"We're playing at home, and we want to build a good margin for the 2nd leg"

PREVIEW

In the preview of the Benfica-Toulouse match this Thursday, February 15, Roger Schmidt expressed his happiness at returning to the Estádio da Luz and assured that he sees the team in every position to achieve a result that will allow them to face the second leg of the Europa League play-off in France with greater comfort. 

Since the last game in European competition two months ago, a lot has changed, with the arrival of new players. Can we say that Benfica is better?

We're in a good moment, that's for sure. We've played several games in a row at a good level, with good football, and we've managed to win difficult games. On Sunday [with Vitória SC], we drew a very difficult game, but we also showed a good mentality, a good spirit, and we never gave up. That way, the team can accept situations like Sunday's. We're ready to play the first leg against Toulouse. We know that international soccer is always different and that our opponents will be very motivated. They've put in some good performances this season, especially in the Europa League group stage, where they've only lost once. We respect our opponents, but we also believe in ourselves and have the belief that we'll have a good game.

This match comes after three games in eight days for different competitions. Has the pace been demanding on the players' physical condition?

First, we're happy to be playing at home, because it was demanding to play in Vizela and, three days later, at Vitória SC, not only because of the games but also because of the travel. That's why we're happy to be playing at home tomorrow [Thursday] and on Sunday [the 18th]. Today [Wednesday], the players were in good shape and good spirits in training. So I don't think the intensity we need to play every three days will be a problem.

Do you believe that Toulouse is a different team in the Europa League compared to Ligue 1, given that they have had some interesting results in the Europa League, such as against Liverpool?

Toulouse isn't as stable in the [French] league, but they've shown a lot of quality against very good opponents. But of course, especially in the Europa League group stage, they played reliably at a high level. They've only lost one game in a very difficult group, so that shows that they also have extra motivation for international football. That's what we have to look forward to tomorrow [Thursday], the best Toulouse and an opponent giving everything to get a good result here, before playing the second leg at home. That's their advantage, but we're prepared for that and to play at our best. We have a lot of motivation, we're excited to be playing international football again, and we're completely focused on the 90 minutes tomorrow [Thursday].

Given that the competition is still at an early stage, are Benfica aiming to win the Europa League? Given the tight schedule, if you had to give priority to any competition, would you give priority to the Europa League or the Portuguese League?

It doesn't matter what competition it is. When we start, we always give our best in every game and try to win each one. Before the 90 minutes, our goal is always to win, no matter what competition. We do our best in the league, we do our best in the League Cup, in international matches, and also in the Portuguese Cup. We always give everything and, of course, if we do that and win, we're in the final, and we can try to win titles, but there's not much point in thinking about the next rounds. At this level, also in the Europa League, you always have to respect every opponent, and you need complete focus to succeed in these games. We'll do our best round by round, and our focus is on Toulouse.

February is the month with the most games so far this season. Do you think we're going through a key moment?

It's extremely difficult to answer which is the key month or moment of the season. It doesn't make much sense to think about the number of games in February, because they're all decisive. In this tough schedule, the best thing to do is to focus on the next match. We have to analyze and see how the players are doing to decide what the best approach is for the next game. For me, the important thing is to be fully focused for tomorrow [Thursday], because we have to play again on Sunday [Vizela] and Thursday [second leg against Toulouse]. The pace isn't going to slow down this month, and we can't prepare for certain games in advance. In the knockout stages, we can't make mistakes, because we can't correct them like we can in the group stage. We have to be ready. We play at home, and we want to win to build up a good margin ahead of the second leg in Toulouse. 

Given the planning for the season, the investment in forwards, and Arthur Cabral's good form, does it make sense to approach a game without a striker? Will you do it more often in the future?

I think we have to find the best approach for each game. We always play with forwards and attacking players. On Sunday [against Vitória SC], we did that too, but with a winger with different characteristics. It's always a question of what we need on the pitch. Normally we play with a more pure spearhead, like Arthur Cabral, Marcos Leonardo or Casper Tengstedt, but on other occasions a different tactical approach makes sense. Tomorrow [Thursday] we play at home, and we want to use that advantage to get a good result in the first leg. We want to win the game, and we're going to play attacking football. I'm not going to announce what the starting XI will be, but goals are always a good argument for any player who wants to play. We have different options, and we'll find the best choices for tomorrow's [Thursday's] eleven. As we saw last Sunday, it's also good to have good players on the bench who can come on and score decisive goals, as happened with Arthur Cabral. He didn't play from the start, and maybe that's why he managed to score so close to the end of the match. We'll find a good set-up for tomorrow [Thursday], I'm very happy to see our forwards scoring. It's not just Arthur Cabral, but also Rafa and Ángel [Di María], who is very involved in the goals. We're very unpredictable in attack, and that's very important.