The Sporting de Braga coach said this Wednesday that he “believes” in a new victory over Benfica, in the quarterfinals of the Portuguese Football Cup, after the Braga team inflicted the only defeat this season. to the reds.
The coach revealed that Ricardo Horta “is ready for the game”, after having missed the last three games due to injury.
Sporting de Braga, which begins a cycle of six games in 18 days on Thursday, with an average of one game every three days, was the only team to beat Benfica this season (3-0), on December 30 of the year past, on the 14th day of the I League, in Braga.
Artur Jorge said that he “believes” that the team can be happy again against the “incarnated” and stressed that the message he conveyed to the players was to “match the ambition” of that game.
“We have the ambition to win, but we have to be much better, more capable and competent than in that match. We want to be happy again and we are prepared to go in search of what we want, ”he said in the preview. -Party press conference for the ‘bedrooms’.
The coach said that he expected “a very strong Benfica, which is the leader of the championship, certainly has many individual values and has been very competent collectively.”
“We are going to counteract with a Braga full of great individual quality and a very strong collective, united and committed to winning again, especially since it is a competition to be eliminated,” he said.
Asked if he expects a more alert and cautious Benfica in relation to this championship match, Artur Jorge stressed that his “obligation is to try to surprise and be prepared for a surprise from the opponent”.
“Benfica has been very standardized this year, some players change positions, but the dynamics of the team don’t change much, we are prepared to understand how the team moves defensively and offensively, but I also know that on the other side they will be very attentive to what what we can do,” he said.
Artur Jorge wants the team to have “maximum concentration from the first to the last minute” to be able to “control every moment of the game” and “beat” a “very competent” Benfica.
On the other hand, he also recalled Vitinha’s recent departure to Marseille, pointing out that Sporting de Braga lost a player who “gave a lot of power up front, a combat player, as well as an excellent finisher”, defending that Banza, Abel Ruiz and Álvaro Djaló “have great characteristics too, but different”.
The coach also revealed that he worked on the possibility of a penalty shootout.
“Obviously we worked on the possibility that the game would be decided in 90 or 120 minutes. [prolongamento] and also on penalties, as is our responsibility. There is that possibility and we are prepared for that,” he said.
Niakaté, having served a one-match ban, could also be an option for Artur Jorge.
Sporting de Braga and Benfica will face each other starting at 8:30 p.m. on Thursday, at the Estádio Municipal de Braga, in a match that will be refereed by Tiago Martins, from the Lisbon Football Association. There is a report on TSF and live monitoring at tsf.pt
Source: TSF
