Mourinho begins Benfica stint with resounding victory over AVS

Jose Mourinho began his return to Benfica and the Portuguese top flight with a 3-0 win, thanks to an imposing second-half performance from his team.

This week, the "Special One" returned to his first club—Benfica, not Porto as many mistakenly believe—taking over from the dismissed Bruno Lage.

The trip to Estadio do CD das Aves was the first time Jose was in the dugout of a league game in his home country since leaving Porto for Chelsea in 2004, and he marked it with a win thanks to goals from Georgiy Sudakov, Vangelis Pavlidis and Franjo Ivanovic.

Just before halftime, Sudakov broke the deadlock with a left-foot shot from inside the box, putting Benfica up and handing them momentum going into the break. AVS had been defending well up to that point. 

Benfica resumed their dominance upon resumption. Their offensive pressure suffocated the hosts, which led to a penalty after a foul inside AVS’s box. Pavlidis stepped up to blast home from the spot and double the lead, giving Benfica a cushion and forcing AVS to open up.

Benfica rounded off things in the second half: Ivanovic slotted in from close range to seal the 3-0 victory. From here, AVS’s resistance crumbled, and Mourinho clinched his first victory back home.