Il Nuovo Postiglione - Benfica negotiating with Mourinho to be new coach

"Negotiations are ongoing to hire the coach Jose Mario dos Santos Mourinho Felix, with the hope that these will soon be concluded," the club said in a statement to Portugal's stock exchange authority.

Benfica's interest in Mourinho emerged on Wednesday after the club sacked Bruno Lage following Tuesday night's shock Champions League defeat at home to minnows Qarabag.

"Benfica officially asked me if I was interested... What coach says no to Benfica? Not me," Mourinho had told reporters after landing in Lisbon on Wednesday.

"When I was presented with the opportunity to coach Benfica, I didn't hesitate to say that I'm interested."

Two-time European champions Benfica led 2-0 early on at home to Azerbaijan's Qarabag before collapsing to a 3-2 defeat in a disastrous start to their league-phase campaign.

Mourinho, 62, was himself sacked last month by Fenerbahce after the Turkish giants lost to Benfica in the Champions League qualifying phase.

After starting out his coaching career as an assistant to Bobby Robson and then Louis van Gaal at Barcelona, Mourinho made the step up to head coach at Benfica in September 2000.

However, he quit after just 11 matches and then, after impressing at Uniao de Leiria, he joined the Eagles fierce rivals Porto and guided them to back-to-back league titles and the Champions League crown in 2004.

That set him on the path to a hugely successful career coaching Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid before his fortunes started to nose-dive after joining Manchester United in 2016.

More modest stints then followed at Tottenham, Roma and Fenerbahce.

E.Scozzafava--INP