Benfica starts a new journey in the Champions League this Wednesday evening (8 p.m., Elf) and welcomes the Austrians from RB Salzburg to Luz, after two seasons in which they reached the quarter-finals, a goal that coach Roger Schmidt does not want to miss at this point places, as in this competition it is necessary to “show a lot of work, focus and concentration”. “My experience shows that we have to be focused in every match. We only have six matches to prove that we can move forward and that is why we cannot make mistakes,” warned the German coach, who is starting his fifth season in the Champions League. the second with an eagle on his chest.
“I have a lot of respect for the Champions League. In the last two years Benfica reached the quarter-finals, it was a great success, but that does not mean that it will be easier to progress. It is always a challenge to achieve the knockout stage”, he underlined and admitted that “it would be excellent” to have a career similar to last season, but left the guarantee that “the focus is on Salzburg”. And for this first match he left one thing certain: “We are well prepared, confident and respectful of our opponent.”
Interestingly, Schmidt took his first steps as coach of RB Salzburg 11 years ago, in what was the start of a career at the highest level, after a season in the 2nd Bundesliga. For the German, however, the reunion has no special meaning: “It is special because it is a Champions League match. It has been a long time… 10 years [desde que deixou o clube austríaco como campeão]. I have good memories, but now I want to play at the top with Benfica for the Champions League.”
The big news from yesterday’s training was the full integration of Juan Bernat, David Jurásek and Gonçalo Guedes, all recovered from injuries. Roger Schmidt emphasized that they all “recover their physical level” to compete: “We will see how they are doing match by match. We don’t want them to relapse.” As for the fact that he could now play Bernat or Jurásek on the left instead of Aursnes, the Benfica coach recalled that the Norwegian “did very well” in that position, so “it is an option” for this debut in the Champions League. About Guedes, he said it was “fine, that he worked hard”, but warned that “he still needs a few more training sessions to regain his self-confidence”. “We don’t want to take any risks with him, but I hope we can use him very soon because we need him,” he underlined.
Without wanting to reveal the eleven, he always said that Ukrainian Anatoliy Trubin “is now number one” in goal, emphasizing that he “had a good match” with Vizela, despite “there was not much to do”. Regarding Ángel Di María’s physical condition, he emphasized that he is “in very good shape” and that “he is a great professional”. In this sense, he made it clear that the Argentinian will become a starting player again, despite the travels he had to make for his national team: “Physically he is fine and if he is fine, he will stay on the field. There will be a right time to save, but tomorrow is the Liga dos Champions.”
Source: DN
