Simão Sabrosa: "Maximum respect and work in the best way"

STATEMENTS  À BTV

Simão Sabrosa, Benfica's director of international relations, stressed that the eagles view the clash with Rangers in the last 16 of the Europa League with "the utmost respect". The Reds' opponents were announced on Friday morning, February 23, at the draw held in Nyon, Switzerland.

The Benfica director described the opponents as "a strong team", stressing that they are "1st in the Scottish league, have two more points than Celtic and score a lot of goals from set pieces".

"We know how our club works, we know that we have to be very strong at home, and the first game will be at home [on March 7, with the second leg scheduled for March 14]. So we have to show maximum respect and work as hard as we can to get a goal and a good result at home," he said.

Simão Sabrosa also highlighted the influence that the Benfica fans will have on the tie, particularly in the match at Estádio da Luz: "I believe it will be an important game for us and that the support of our fans will make the team more united and stronger."

In this way, the international relations director believes that the team "will be strong, objective" and will "prepare in the best way for these games against Rangers"

Simão Sabrosa also recalled that "Benfica have been very fortunate in European competition games against teams from the UK" and that "the last game [against Rangers] was in the 2020/21 season". At the time, the Reds met the Scots in the Europa League group stage, drawing both games (3-3 in Lisbon and 2-2 in Glasgow).