Benfica intends to maintain the level and close the period prior to the World Cup with a victory in the reception of Gil Vicente, from the 13th round of the First Football League, coach Roger Schmidt said this Saturday.
“My expectations for tomorrow [domingo] is that we maintain our level. We want to end this period before the World Cup on a high level. It’s the last game, in the previous one we showed a great attitude, it’s not easy to play with this schedule, but the players are always prepared to play good football and win games. We want to show good football and attitude and, of course, we want to win this match”, said the coach.
In a pre-match press conference, held in the press room of the ‘incarnated’ training center, in Seixal, Roger Schmidt was mainly asked to comment on the Benfica players’ squads for the World Cup.
“Very happy that Enzo and Nico [Otamendi] have been called up for the Argentine national team and also João Mário, Gonçalo [Ramos] and anthony [Silva] for the Portuguese team. They deserve it, they have played very well this season. I hope that the five players face each other in the World Cup final, that is my wish. There are other players in our team who, perhaps in the future, will become national team players”, the German also highlighted.
One of them is the Spanish left-back Grimaldo, who is not in the squad for the Spanish team, which surprised Roger Schmidt, the ‘Águilas’ coach revealed.
“Grimaldo is a bit surprising that he has not been called up to the national team. In my opinion, he is a great player and has had an excellent level, both in the Portuguese League and in international competitions. The decision is up to the Spanish team. [Luis Enrique] and you have to respect it, but Grimaldo deserved to be in the World Cup,” he said.
As for the game against Gil Vicente, Roger Schmidt announced that Gonçalo Ramos is already fit, after being out for the last two games, against Estoril Praia, due to injury, reinforcing the need to win and only then think about the Copa de the Turns.
“My focus is to win a very important game for us. We have put a lot of effort in recent weeks to be in this situation in the League and we want to maintain it. That’s why we need a win tomorrow [domingo]🇧🇷 We rested a bit and then we prepared the League Cup matches. We will lose some players, but we still have a good squad and we will try to win our matches”, underlined Roger Schmidt.
The undefeated leader Benfica, with 34 points, receives Gil Vicente, 16th ranked in the Portuguese Football First League, with nine, on Sunday, in a game of the 13th round, at 6:00 p.m., at the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, refereed by Rui Costa, from the Porto association.
Source: TSF
