Jose Mourinho will readily admit that he targeted Mile Svilar on Wednesday night.
The Benfica goalkeeper’s slight frame and lack of experience were both identified as weaknesses of Manchester United’s most recent Champions League opponents.
Mourinho instructed his players to put pressure on the stopper, who only turned 18 in August, from set pieces in the hope that he would make an error which might prove so very crucial.
It was a tight affair when Benfica welcomed the Red Devils to the Estadio da Luz this week and ultimately came down to one unfortunate error from the youngster, which came when United’s Marcus Rashford thought quickly from a free kick and attempted to take advantage of some naive positioning from Svilar.
Rashford floated the ball into the direction of the goal and as Svilar backtracked to claim what should have been a relatively routine take, the Belgian ‘keeper accidentally carried it over the line.
“I knew how good he was and I told the players how good he was,” Mourinho said of Svilar after the game.
“But we had stats and information about set pieces, so we needed to make him uncomfortable.
“So at corners we tried to crowd him and put him under pressure, and from free kicks we knew he risks a lot. A lot.
“Only top keepers risk like he does. We got lucky.”
Even the perpetually unsympathetic Roy Keane felt sorry for the young ‘keeper and the typically curmudgeonly pundit praised the United players who approached Svilar after the full-time whistle to tell him to keep his head up.
Trying on a new look https://t.co/T7yYfWUnAQ
— JOE (@JOE_co_uk) October 19, 2017
In a fantastic display of class, Romelu Lukaku embraced Svilar, who has since revealed what his fellow countryman told him.
“Yeah, it was nice,” Svilar said.
“He just said that I don’t have to worry, continue to work and it will be okay.”
