Nemanja Matic: Jorge Jesus changed my career

When the Serbian began his three-season stint at the Estadio da Luz from 2011 to 2014, in a period that was sandwiched between two spells at Chelsea, he was actually a roving number 10. 

But thanks to Jesus’ wisdom, Matic moved back into the holding midfield area and left with 97 appearances, one Player of the Year award, a league title and three domestic cup wins to his name.

Ahead of United’s UEFA Champions League match at Benfica, Matic spoke exclusively to MUTV to reflect on his spell in Portugal and look forward to what is sure to be a fascinating match…

Is Benfica a special club for you?
It’s a special club, it’s a club that I love, I spent two and a half years there, it was a great time. In Benfica I learnt a lot about football and about the pressure of playing for a big club, because they are a big club, they are one of the best clubs in Europe. I will support that club for the rest of my life and they have a special place in my heart of course.

Was it at Benfica that you were reinvented as a defensive midfielder?
Yeah, when I came to Benfica the manager Jorge Jesus told me on my first day, from that moment I will be playing no.6 or as a defensive midfielder. At the beginning it was strange for me, because I didn’t know I could play that position, but slowly I trained with the team in that position and the manager explained to me how to do it, I was working really hard, and I’m at Manchester united, so I did the job well. 

Were you surprised to see Benfica struggle at the start of this CL campaign?
I was surprised because Benfica is a team who likes to win, who’s used to winning games, but they didn’t play well, to lose 5-0 you probably played badly. But they are a big club and they have good players so I’m sure they will recover well in the league, but in the champions league, I hope we can take points there. It’s strange when I see Benfica losing games.

Are there still players there that you know?
There is six or seven players that played with me, I’m still good friends with them. I’m happy that my friends are there and I’m sure that this season they will try to win their fifth league title in a row.

Who should we look out for on Wednesday night?
I think that everyone there is hard to play against. They have a few younger guys who want to show their quality to go to other big clubs in Europe but i cannot say any stand-outs, because as a team they are really good.

 MUTV's live build-up to Benfica versus United begins at 17:45 BST on Wednesday.