"Good display and a fantastic reaction"

POST-MATCH

Pleased with the three points Benfica picked up after beating Rio Ave (2-3), on Sunday, March 16, Bruno Lage highlighted the players' reaction to the 2-2 draw and the way they battled for victory at Estádio do Rio Ave FC in round 26 of the Liga Betclic.

"GOOD DISPLAY AND FANTASTIC REACTION"

"A very important win, a good display and a fantastic reaction, especially from 2-2 onwards. But, starting at the beginning, I think we had 63 minutes of great quality, where we created lots of chances to score, on a difficult pitch, against a well-coached team, which has developed very well under Petit, and, by the way, it's the first time they've lost here at home. So I'm happy about that moment. At 1-2, Rio Ave came into the game, scored 2-2, but the team reacted very well to that moment, scored 2-3 and made two or three excellent plays. So when I look back at the game, we're happy because, really, in a difficult stadium, we won, we won well, and we got three points which are very important for us."

"TEAM IN A GOOD MOMENT" AND "PLAYING WELL"

"[Victories that can win championships] Of course they do. Winning away, with these teams that take points off direct opponents, wins championships, but it can also take them away. That was the warning I gave our players at the end of the game. We're going into a month and a half, in a month and a half we're going to play nine league games. I feel the team is in a good moment, they're playing well. We created a lot of chances, we scored three, we could have scored another goal or two, but we mustn't make any mistakes that allow the opposition to come in and argue for the result after what we did."

FOCUS, COMMITMENT AND UNITY

"[The difficulties caused by the international break] We have to have that capacity. A while ago, five or six years ago, times changed... players would go to the national team and come back Monday, Tuesday to play the following weekend. But things are different now, we have players arriving on Wednesday and Thursday still to recover to play. We've also had to adapt and evolve. The team has always behaved well when it returns and immediately enters the competition, and I believe, the way we are, and what we've done has been visible, looking back over the last month and a half, it's been excellent, of quality, and the team, what they're going to do in the next month and a half, they're going to be focused, they're going to be committed, they're united, you can feel it in the team, the atmosphere is good, the support from the fans has been exceptional, and today, once again, after the 2-2, even more support came from the stands for the team to be able to achieve victory. So, all of that together, and realizing that there are nine games to go until the end of the Championship and that we have that semi-final with Tirsense, the team will be assertive enough to realize that it's going to be very important to continue the work we've been doing." 

THE CHANGE AT HALF-TIME

"[Pull Aursnes back and move Barreiro into midfield] It was Leandro [Barreiro] or Leandro [laughs]. Look, it could be either player. I had complete confidence in Fredrik [Aursnes] or Leandro as a right-back. But we felt, and Barreiro offers us this, that we were missing a man to make more diagonal movements; Zeki [Amdouni] and Pavlidis were coming forward a lot, as was Bruma, and we needed someone to make counter-movements. That's all it was, that's why we went for it. We spoke to Fredrik, who had no problem playing right-back, and Leandro [Barreiro] came in, and he did very well."

THANKS FOR THE MESSAGES OF SUPPORT

"By the way, I'd like to take this opportunity, because yesterday [Saturday], while I was trying to recover to be here - because I wanted to be here in front of the players - I received lots of messages of support from friends and, above all, from Benfica fans. I haven't had a chance to say thank you yet, and I publicly thank you for all the support I've received. It was nothing special, just a cold. That's what comes of having little boys. It happened to me, everything is fine, thank God. Thank you very much for your concern and messages of support."