The Benfica coach, Roger Schmidt, does not see the road to the Champions League final as being easier after this Friday’s draw, but he said, in Seixal, that he believes in reaching, at least, the semifinals.
The draw, held in Nyon, Switzerland, put Inter Milan on the path of the reds, in the quarterfinals, and the winner of the clash between AC Milan and Napoli, in the semifinals, if they beat the ‘nerazzurri’, but the German coach prefers, for the moment, to keep the focus on the I Liga.
“Of course not [temos o caminho facilitado até à final]. But I don’t want to look too far. The important thing now is Vitória [de Guimarães]. In mid-April we will play those matches, but our focus now is totally on Vitória,” replied Schmidt, asked if the draw had been favorable for his team.
The German stressed that the team knows “how much they had to work to be in the position” they are in and that they will not change the way they “respect the rival and especially the next game, which is with Vitória”, but acknowledged that ” Inter Milan is a team with a lot of quality and a lot of experience”.
“It’s the next big challenge for us. But, as I said, we believe in ourselves, we’ll do our best football and we hope to qualify at least until the semi-finals,” he said.
Benfica will face the Italians of Inter Milan in the quarterfinals of the Champions League, according to the draw held today in Nyon, Switzerland.
The formation led by the German Roger Schmidt plays the first match at the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, on April 11 or 12, and the second at San Siro, on the 18 or 19 of the same month.
If they manage to eliminate Inter Milan, Benfica will face the winner of the tie between the equally Italian AC Milan and Napoli in the semifinals, with a first leg away, on May 9 or 10, and back in Lisbon, on the May 16 or 17.
Source: TSF
