“We have to react and play a great match”

PREVIEW

"Determination and a lot of energy" are guaranteed among the work group led by Bruno Lage, who, in his preview of the match between Benfica and Rio Ave, underlined the eagles' desire to ‘give a good response’ and win another three points.

It's Benfica's return to the national championship, almost a month later. How do you anticipate the match against Rio Ave? Is Alexander Bah available to play?

I anticipate telling you that we have to react and play a great game. That's our determination, and I felt a lot of energy today [Saturday, October 26] in training. We're once again convinced that we're going to play a great game. We're up against a tough opponent who, interestingly, have already played FC Porto, Sporting and Braga and, regardless of the results, have always performed well. A line of five, very compact defensively - we have to find the spaces and find the way to the goal - and with a very interesting dynamic in offensive terms. That's why I'm expecting a difficult game, but at the same time an interesting one for us, to understand our behavior, both tactically and in terms of the team's reaction, depending on what happened in the last game [Benfica-Feyenoord]. Yes, Bah is available.

We've heard some criticism of the team's display in the last game. How does the team feel psychologically? You've already said that you felt good energy in training and that a strong reaction is needed, but aren't you somehow afraid that the team will slip back into a negative spiral?

The biggest criticism is ours, and mine at that, because what I want after every game is to understand what happened. I like to understand how we win and how we lose, and I've passed that on to the players. The best way for us to grow and evolve is to be honest with ourselves, with what we've seen, and convey that message to the players. At the same time, there's no time to look back. We've closed, just as we didn't look at what we did in the first cycle, we're going to look at what we have to do tomorrow [Sunday, October 27] to win the game and play well again. That's what we have to do, not think about anything else, think about what I control, which is preparing for the game, motivating the team, motivating them with energy, motivating them by showing them the best strategy, what solutions and spaces we can exploit to score goals and win the game.

In the last match [Benfica-Feyenoord], you said that the team lacked some energy. Now, as the team has a very tight schedule, that could also lead him to you changes, as the team has the league game - and we know how disadvantaged Benfica are compared to the frontrunners - and then there is a League Cup tie, where, if it goes badly, they could miss out on the final four. How are you managing this, and what's most important to you at the moment?

Every game is important. As you rightly said, we have no margin for error in domestic competitions, so every game is important. When I referred to the issue of energy, I was referring in particular to what I saw during the match and the analysis I made of the game. I can come back to that. I felt that the team, both offensively and defensively, corresponded up until the moment we conceded the goal. From then on, I felt - and we spoke to the players about this at half-time - that the team wanted to do things too quickly. I wanted to defend in a hurry, which means... our opponent, with a certain calmness, circulating in behind, with a lot of people in the interior space. Leading 1-0, they took us into certain spaces, back to the central midfielder, back to the goalkeeper, and the team, instead of staying compact and realizing the right moments when we had to press, had a lot of people running long distances. Then, with the ball, we kept our composure, continued to have possession, and we also wanted to do everything in a hurry. In two steps, we wanted to create a goal-scoring situation, and that wasn't possible. That was the strain we had on our energy, on our patience. We conceded a goal in the Champions League after 10 minutes. We have 80 minutes to keep playing, and that's what we talked about at half-time. I think the team reacted very well afterward. In these games, we could even be 2-1 up after 80 minutes and still have 10 minutes to turn the game around. When I talked about energy, I really meant it. That's what you learn from this game. Do what we did against Santa Clara and do what we did against Gil Vicente. We conceded a goal? We have to be calm enough to stay in the game, keep playing according to what we believe in, and create the goal-scoring opportunities, which unfortunately we didn't do. We couldn't turn that game around. We didn't win three points to add to the six we have in the Champions League, but tomorrow [Sunday, October 27] is a league game. Today, I felt that the team had recovered and was extremely determined to give a good response.

HWill there be any changes [to the team] compared to the Feyenoord game, especially with Otamendi? He was at the Copa America, the Olympic Games, he's been linked to some defensive errors... I'm asking you directly if he's going to be out of the eleven or not?

But you're asking specifically about Nico [Otamendi]? Listen, I'm going to address all the questions regarding this situation and not single anyone out because... at least that's how I think about it, there are no guaranteed places or places at risk. We're talking about Nico [Otamendi] specifically, he's a great player, with his past... he's a world champion, he's won in Portugal for Benfica and FC Porto, and he's also won abroad. What everyone has to do is work. And that's what I've seen. So my decisions are based on the team's performance as a whole, everyone's performance, and looking ahead to the next game. That's the most important thing. Not to individualize on this issue, to talk about Nico [Otamendi] because you asked, but there are various situations in individual terms that I like to put into what is the answer for the next game. That's why I've repeated the team a few times, and I've been very pleased with a lot of people who are coming off the bench and helping the team to be better. The question of the central defenders...

Sporting's coach [Rúben Amorim] said yesterday [Friday] that nobody has more stability than him in Portugal. Is that a disadvantage for Benfica in terms of stability? On the other hand, it turns out to be an advantage for Sporting, making them the strongest team and the main favorite to win this Championship?

Look, your question is very interesting, but firstly, I'm not going to comment on Rúben [Amorim]'s words, and what's most important for us right now is the reaction we have to give tomorrow [Sunday]. That's the most important thing. The team tomorrow [Sunday] is determined to win the game.