"Full credit, the game went perfectly"

POST-MATCH

In is analysis of Benfica's historic 1-4 victory over FC Porto on Sunday, April 6, Bruno Lage chose the word “determination” to sum up a display that bordered on perfection in the derby on matchday 28 of the Liga Betclic.

VERY WELL PREPARED CLÁSSICO

"[What led to this historic and categorical victory at the Estádio do Dragão?] Firstly, to fulfill what we said yesterday [Saturday] in the preview, to come to the [Estádio do] Dragão to play FC Porto with the will to win. Then, with the determination with which we did it and full credit to the players. I also share this credit with my coaching staff, because they prepared the game very well. And I mean the coaching staff, my assistants. I only had to adjust and finalize the last details, but they prepared the game very well. I'm always very grateful, because that's the only way I can concentrate on one game at a time and, when things got back to me, both from the analysts and from the assistants, the people who are next to me on the bench, the game went perfectly. We did what we had to do without the ball, with the ball and even from set pieces. The short corner from which the 2nd goal came was something that had been rehearsed, so I want to share this credit with the players and my coaching staff. And credit also to the players for their determination. What we've been talking about lately, being a family, a team, a troop, today [Sunday] we had to be that. And we only did it with great determination."

TIRELESS SUPPORT FROM THE FANS

"It's something that's been happening ever since we arrived. I remember our first away game, with Red Star [1st round of the Champions League], how they made themselves heard. That's what we want and that's what we like from our fans. I want my team to arrive and, regardless of the pitch, play like they did. And the fans, we always like to hear this support, which was decisive. From the moment we left the Estádio da Luz, to when we left the hotel today [Sunday], and then during the 90 minutes."

SEVERAL FINALS AHEAD

"[Gaining momentum for the final stretch] No, this win gives us three points and gives us the consistency we've been talking about for the last two months. So that's how I see the team growing, that's how I see all the players, regardless of whether they start or not, contributing to the team, and that's how we have to continue. A lot of calm, knowing that it was, as we said yesterday [Saturday], an important game, not a decisive one. We've only won three points, we've still got several finals to go, and now our focus has to be on the next game with Tirsense, because a semi-final of the Portuguese Cup is approaching, and we want to be in the final."

CONSISTENCY AND GREAT DETERMINATION

"[Did you expect a wider gap?] I'll answer by recalling your question from yesterday [Saturday], which was what are we going to promise for tomorrow's game [today] when we concede two goals against Farense. This is football. And then I replied: what's most important is what the team produces at each moment. You can't score from every opportunity we create. We've even exchanged several times, between answers and questions, that murderous mentality I've been referring to. What's important is to see the team growing, to feel that it's creating chances, and at every moment to score goals and win the 3 points with good displays and that consistency, which I won't let go of until the end, because I think it's important. [The pressure on Sporting] The pressure is on us to continue on this path. We won, we're currently in first place, Sporting play tomorrow [Monday], but our focus has to be on the Tirsense game and then the Arouca game, they're important games. Yesterday [Saturday] I even talked about it a bit, the various teams in Europe who are in the top places, when they play teams from the middle of the table or the bottom of the table, the games in the final stretch are difficult; you saw Real Madrid lose to Valencia yesterday [Saturday], Barcelona draw, so we have to be very determined, because we won't know which game is going to be difficult, which game we're going to have more problems, so the focus has to be total on what we control, which is what we do on the pitch."

ONE MATCH AT A TIME

"[A victory and a team on the rise will demystify Benfica's more difficult schedule until the end of the Championship?] As I said, we have to take the competition one game at a time because, regardless of the opposition's form and value, we don't know which game could cause us the most problems. I remember in 2019, when we were champions, we had a very difficult game at home to Pepa's Tondela. We won 1-0 [with a late goal]... so what we have to do is focus on what we do, with enormous determination, and then, on the pitch, play the game offensively as we said." 

DI MARÍA'S “LESSON”

"[Important to defend and attack] Yes, both defending and attacking. I don't like to look too much at the statistical side of the game, but Di María was probably the player who recovered the most balls in the first half. Maybe that taboo from when I arrived here, that Di María didn't defend, is over. I think he's given us a lesson in how to defend and how to play slightly lower or then come out and press. Full credit to the player, for understanding the two players who appeared in that position. The only thing we tried to do to surprise FC Porto, the analysis we made throughout the match, was to change our three-man formation in strategic terms. Normally we play out on the left, either through Carreras or Kökcü; this time we played out on the right, keeping Tomás [Araújo] lower down, with Aktürkoğlu and Carreras higher up on the opposite side. We'd already done it, we went back to some of the ideas we'd used in the game against Boavista. I can even say that, in attack, we tried to do what we did against Boavista on matchday 6, and, in our defensive organization, because FC Porto put a lot of people in, and with a lot of quality, we tried to replicate what we did against Monaco."

TOMÁS ARAÚJO WORKS HARD

[How is Tomás Araújo's management?] "It's not about talking, it's about work and training. That's why he works hard, on the pitch, off the pitch, and today he played 60/65 minutes of great quality, so he's available to help the team, that's what we want, that's what we want until the end of the season."