"We're ready"

PREVIEW

In matchday 4 of the Liga Betclic, scheduled for this Friday, August 30, at 8:15 pm, Benfica and Moreirense lock horns at the Estádio Comendador Joaquim Almeida de Freitas. In the preview, Roger Schmidt said that eagles have to "keep concentration". 

Moreirense have won their first two league games, playing very positive football. Do you think we will have an open game tomorrow [Friday, August 30]?

We'll see. What I can say is that last season Moreirense played very well and it was difficult to play against them. We played them twice, in a smaller stadium. It's not easy, we drew twice and that means it's very difficult to win. As I said, they started the season very positively. They won their first games, they played a brave game against SC Braga. Right now, when we're still in the transfer window, the focus has to be completely on this game. We're well prepared, we have a lot of motivation to keep playing good football and to win. That's what we want to do tomorrow [Friday, August 30] and we're ready for it.

You mentioned Benfica's difficulties when playing Moreirense away. This game comes before the "clássico". Are you going to talk to the team about the importance of winning and recovering points against your rivals? What would be a good draw for the Champions League? Do you like this new format?

Of course we talked about our objectives and what we have to do to achieve them. In the last few away games, we haven't been consistent in winning, as we have to be to win titles. At home, I think we have a lot of consistency, but we have to get back to the same quality in away games. It's a very important thing for us and we've talked about it. Of course, we know that another tough challenge awaits us tomorrow, and we want to show our attitude and motivation in this game and especially in away games. When we played the last two games there [in Moreira de Cónegos] we controlled and dominated the game, but we didn't score the decisive goals to win. That dominance wasn't reflected in the result. To be very honest, I was at the congress in Nyon a year, a year and a half ago, when they first talked about the new model of the Champions League, about changing something, and I was excited from the start. I really liked it, it's a new format, it's different, I think playing in the Champions League is fantastic, it's the best clubs competition in the world. I've always enjoyed it. All the teams are in the same league, eight games with different opponents, four away games and four at home. I like it. I'll wait for the draw to see all the teams we'll face in the competition. I'm happy about the competition and that we're part of it.

As far as the market is concerned, Amdouni is already in Lisbon. Kaboré is also on his way. What can you say about these two players? What can they add to the team? 

First of all, we have to wait and see if they will be our players or not. At the moment they haven't signed a contract yet. Zeki Amdouni is here and we hope he will become our player, of course. I can talk about him because the deal is very close. I think what he gives us is a lot of quality in attack, especially he's also flexible in his position, to play as a second striker, on the wing, or as a center forward. I think he's the exact profile we were looking for on the market. We'll be happy when he signs. I can't talk about the other players, because we have to wait and see if there's an agreement or not. We're still in the market for a right-back. I said it last week, that he should be complete and bring the right balance to the team, because at the moment we only have Alex Bah as a right-back. So we have to wait.

At the end of the last game against Estrela [da Amadora], you said that João Mário had been left out of your options because there was a possibility that he would leave and he had an offer from abroad. Are there more players with offers? Do you feel you could set a precedent, given that João Mário is a very important player and one of the team captains?

What I can say about João [Mário] is that he wants to leave Benfica. There are real negotiations, which is why he won't be in the team tomorrow [Friday, August 30]. The expectation is that he will leave the club. If we reach the end of the transfer period and João Mário is still a Benfica player, we have to deal with this kind of situation. My opinion is that for two years he was a key player for me. But the current situation is what it is. The case of João Mário I think is a special case. Now, the other players are happy to be playing for Benfica, they're completely focused. The atmosphere in the team is positive. I'm looking forward to tomorrow's game [Friday, August 30].

Marcos Leonardo hasn't been one of the first choices. Is there a preference between him and Arthur Cabral to leave?

I already mentioned it at the last press conference and the one before, that we have three strikers, one of them isn't happy with the situation, he doesn't want to fight for the position and we have to talk about it. As for Marcos Leonardo, he's a very young striker, we signed him half a year ago, we believe not only in his quality but also in his potential. We want to continue developing him as Benfica's top striker. As I said, there's a lot of interest from the market in our players. That means we have good players, but of course it doesn't mean that they all want to leave, or that we sell them. Of course, we're still interested in keeping our players. We're the ones who have to make the decision, we're the ones who manage the situation. As I've said two or three times, we need a squad of a very high standard, and of course we have to look after our players.