"The tie is wide open"

POST-MATCH

Regretting the lack of effectiveness, Bruno Lage considered that Benfica, given their dominance and the opportunities they created, deserved another outcome than the 0-1 they conceded in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Barcelona, played at the Estádio da Luz on Wednesday, March 5.

AMBITION INTACT

"A good game of football, where we started the game with an excellent chance to score after 20 seconds, and ended the game with several chances and failed to score. The tie is still wide open, which is what we were hoping for. We're not satisfied with the result, but we've already turned the page, with the players recovering to put in a good display, and with goals, against Nacional, and then with a huge ambition to go to Barcelona to win and move on in the competition."

ANTÓNIO SILVA “DOESN'T NEED WORDS”

"I think the game was marked by the many chances we created and didn't score, because we could have been talking about a 5-1 result, but we're talking about 0-1. A missed pass... everyone, from the goalkeeper to the striker, missed passes. This one stands out because he scored the goal. António [Silva] doesn't need any words. What we need to do is look forward, put on a similar display against Nacional and look ahead to the next game against Barcelona."

BARCELONA WITH “GREAT RESPECT” FOR BENFICA

"I don't care much about the past. I think you were there at our first Champions League conference, I had two wins in six games and still no away wins. And Benfica's record this season gives us a very good record in the Champions League and a very good record away from home. So what matters to me is that I give our players a lot of confidence and ambition to look forward to a great game against Barcelona. Because what we saw here today [Wednesday] too, I think it's important to emphasize, was a Barcelona team that respected Benfica a lot. They didn't press as they usually do, they didn't keep the defensive line up as they usually do, and that means there was respect, and even, both before and after the game, the coach's words reflect exactly that."

TOMÁS ARAÚJO LEFT DUE TO "WEAR AND TEAR"

"Tomás [Araújo] felt worn out by the game, that's why he left. And I don't regret not signing Bruma. That was a consequence of the signings we made. Unfortunately, we could only register three and, as the players arrived, we made the registrations. The conversation with Bruma was always very clear, that he was coming, but he couldn't be registered for the Champions League."

OFFENSIVE PRODUCTION JUSTIFIED A DIFFERENT RESULT

"Depending on what our chances were, it could have been 4-1, 4-2, 4-3... I think the game was so full of chances, but mostly for our side. We got a very good start to the game, 20 seconds in from Aktürkoğlu, and then we went... I remember one chance, at 15/20', for Barcelona, which was two good saves from Trubin, but then the 2nd half was clearly a series of very good chances. Even a penalty, where Belotti's jersey sleeve was offside. It's not looking at the fact that we conceded a goal, because on a good day we could have scored the same number of goals we scored against Atlético Madrid [four]. Now, the important thing was really what the team did 11 on 11, and then the team understood that we had to change the game, the positioning and the spaces, and we continued to create lots of chances, not least because what I see is that the Spanish press puts a lot of emphasis on the opposing goalkeeper."