The Benfica coach said on Friday that the second goal against Sporting, in the I Football League, does not change his opinion of the video referee (VAR), despite having validated the game.
“I’m not going to change my opinion about VAR every week, depending on whether we have an advantage or a disadvantage,” Roger Schmidt emphasized at Seixal during a press conference previewing the Portuguese cup match against Famalicão.
The coach, who had previously spoken out against the introduction of VAR in football, then explained that his opinion “is general” and based on “five or six years of experience and different countries”.
“That is my opinion. I would have preferred that the assistant referee on the field had made the right decision,” the coach concluded, referring to the second goal in the 2-1 win over Sporting, in the derby in the 11th matchday . championship.
Regarding the match with Famalicão, he said that he was “happy that the interruption for the national teams has ended” and that the players can return to “concentrating 100% on Benfica until March”, and revealed that Kokçu, recovered from an injury, will play a few minutes, but recalled that the midfielder “needs a few games to get back to 100%”.
On the other hand, when asked about the position he idealizes for João Neves, who played on the right wing of midfield in some of the last matches, Schmidt recalled that he had to “find solutions” to “problems in the squad to solve”, but acknowledged that “by looking back there is not much point” in diverting the player from his usual position.
“João Neves is one of those players who you can put in any position and he plays well. But of course we want to have players in the best positions. Sometimes that is not possible, as I explained, but it is quite clear that he is more of a central midfielder than a winger,” he surmised.
Benfica will host Famalicão on Saturday in the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup, which starts at 8:45 p.m., at the Estádio da Luz, led by Manuel Oliveira (AF Porto).
The ‘reds’, who recorded a victory against Sporting (2-1) in the I Liga, eliminated Lusitânia dos Açores in the previous round (4-1, away), while Famalicão defeated Camacha (5-0, away).
Source: DN
