"Win the next game"

POST-MATCH

Bruno Lage said that the draw between Benfica e o Arouca (2-2), in the match for matchday 29 of the Liga Betclic, was not the result he wanted. In his analysis of the match played this Sunday, April 13, at the Estádio da Luz, the coach pointed out that the Reds had even started positively.

GAME ANALYSIS

"First of all, let's talk about the result. It wasn't the result we wanted, but the team started the game well, I think we created a lot of chances in the first half. I saw a ball hit the post, I saw a ball cleared off the goal line, in short, the team went in with confidence, they went in with the respect they had to have for our opponents, they played calmly, they played safely, they created several chances, we deserved to have gone in at half-time with a different result. Arouca came on well in the 2nd half, Trubin had at least one good save, the team knew how to react, because we had to go for the result, we kept playing, inside and out, because today we had to be very consistent in our dynamic, because Arouca always controlled the interior spaces well, offered us width, and we always went for it, and it's to our credit that we got the lead. We conceded the equalizer from the penalty spot, as you already know, and we tried to change things up, to freshen up the frontmen, to try to put another man in the box, to keep looking for what our game is all about. We made it 2-1, we continued to have several chances to score, I remember one from Di María, there was Schjelderup's disallowed goal, and then, at the last moment, I think we could have controlled the game better in the last minute, and also defended better in the last move of the game. So, it's 2-2, I'm here to accept the draw and say that the team is still depending on itself, it's what I've always told you, I've always said that the league is going to go all the way, we've got five games to go, five finals, we have to look at it that way, as we have done so far."

THE ACCOUNTS THAT COUNT

"[Inability to cope with the pressure to maintain 1st place?] win the next game nowNo, look, I don't do the math like that, I do the math with the points we have to win to get to the end and win the league, that's the math we do. The team played well, created a lot of chances, we could have had another result, but we didn't manage it. We have to take responsibility and win the next game."

REFEREEING: EQUAL CRITERIA FOR ALL

"[Role of the referees in the awarding of the title and whether he would like President Rui Costa to be at his side to reinforce Benfica's indignation at the moment?] No, there's no need, at the end of the game I'm the face, and I'm the one who makes the statement. The club has already set out its official position, what I have to say about refereeing - I'm going back to what I've been saying since 2019/20, the first time I sat here in front of you - I think it's fundamental to have VAR to help the referees. What we can't have, in my opinion, are different criteria. Once we call the referee, once we don't, when we do it's because there's doubt about something, we have to analyze it in the best way, and what I don't want, as a coach, as a man of football, and I believe you do too, is for the opinions of refereeing experts to appear in the newspapers the next day, and it turns out that 80% or 90% of the analysis is against the referee's decision. Because otherwise we're going back to when there was no VAR. Tomorrow, I won't like to see, in your analysis, in the analysis of the opponents, 'look, this wasn't a penalty for Arouca after all'. That's what I don't want to see. So, if the VAR has come to help, the time it took to analyze this penalty... you could have analyzed many in the past. That's why we need to define a communication criterion between the VAR, so that the next day we don't look at the analysis and see: 80%/90% looking at a decision contrary to that of the referee. That's why VAR exists. If there's an image, it's called; the VAR is there to help the referee, because the VAR's images are certainly the same or similar to those that all the analysts, fans and football agents see. So that's what the decisions have to be, what we want is uniform criteria and decisions for everyone."

MAINTAIN CONSISTENCY

"[Did you expect a different attitude?] No, the attitude, you always go for that word attitude. Look, the games are like this, the games are difficult, the opponents are very competent. Today all the opponents played good football, Arouca are a team of enormous quality, they know how to defend, they know how to attack, they have the ball, the ball behind them, they force the team to run. When we're settled and pressing, the ball goes to the goalkeeper, and all the teams today know how to do that very well. The team came out strong, determined... Now, what do we also need to be aware of? We have, we spoke about it yesterday [Saturday] n terms of our confidence and respect for the opponent, the team had respect for the opponent, now, not every game we're going to come on after 40 seconds and be winning, not every game we're going to be able to come on after 15 minutes and be winning 2-0 or 3-0.  The team has to remain consistent. So what I see when I look at the game, because that's how we have to analyze it, is that we created a lot of chances to score, we deserved another result, we didn't, we conceded a goal from the penalty spot, we conceded a goal in which we have to look at the way we conceded that goal at a point in the game when there's nothing we can do about it, and then I take all the decisions and the final result."