"As a team, together, we achieved the goal"

POST-MATCH

Pleased with Benfica's qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, after the draw (3-3) against Monaco, in the 2nd leg of the Champions League knockout stage play-off, played on Tuesday, February 18, at the Estádio da Luz, Bruno Lage highlighted the “prestige” this brings to the club, arguing that the Eagles had “merit” for the way they fought.

WHAT MADE THE DIFFERENCE IN QUALIFICATION

"A great game of football, another against Monaco. They're always games... we've played all three games, always games like this, with lots of chances from both sides. And the goal was achieved. We're happy about that, about getting through the knockout round against a great opponent. We're playing in the Champions League, we know the quality of our opponents. And what's most important to note right now is that, throughout the knockout round, I always felt that we were the better team and deserved to go through. I think it's a game of enormous quality. Monaco have very good periods of the game, especially after their goal [1-1]. We took the lead with some good pressure of our own. Barreiro won the ball, and then we deservedly took the lead. But Monaco is very strong. They're very strong on the inside. They always cause us problems when they play... because they have a lot of people inside. In the previous game, they used a similar position, not with three central midfielders up front, but with a midfielder bringing the central midfielders down and putting two behind them out wide, and then people on the inside with a lot of quality to try and receive the ball between the lines. And they had a very good moment in the game, especially after their goal. We tried to correct it at half-time, our idea was to close down the inside game, not to go to a line of five, but to play according to the players who were on the pitch, with Aktür [Aktürkoğlu] and Andreas [Schjelderup] closing down the inside space, having the full-backs coming out wide and then having good positioning from Barreiro and Kökcü trying to control the inside space. And with the second goal [1-2] we changed. Samuel [Dahl] and Zeki [Amdouni] came on to change our pressing, to change the way we played. But what I think was decisive afterwards was that we were also calmer in the 2nd half with the ball, creating the chances we created to score our goals and move on in the competition."

MISSION ACCOMPLISHED

[Trubin's display instability worries you?] "No, it doesn't worry me. For the ball to reach the moment when Trubin has to decide, it goes through 11 players. What's most important is what we do at each moment. That's why it's not important to try to individualize today. The important thing is to look at what we've done, and we'll have time to analyze the game. We're a team that plays very well against a line of five, but we have one more game to watch, to analyze, to bring out the positives, to understand what we can improve with the players we have available, because we'll surely find a similar, or very similar, challenge later on. But this [Monaco] team, and I can't remember if I used this expression in any preview or post-match conference, plays very well inside. A lot of people in the central corridor and only the two full-backs on the outside. We felt we could control the game in one way. I feel that, in the first half, we could have had longer spells of possession, also to put the opposition in trouble, but the most important thing was what we did over the 90 minutes. As a team, together, we achieved our goal, which was to move on in the competition."

THE "FATE"...

"[Do you agree with what the Monaco coach (Adi Hütter) said: that Benfica were very lucky in the play-offs, especially in this second game?] You know, that's been my fate, I'm always lucky when I win.”" 

GOALS IN THE COMPETITION AND THOUGHTS ON BOAVISTA

"Right now, what we have to do is get the team back as quickly as possible. We're playing Boavista in the league, with a new coach, and I think there are seven or eight new faces in the squad. That has to be our focus. A possible opponent will be between Liverpool and Barcelona. We have to prepare in the best way to face either of them. We already know Barcelona, because we've already played them this season. My background also allows me to say that I know a bit about what it's like to play Liverpool. The most important thing is that we're prepared for every moment. We've got Boavista, a very important game in the league. Next up is a very important Portuguese Cup tie with Braga, and then we'll see who our opponents will be in the next game."