João Mário: "It tastes bitter"

João Mário reached an unprecedented personal record after scoring three goals against Inter Milan (3-3), on matchday 5 of Group D of the Champions League held this Wednesday, November 29, at Estádio da Luz. The midfielder scored the first hat-trick in his career, was the first Benfica player to do so in this format of the competition, and earned the distinction of Player of the Match.

Because of the three-goal draw, "disappointed" and "frustrated" was how João Mário felt after the final whistle. The game left him with "a bitter taste".

"When you go to half-time 3-0 up, you never expect it [the other team to come back from three goals down]. We were hoping for a different result. In the second half we wanted to play a smart game, score more goals to finish the game, but we didn't manage it. We conceded two goals in a flash  and, honestly, in the second half everything went against us... Unfortunately, we didn't manage to win", said the number 20.

João Mário refused the match ball and explained why: "You can never put the individual before the team. I was disappointed and frustrated, a bit because of the game, because of some decisions that we can't talk about..."

On Inter Milan, João Mário said that the Reds faced "a great team", which "created a lot of difficulties for them in the second half", looking ahead to the next and final matchday (6), which sees them travel to Austria to play Salzburg on Tuesday, December 12, at 8 pm, and that it's "to win". "We still have a percentage [of chances] to qualify for the Europa League, let's focus on that," he emphasized.