Newcastle United eager to bounce back against Benfica

VIDEO SHOWS: NEWCASTLE UNITED PRESS CONFERENCE WITH  EDDIE HOWE AHEAD OF CHAMPIONS LEAGUE MATCH AGAINST BENFICA / BENFICA PRESS CONFERENCE WITH JOSE MOURINHO RESENDING WITH COMPLETE SCRIPT AND TO REPLACE SLATE SHOWS: NEWCASTLE, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (OCTOBER 20, 2025) (UEFA – This content can only be used in the reporting of the UEFA Champions League 2025/2026 season – no other use allowed. No commercial use. Must on-screen courtesy " UEFA 2025". No resales. No sublicensing. No monetisation.) 1. NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, AT PRESS CONFERENCE 2. WHITE FLASH 3. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, SAYING:     "We feel like we need another game. We're delighted to play quickly and try to build momentum back in our performance. I felt reflecting on the Brighton game was mixed. So, a lot of good in the game. Ultimately, it doesn't matter. We lost the game, and we know we need to improve." 4. WHITE FLASH 5. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, SAYING:     "Yeah, we'll give him [Sandro Tonali] every opportunity, I think. He wasn't there, obviously, at training today and he's such an important player. So, yeah, we'll use all the hours we have." 6. WHITE FLASH 7. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, SAYING:     "I said this before, the previous Champions League game, we're desperate to qualify in the competition. We know the importance of our home games. So, after the disappointment of Barcelona, we're looking forward to this one." 8. WHITE FLASH 9. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, ON JOSE MOURINHO, SAYING:     "The characteristics that he has as a manager—his teams are very hard to beat; his teams are incredibly well-organised. I think we'll see all of those things on the pitch tomorrow. I think he has a way of inspiring his teams to be very, very good off the ball. They're very disciplined in the games that I've seen since he's taken over as manager. There's highlights there against Chelsea. I thought they were very close to getting a great result. It's a really tight game, and we know it's a difficult place to go, and the game against Porto was equally, you know, really tight. That was a very good defensive performance from his Benfica team. So, I think we know what to expect, and it's going to be up to us to try and influence our players and deliver the game plan that we want." 10. WHITE FLASH 11. (SOUNDBITE) (English) NEWCASTLE UNITED MANAGER, EDDIE HOWE, SAYING:     "We're under no illusions. It's going to be tactically an interesting game, a difficult challenge for us, but one that hopefully we can rise to." 12. WHITE FLASH 13. HOWE DEPARTING PRESS CONFERENCE 14. BENFICA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, ENTERING PRESS CONFERENCE 15. (SOUNDBITE) (Portuguese) BENFICA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, SAYING:     “We might win. And then we wouldn’t have needed anything else. It could happen. It might be that we win the match and after the match we’ll say we weren’t missing anything to win here. Let’s see. But essentially, we face an opponent, like in every match. Lots of times you have a game plan that you put into practice, and other times you can’t. You just can’t do it. And then people start talking about it being the wrong game plan. But lots of times, it’s not the game plan that was wrong, sometimes your opponent makes it look like the wrong game plan. But we’re facing a very strong, very strong, team tomorrow.”   16. WHITE FLASH 17. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BENFICA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, ON FORMER NEWCASTLE MANAGER, SIR BOBBY ROBSON, SAYING:     “Sir Bobby is a legend here. And in England, when you are a legend, there are many reasons to be a legend. He loved this club. He gave everything to this club.” 18. WHITE FLASH 19. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BENFICA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, ON FORMER NEWCASTLE MANAGER, SIR BOBBY ROBSON, SAYING:     “One thing is the opportunities that he gave me. He took me to Barcelona. And for a young guy to go to Barcelona and to have the opportunity to stay there as long as I stayed there – because even after Sir Bobby, I stayed there for three more years. So, it was an incredible experience for me. And that door was a huge door that was only opened by Sir Bobby. The second thing is what I learned at the football level and at the human level. And the third thing was the trust he put in me. Especially at that period, because now it is more like that – but at that period, assistant coaches were very limited in their area of action. Nowadays, it’s different. Now, assistant coaches are more important. They have more freedom. They have more responsibilities. He put a lot of trust in me. So, of course, I consider him to be very important for my career. I tried to pay with everything that I gave and what did I give him? I don’t know. I only know that I gave everything I had. And that, for me, is enough.”  20. WHITE FLASH 21. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BENFICA COACH, JOSE MOURINHO, ON ANY REGRETS OF NOT COACHING AT NEWCASTLE, SAYING:     “I don’t have regrets because I never had the chance to (coach at Newcastle). I never said ‘no’ to Newcastle. And I’ve said ‘no’ to many clubs in my career – always with huge respect, but sometimes I’d have to say ‘no, I’m not interested. No, it’s not the right time’. I’ve never been contacted by Newcastle United at any moment. So, I don’t regret anything. And to be honest, now I don’t think they need a coach. I hope they don’t need one in the coming years. Which would mean that everything goes well for the club and for Eddie, which is what I wish.  But on top of that, at this moment of my career, there isn’t another club where I could be happier and more motivated than I am at Benfica. So, I wouldn’t change Benfica for any club at the moment.” / MOURINHO LEAVING PRESS CONFERENCE STORY: Newcastle United will look to claim consecutive Champions League victories for the first time in more than a decade, when they take on Benfica at St James' Park in London on Tuesday (October 21).      Eddie Howe's side, who are coming off a 2-1 Premier League loss to Brighton on Saturday (October, 18), have not won back-to-back games in the League since February 2003.     If Newcastle are to pull off the win, they may have to do it without Sandro Tonali, who was absent from training Monday (October 20) due to illness.      "We'll give him every opportunity, he wasn't there obviously at training today, and he's such an important player so we'll use all the hours we have" Howe said.      The Portuguese club will travel to England in search of their first competition points in three matches, after having lost to Qarabag FK and Chelsea.     Coach Jose Mourinho said he had a game plan in place but said Newcastle will be a hard team to face in a tough stadium to play away at.      “We’re facing a very strong, very strong, team tomorrow,” Mourinho told a press conference.    (Production: Lucy Thomson, Kurt Michael Hall)

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