"We have to play good football and fight to get the three points"

PREVIEW

In his preview of Vitória SC-Benfica on matchday 21 of the Liga Betclic, Roger Schmidt stressed the need for the team to be organized and competent at all times to win a difficult match against one of the best teams in the league. 

Benfica will be playing their third match in a week. How did the team prepare for their return to league action in Guimarães?

The preparation is all about recovery. Playing Vizela on Thursday and Vitória on Sunday is a challenge. We're preparing as best we can, with mental and physical rest. We'll have to be prepared for a tough game against one of the top teams in the league. I think they're doing very well in the league, as they are in the [Portuguese] Cup. They're very dangerous in transition and on the counter-attack. We played there a long time ago, at the start of last season, and I remember the atmosphere in the stadium, which is top-notch. We're looking at a big league game and'll do our best to win it.

What will be the real difficulty for Benfica, and how will they overcome it?

In my opinion, to play against them, we need to be very well organized tactically. They have a lot of quality players, in individual terms, up front. Their style of play is typical of many teams in Portugal and also in international football, with a line of five and very attacking wingers. They have very good players for this type of soccer and, as I said, we always have to look for moments when we can win balls back and attack deep. All the players put a lot of effort into these moments, so they're able to create good opportunities and difficulties for other teams. That means we have to do well in terms of possession and be organized when we lose the ball. We need a lot of pressure and to find our moments in attack, as we always do. We'll be playing a good team, but we're going through a very good moment, and we're aiming for a good game from us. We know we have to play good football, work hard and fight to get the three points.

Does Benfica's schedule, with matches every three days, worry you, or do you prefer the team to be in constant competition?

The calendar is what it is. We're happy to play a lot of games. Playing once a week would mean we'd be out of European competitions and domestic cups. We want to play a lot of games, and we're not going to complain about that. It's very demanding because the recovery time between them is a challenge, but we've already shown that we can focus on each match and play to win. That's our mission for the next few weeks, and the best way to succeed is to think 100% about the next game. There's no point in thinking about the matches we have left until the international break in March. The most important thing is to be ready for tomorrow [Sunday]. That's what we've done in the past, and we want to keep it up.

Arthur Cabral has been doing very well and has scored in the last three games. I'd like to ask you to comment on his latest performances and whether, at the moment, he's the forward best prepared to be a starter for the rest of the season?

Let's see. I always look ahead to the next game. Arthur [Cabral] is much better. He's scoring goals, and that's crucial for a winger. At the start of the season, he worked hard, but occasionally he was unlucky, missed a few goals, and lost a bit of confidence. But now he's at a completely different moment. I'm very happy with the goals he's been scoring because they're important for us. What we've seen is that he's gaining automaticity with the surrounding teammates, and that he's attacking better from deep. I think there's still a lot of potential for growth, because he's had to completely change his style of play. He used to be a more positional striker and, in our system, he has to be more flexible and get involved in combinations, as well as taking part in pressing. This is new for him, but it's important for me to see that he's doing his best to adapt. I'm very happy with him. And now, with Marcos [Leonardo] and the return of Casper [Tengstedt], we have two more strikers who have shown their quality. We're going to need all of them, and it's not the right time to make individual assessments of the season.

President Rui Costa said yesterday [Friday, February 9] that Aursnes was the best right-back in Portugal and that he worked as a wild card. What's your opinion? For you, is he now a full-back or a midfielder?

I see him as a flexible player, I think that's the best description. It's important for us, and for me as a coach, to have a player like him, especially in the last month, when we've had a few injured players, and we've had to find solutions. Fredrik [Aursnes] showed once again that he can be very good at replacing players in positions other than those he usually plays. He played at an excellent level. It's about quality, tactical intelligence and mentality, because if the players aren't open to it, they won't be able to achieve what they achieve in different positions. I'm very happy with that, and the best thing is that he is too. He likes having a new challenge. We have to find the best position for him, we're happy to have a player like him, and over the next few weeks we'll see where we need him, but we need him.