Portuguese coach José Mourinho, the manager of Benfica, emphasized the difficulty of predicting the outcome of his team's upcoming match against Real Madrid in the eighth and final round of the Champions League group stage, scheduled for tomorrow, Wednesday.

Mourinho said in the press conference: "It's hard to predict the result of the match; no matter how many possibilities there are, one thing remains indisputable, no one knows what might happen. We analyze and set a game plan, but the element of surprise is always present."

He added about his philosophy in dealing with matches: "We must respect the nature of football and prepare as best as we can. We must play with respect, we know our opponent, and we know ourselves too. Other results don't matter to us; winning is the only way to assess whether the result is favorable or not, our goal is one and only."

Regarding the Negreira case related to Barcelona, Mourinho said: "Honestly, I'm not interested, I live my career day by day, what's happened has happened."

On the transfer market, he clarified: "I don't like to say the door is closed. If the market is open, no one knows what might happen. I'm not worried about any player leaving or not, I am reassured."

About refereeing, Mourinho noted: "Regarding the referee, before the match, I don't concern myself with the identity of the referee, I always believe the referee will be the best."

When asked about coaches and his connection with Arbeloa, he replied: "You Spaniards have taken this opportunity to talk about Arbeloa. Both Xabi Alonso and Arbeloa are like sons to me, former players of mine, and they are distinguished. From a human perspective, he's one of my favorite players, not the best, but perhaps one of Real Madrid's best players. I wish him all the best and hope he has a great career."

On how to face Real Madrid, Mourinho added: "We must exploit their strengths, not their weaknesses. We must play according to our current formation. Obviously, winning requires us to score more goals than the opponent. We must play with the aim of scoring, but at the same time, we cannot afford a big loss, we must be balanced."

Regarding Xabi Alonso, Mourinho said: "Xabi is one of my players, I only have positive memories with him. I felt the same enthusiasm that I will feel tomorrow against Álvaro, with Xabi, and I was very happy. What he achieved at Leverkusen was a great source of happiness, as was his arrival at Real Madrid."

He added about qualifying for the knockout stages and the transfer market: "I don't think there's a connection between them. We were active in the summer transfer market, and now we are striving to improve in preparation for the next stage. We focus on balance, and I don't see any link between them."

On losing previous matches and its impact, he said: "Not qualifying can be viewed from different angles. The biggest problem at this stage is the loss at home where we should have won. We now have 9 points, we also lost other matches, the loss to Leverkusen was the decisive factor in our non-qualification."

Regarding his advice to Arbeloa, Mourinho explained: "I wish him all the best, Arbeloa is capable of coaching any club in the world, Real Madrid can be coached by any coach in the world, and I wish him success. Imagine the situation with Álvaro, except tomorrow, I love Arbeloa and Real Madrid, I can't give him advice, the important thing is for him to be happy."

He continued about the difficulty of the coaching task: "Coaching is a difficult task because there are many people who criticize you and talk about you every day, they create influencers. In the world of football, it's important to enjoy his work."

On facing Real Madrid, Mourinho said: "We have nothing to lose, we are playing against a great team and great players, either win or lose, we will try to achieve that tomorrow through balance, without balance, Real Madrid will punish us."

Regarding communication with Arbeloa before the match, he added: "I didn't talk to him, my phone number is very complicated because the only number always available is the club's number and a family number, my other number changes, some people lose contact information with me, and I also lose it, there's no need for us to contact each other to wish good luck."

Mourinho concluded: "He already knows that, it's simple, if we don't win, we will be out of the tournament, whether we draw or lose, if we win, we will know that in the dressing room."