, whose Napoli side have been setting the pace in Serie A, pointed to a congested fixture list as the primary reason for his team's sluggish display. The Italian coach highlighted the disparity in preparation time, noting that Benfica had played their last domestic fixture on Friday, whereas Napoli were in action on Sunday in a high-profile clash against Juventus. Mourinho, however, was in no mood to accept that narrative.

When presented with Conte’s comments regarding Benfica’s physical advantage, Mourinho was characteristically blunt. The former Chelsea and Manchester United boss rejected the notion that rest days decided the outcome, arguing instead that his specific tactical adjustments were what dismantled Napoli’s system.

"Saying Benfica were fresher physically feels like an excuse," Mourinho responded. "We interpreted the game well, I decided to play [Franjo] Ivanovic rather than [Vangelis] Pavlidis upfront and that changed the way we attack."

Mourinho elaborated on this specific selection decision, offering a tactical insight into how he exploited Napoli’s defensive setup. He suggested that Vangelis Pavlidis, usually a key figure for the Eagles, would have played into Napoli's hands due to his style of play, whereas Djordje Ivanovic offered a different profile that unsettled Conte’s back three.

"Pavlidis is someone who makes the kind of movements with the midfield that makes it easy for a team like Napoli to press him," Mourinho explained. "Ivanovic gives more instability to a team that defends with three."

This tactical tweak allowed Benfica to bypass Napoli's renowned pressing triggers, creating gaps in a defence that has otherwise been watertight in Italy this season.

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For his part, Conte cut a frustrated figure. The Napoli manager felt his side were fighting an uphill battle before a ball was even kicked due to the accumulation of minutes in the legs of his key starters. With a shallow squad depth preventing significant rotation, Conte felt the lack of sharpness was inevitable.

"The match was certainly hard, difficult, on a hot pitch," Conte stated. "We come from a series of games every three days, the same players are always playing and it is inevitable that we start to feel something.  Sunday's match was a key one, we had to travel, Benfica played on Friday, that's two extra days of recovery. But we have to take these things into account, we knew we'd spent a lot of energy, even mentally. Today some players were tired, you could see it, and there's no chance of any special rotation." 

The physical fatigue manifested in technical errors, according to the Italian. Napoli, usually so precise in their build-up, found themselves making uncharacteristic mistakes and struggling to cope with Benfica’s early intensity.

"Today someone was tired, you could see it, and there is no possibility to make particular rotations," Conte admitted. "Tomorrow they will rest, then we will prepare for the match in Udine. Surely not being brilliant leads you to make wrong choices or not be so precise. At the beginning we struggled and committed errors."

Conte pinpointed a specific moment early in the game where their pressing structure collapsed, leading to a loss of confidence that permeated the rest of the first half.

"We knew about the difficulties anyway, we wanted to start strong and on the first pressure we took a ball behind [the defence], this took away some certainties," he explained. "In the first time we were very long, and they found passing lines."

Despite the grievances regarding the schedule, Conte ultimately conceded that on the night, the hosts were the superior outfit. He acknowledged that managing energy levels is part of the reality of modern football, even if the result was painful to accept.

"I know the situation, and I knew it also when we won, and I also know that we will carry it forward for a while," Conte said. "One must also understand that there are evenings in which the opponents have more energy compared to you, and today they deserved it more than us."

The result leaves Napoli sitting 23rd in the Champions League table and in real danger of crashing out over the final two games of this phase, while Benfica currently sit just outside of the top 24 and need to claw their way in if they are to book a place in the knockout play-off round.