Jose Mourinho laid into his fellow Premier League bosses and accused them of “crying” over injuries as Manchester United moved closer to the knockout stage, reports David McDonnell in Lisbon
Mourinho, without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Paul Pogba, Eric Bailly, Marcos Rojo, Marouane Fellaini and Michael Carrick, saw his depleted United side grind out a third straight group stage win.
And after Marcus Rashford's 64th-minute free-kick secured United victory, Mourinho turned his guns on his fellow bosses for whinging about losing players to injury.
Although Mourinho did not mention any bosses by name, Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Chelsea's Antonio Conte both have key players out and have complained at losing them.
Mourinho, angered by the outcry United's recent defensive approach, despite seeing his personnel depleted by injuries, said: “I never speak about injuries.
“Other managers cry and cry and cry - I don't cry. The way to do it is ignore the players who are injured, to give confidence to the players are available.
“I can cry for the next five minutes if you like. We don't have Zlatan, Pogba, Fellaini, Marcos Rojo.
“I can cry, but I don't, so we do it with what we have. We went to Liverpool with two midfield players and nothing else.
“We brought the kid on today, Scott McTominay, because I had no other solution.
“We've played 12 matches - 10 victories, two draws, nine clean sheets. We're not bad."
Match-winner Rashford went off with an injury in the 76th minute and Mourinho said: "I thought it was cramps because he was running so much. I thought it was about muscular fatigue, but he felt something in his knee, but to me it doesn't look a big thing."
United's goal came courtesy of a blunder from Benfica's Mile Svilar, at 18, the youngest goalkeeper to play in the Champions League.
Svilar caught Rashford's dipping 40-yard free-kick but was unable to prevent it from going over the line, with goal-line technology confirming the strike.
United midfielder Nemanja Matic said: "The manager said to us to try and shoot and get some crosses towards their goalkeeper because he was young and playing his first game.
“This is football. I know he's a great goalkeeper and I wish him well for the future.
"We had control, some difficulties in the first 30 minutes, but then we controlled the pitch.
“We used our experience. We couldn't find the second goal but didn't make any mistakes at the back."
Mourinho added: "Sometimes I feel being good defensively is a crime, but that is a way of getting results. We are one point from qualifying and one victory away from winning the group with two games at home to play. A good game, solid.
"I knew how good the goalkeeper was, I told the players that. We had a little bit of a strategy, especially on set-pieces to make him uncomfortable. We put men around him on corners so he cannot come out. He risks a lot, but only top keepers do that. He was unlucky for the goal."
