"Overall, we had the best chances and we had to score"

POST-MATCH

In his analysis of the second leg of the Europa League quarter-final against Marseille, Roger Schmidt acknowledged that Benfica had chances to score, which could have changed the outcome of the match, which was decided on penalties in favor of the French side (4-2), who had leveled the tie (2-2) with a goal in the 79th minute (1-0). 

MATCH ANALYSIS

"First of all, congratulations to Marseille on reaching the semi-final. We lost, and we had a lot of ambition to win this game, to go through to the semi-final, but at this level you have to play very good opponents, and Marseille played very intensely from the start, with a lot of aggression. We had some problems playing our football, finding solutions in terms of possession, and providing more situations for our strikers. We defended very well. We didn't allow them any clear chances. With 10 minutes to go, we conceded a goal and the game was wide open. We went to extra time, we had two great moments to score what could have been the decisive goal, but we missed those chances, and in the penalty shootout they did better and decided the game."

STRATEGY AND THE "GOOD TIMES"

"We wanted to have more of the ball, to play more in their half, but, as I said, they were very good at pressing and dueling. They won a lot of shared balls when we wanted to go on the attack. It was difficult to find solutions. In the second half we had some good moments, but overall we should have had more of the ball, something that was a consequence of their style of play, but we stayed in the game. Regardless, we had some good moments in transition and also in terms of possession. Overall, we had the better chances, and we had to score, but we didn't manage it. They used their home advantage, but we could have won in extra time."

CHANGES EXPLAINED

"We were well in the game, we made two changes with Orkun [Kökcü] and João Mário, and Rafa stayed as a striker. We were balanced, so we brought on Arthur Cabral at a more advanced stage."

KNOWING HOW TO DEAL WITH THE MOMENT

"[He didn't stay with the team at the end?] I was disappointed and I knew that the players were very disappointed, and in these moments you can't say much. There's nothing to ease the pain. For the players, it takes a few days to deal with this defeat because, as we saw today [Thursday, April 18] and in these two games, it was possible to reach the semi-final, and it's disappointing."

REACT AGAINST FARENSE

"The rest of the season is about playing five top games. We have to be ready on Monday [April 22] for the match with Farense [matchday 30 of the Liga Betclic] and to play a good game."