Jose Mourinho gets win against Antonio Conte as Benfica beat Napoli in Lisbon

Napoli’s hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League suffered a further dent following a 2-0 defeat by Benfica at Estadio da Luz.

The Serie A champions, quarter-finalists in 2022-23, remain on seven points in the league phase after failing to back up their home win over Qarabag courtesy of goals from Richard Rios and Leandro Barreiro either side of the break.

Jose Mourinho, who guided Porto and Inter Milan to success in this competition, saw his Benfica side secure back-to-back wins to bolster their prospects of progressing.

Napoli were fortunate not to fall behind in the 11th minute when Franjo Ivanovic was sent clean through but goalkeeper Vanja Milinkovic-Savic parried his effort before Fredrik Aursnes was unable to celebrate his 30th birthday with a goal as he put the rebound wide.

Milinkovic-Savic’s blushes were spared moments later when his clearance found Aursnes, who could only shoot into the side netting.

But the home side, unbeaten in their domestic league this season, made their third opportunity count in the 20th minute.

Simon Dahl’s cross was cleared only as far as Rios and the Colombia international finished past Milinkovic-Savic to register his first goal for the club.

Captain Giovanni Di Lorenzo headed wide around the half-hour mark as Napoli, yet to pick up a point on their travels in the competition this season, responded.

Napoli coach Antonio Conte made a double substitution at half-time but could only watch his team slip further behind four minutes into the second half.

Rios turned provider as he crossed for Barreiro, who netted his first goal of the season in the win over Ajax on matchday five, to back-heel past Milinkovic-Savic.

David Neres scored 17 goals in 83 appearances in all competitions for Benfica before moving to Napoli in the summer of 2024.

But he could not find the target on his return to his former club as his hopes of pulling his side back into the game were dented by Benfica goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin with around 20 minutes remaining.

It was Benfica who looked more likely to score the next goal and they twice went close to putting the icing on the cake.

Milinkovic-Savic clawed away a shot from Vangelis Pavlidis, who was denied again moments later, but it mattered little as the Portuguese side soon celebrated a well-deserved win.