Benfica faces Fenerbahçe and Mourinho in Istanbul

Benfica begins playing this Wednesday in Istanbul, the main objective of the start of the season, access to the league stage of the Champions League, in the visit to Fenerbahçe, managed by Portuguese José Mourinho, in the first leg of the play-off .

After overcoming Nice in the third qualifying round, Benfica will face the Turkish club and will try to achieve a good result at the always difficult and frenetic Fenerbahçe stadium, to then secure a place in the Champions League in the decisive second leg at the Estádio da Luz, in a week's time, on August 27th.

The Luz club has fond memories of its Istanbul rival, having always won the three knockout rounds in which it faced the Turks, the last one precisely in the Champions League , in 2018/19.

However, the scenario changes when Mourinho appears in the equation, as the "encarnados" have only once beaten the most titled Portuguese coach, in a Portuguese Cup final, in 2004, when the coach was still at Futebol Clube do Porto.

Access to the Champions League's league stage, in addition to the prestige and millions, could bring greater stability to the Luz side and to coach Bruno Lage and president Rui Costa , who will have elections in October, while an elimination in the play-offs , and the corresponding drop to the Europa League, promises to divide the Benfica universe even further.

Fenerbahçe-Benfica is scheduled for 8:00 pm (10:00 pm local time) and will be refereed by German Daniel Siebert.