"It was a very important victory and we're happy"

POST-MATCH

In the analysis of the match between Casa Pia and Benfica, which the eagles won 0-1, Roger Schmidt stressed the importance of getting three points before the international break. 

VALUABLE WIN TO END A TOUGH CYCLE

"The win was very important for our situation in the league, everything is still possible. Every win and every game are important, but it was the last game before the international break. It's been a long road over the last few weeks, with a lot of back-to-back games. Playing a very tough and important game in Glasgow on Thursday night and then playing Casa Pia on Sunday night is a challenge. It's a football match, but it's also a mental match, because it's always difficult to play against Casa Pia, especially if you don't score, because they're very compact, very good at defending, they don't give you many spaces. That's what we expected and discussed, that maybe we needed patience to find the right moment to score. We could also have scored earlier, but what the players did, the football, the mentality, the togetherness and the quality were top notch, so I have a lot of respect for what the players did. It was a very important win and we're happy."

QUALITY THROUGHOUT THE 90 MINUTES

"Right from the first half, I saw a collective performance, pressure, and very good attacking moments. What we lacked was the final pass, duel, crossing, and timing in the box. It's no coincidence that [Casa Pia], after changing coach, haven't conceded in their first three games. Last season too, we know how difficult it was to score against Casa Pia. For a long time, they had one of the best defenses in the league. Right from the first half, I was completely happy with the display. At half-time, I said that we had to keep going, put them under pressure, speed up the game, force mistakes, and we would definitely score. We had to be careful on the counter-attacks. I was very happy with the whole 90 minutes, not just the second half."

ARTHUR CABRAL'S DECISIVE ENTRANCE

"At a certain point, we needed individual quality. Marcos [Leonardo] was good, he tried everything, but at that moment we needed a different type of player up front, a bit more physical. Arthur [Cabral] came on and did what he had to do. Along with David [Neres], it's very good for us to have these options on the bench."

ABSENCE OF KÖKCÜ

"You can't be in the team when you give an interview like that, it's impossible to be in the squad for a very important game. I read what he said, I haven't had a chance to talk to him. I'll talk to him after the international break, when he comes back. Yesterday and today, the focus was completely on this game, because that's the most important thing. What he did wasn't good, it's very clear, everyone knows that. This interview doesn't fit in with Orkun [Kökcü], that's why it's so surprising, because he's a very good player and a very good person. I don't know what happened for him to give this interview out of the blue, because, in fact, everything is balanced. He's played a lot of games for Benfica, he's played well, he's scored a few goals, he's given a lot of assists. Actually, everything was fine, so I don't know. I have to talk to him, because at the moment I can't understand it, but of course we're not happy about this. Of course it's not good for the team, it's not good for Benfica, but above all it's not good for him, because it puts him in a difficult situation. But now our challenge is to bring him back to Benfica with the right mentality, because he's an important player for us and we need him. Of course, it's not good to have this situation between two very important games, but the team and the players have shown that they can focus on what's important, which is our performance on the pitch."