The coach Roger Schmidt highlighted this Saturday the great motivation and confidence with which Benfica starts on Sunday for the Lisbon derby of matchday 33, at the Sporting stronghold, where they can be crowned champion of the First Football League.
“We have a new situation now. We worked a lot during this season for our goals. If we are focused on ourselves and we win on Sunday, we will be champions of the Portuguese I Liga. It is a great motivation for us,” he expressed. the German coach.
In a press conference prior to the derby, at the Benfica training center in Seixal, Roger Schmidt recalled the difficulties that Sporting will face, for being “a great team, with individual quality, creativity and speed, a clear tactical approach, a very good coach and very dangerous in moments of transition”.
“I think it’s a tough game on Sunday, but we’re in very good shape, we’ve played some good football in recent weeks. We respect our opponents, but we’re fully focused on the 90 minutes and we’re very confident.” We are ready to play a good game and win the game,” said the 56-year-old German coach.
Highlighting that the place where Benfica can be crowned champion is a ‘do not fear’, since it could be at the home of the Lisbon rival, something that only happened on one occasion, 48 years ago, Roger Schmidt addressed possible changes in the ‘starting eleven’ for the Sunday.
“Bah is back, Gilberto is available and all the players in training are now doing very well and fully focused. The quality of the training is top notch and everyone is ready to play. We have to find the right balance in the team. Fredrik [Aursnes] He has been very good on the right back in recent games, many players up front are in very good shape and Fredrik is very flexible in various positions”, he said.
Roger Schmidt also explained that Benfica always tries to play with the “ideal football” and believes in their style of play, based on “a lot of activity and possession of the ball, pressure and moments of transition”, to increase “the probability of creating chances”. .
The leader Benfica, with 83 points, visits Sporting, fourth ranked, with 70, in the derby of the 33rd and penultimate round of the First Football League, at the Estádio José Alvalade, in Lisbon, on Sunday, at 8:30 p.m., which will be refereed by João Pinheiro, from the Braga association.
Source: TSF
