Benfica may be only playing Manchester United tomorrow, but José Mourinho is already on the front page of Lisbon newspaper Record on Tuesday.
Despite having a cover saying the manager is returning to the house where it all started, their big story is actually about how Mourinho has been spying on Benfica over the past month.
They explain how Manchester United got to know all the details of how the Eagles have been playing, so the Special One is now prepared to tell his players what to do.
The Red Devils’ plan is normally to have scouts watching all of Benfica’s matches to keep an eye on the club players, but there’s been a man to make a different analysis in the past games.
According to Record, this official watched the Eagles in four different competitions: Portuguese League, Champions League, League Cup and Portuguese Cup. These games were against CSKA, Paços Ferreira, Braga and Olhanense, with only the last one being away from Lisbon.
In these games, there would be five different topics analysed by Manchester United, which are actually called 4+1: defensive organisation, attacking organisation, defensive transition, attacking transition and set pieces.
Watching the games from the stands instead of depending on TV cameras would allow the scout to analyse different parts of the team, like, for example, how the defensive line advances during their own side’s counter-attack.
The newspaper claims that another important factor is the analysis of the ‘default behaviour’ from the team, which includes the manager’s usual substitutions during the game, the player’s regular movements, like fullbacks who attack often or wingers who change sides.
Record says the content of the reports is ‘highly confidential’, and that’s why only the scouts, José Mourinho, and his staff have access to it.
Benfica also use software to analyse opponents, but the difference with Manchester United is that the Premier League club was able to create its own program.
They also mention that before being signed by the club, Victor Lindelof was watched by Manchester United scouts in every single game that Benfica played in the 2016/17 season. When José Mourinho decided to sign a defender, the club went to its database and ended up picking the Swedish international.
But with Lindelof’s disappointing start this season, maybe the software is not what Manchester United have to rely on to win this game. Right, José?
