Eddie Howe shared his expectations about the setup of Benfica, the next opponents in the Champions League for Newcastle United on Tuesday evening at St. James’ Park.
The Primeira Liga outfit have only lost once under the stewardship of Jose Mourinho, who is an icon in English football thanks to his success across two stints with Chelsea. Even if his following work at **Man United**and **Tottenham**was not as successful, the legacy of the manager is still strong.
He made a strong impression on Howe, who was in charge of **Bournemouth**when Mourinho was in his second stint with the Blues and at Man United. There are principles from his approach that the Englishman sees in the evolution of Benfica, best displayed in a hard fought 0-0 draw with Porto.
“I would say that the characteristics that he has as a manager, his teams are very hard to beat. His teams are incredibly well organized. I think that we will see all of those things on the pitch tomorrow.
“I think he has a way of inspiring his teams to be very good off the ball.
*“They are very disciplined in the games that I have seen since he's taken over as manager. There are highlights there against Chelsea. I thought they were very close to getting a great result. It was a really tight game and we know that's a difficult place to go and the game against Porto was equally a really tight one. That was a very good defensive performance from his Benfica team.*
“It was a disciplined defensive performance, but they were very much an attacking threat in the game, especially in the second half. They will have attacking threats and ones we're going to have to manage and defend very well. So, we are under no illusions. It is going to be tactically an interesting game.”