“I'm happy with the three points and the performance”

POST-MATCH

In his analysis of Benfica's win over Estrela da Amadora, by 1-0, in matchday 3 of the Liga Betclic, Roger Schmidt praised his team's performance, particularly from a defensive point of view, although he lamented the lack of effectiveness in attack. 

POSITIVE DISPLAY JUSTIFIED A MORE SIGNIFICANT RESULT

“It's 1-0, it's three points, but we actually played much better than 1-0. What we played was very good, in pressing, in offensive transition, in high pressing, in possession, in vertical play. I think we were very good at everything, but what we lacked today [Saturday] was to use this dominance to score more goals, to decide the game earlier. There were so many opportunities and situations during the first and second half, inside and around the box, to score more than one goal, but if you don't score that goal... then there's also quality if you don't concede and you get the three points. That was the positive thing, I think they had almost nothing. But if you don't score the second goal, it's always a difficult game. I have a lot of respect for this team [Estrela da Amadora], because they have a lot of quality and speed up front, players who can do a lot of good things in one-on-one situations, and then you have to be careful to defend in a good way, not give them any moments to score, and I think that's what we did. In the end, I'm happy with the three points and also with the performance of the players, but, in my opinion, we could have been smarter, to balance the commitment we put into the game and the result, but, in the end, a win is a win and the performance was good. I think we played very well, but we need to score more goals. It's something we have to improve, but maybe it's also normal, because we have a lot of players who have to connect now. We're at the start of the season, we've had a lot of changes, also a bit of a different style, so I'm happy that we managed to dominate a game like we did, and I hope we develop into deciding games earlier.”

INJURIES OF TIAGO GOUVEIA AND AURSNES

“Tiago [Gouveia]... his shoulder was out of position, I don't know exactly what it is. They put the shoulder back in position and my experience with these injuries is that it always needs a bit, but I'm not sure. I have to talk to the doctors and also to Tiago [Gouveia], how he feels, I didn't see him after the match, so I hope it won't take too long. Also with Fredrik [Aursnes], he didn't feel comfortable in the first half, with a muscle. That's why we took him off, not to take any risks. We have to be careful to get them back as soon as possible.”

NEED TO DEVELOP RENATO SANCHES

“It's up to Renato [Sanches] to become a player in Benfica's starting eleven, but that's my challenge now. Of course the fans are very happy that he's back, I'm also happy that he's back. He's a fantastic footballer, but we also have to consider that he missed a lot of games last season, so I think what we have to do is develop him, give him minutes, train very hard with him and then bring him back in top shape. There's still some work to do, but I'm very happy, he's also very happy to have played for Benfica again in this stadium. We're going to support him as best we can. We need to be patient with him, he's not ready to play 90 minutes for Benfica at the moment.”

MIDFIELD OPTIONS

“Everyone can have their own opinion, there are many approaches in football to play and, in my opinion, Florentino and Leandro [Barreiro] are being incredible, fantastic. They're not just defensive midfielders. Of course they're fantastic at getting balls, second balls, pressing, playing vertically after getting the ball, they're doing so many good things in central midfield. I think Leandro Barreiro also gives us a bit of the quality of getting into the box, being involved in attacking moments, so he doesn't play as a defensive midfielder, he plays as a midfielder who takes care of our tactical balance, but he's always involved in attacking moments too. In my opinion, at the moment, they give us a lot of balance in this position, so I'm very happy with them. Of course, you can always think about the type of players in this position. The options at the moment would be Renato Sanches, but he's not ready for that, or Orkun [Kökcü], he can also play in this position, but he's not in the perfect physical shape to play in this position either. That's why he played a bit more in attacking midfield, because he had a short pre-season, so we have to develop him. He played a top game, scored a very important goal for us, so of course we have a few options for this position, but right now I'm very happy with them. If other people think they're not playing well in this position, I have a completely different opinion. They give us a lot of quality, so overall I'm happy with the balance. It's not just about the central midfield, it's a bit about the organization in general. We've lost a lot of players in the last two years, also attacking players, so we have to find ourselves a bit in a new way. What I saw today [Saturday], and also last week, how we played, how we behaved tactically, how we dominated games... I'm very happy.”

BENFICA FANS' REACTIONS AT THE END OF THE MATCH

“I saw a lot of happy fans at the Stadium today [Saturday]. I think the fans were very happy, we played good football, we won the game. I think that's what everyone expects of us, to win game by game, so that we have a chance to become champions at the end of the season. We're doing well, the players are doing well, we have a good spirit in the team. I don't know, I haven't heard [whistles]. Whether they whistled against us, the referee or the opponent, I don't know, but I saw that a lot of the fans are very happy.”

JOÃO MÁRIO'S ABSENCE

“It's very simple. There's a possibility that he'll leave the club in this transfer window, there are some offers and he's thinking about it. In this situation, I've taken him out of the team.”