Schmidt refuses to talk about his future at Benfica but says he is ‘ready’

Coach Roger Schmidt refused to talk this Thursday about his future at Benfica, but recalled that difficulties are part of coaching an I League football club and suggested that he is ready to live up to expectations.

“Overall it has been a difficult season. As I said on Sunday, it will be good to talk a little after we finish the season, but today I am not going to talk about myself,” said the coach in Seixal. asked if he already had experience communicating with the club, the need for which he recognized at the end of the previous meeting.

Immediately afterwards, when asked directly whether he could guarantee his fans that he would continue to play for Benfica next season, he again refused to discuss the topic.

“I have already answered this question so many times at press conferences. Today I will not talk about it,” the coach said ahead of the visit to Rio Ave.

However, soon after, he recalled that he also had “difficult moments” last season and cited the example of Benfica losing “three games in a week: to Inter Milan, Porto and Porto.” [Desportivo de] Chavez”, ensuring that you are prepared for such situations.

“This is part of our job at Benfica. We have to win because people expect us to win a lot of games, preferably all of them. This is our reality at Benfica. It’s difficult, but we have already shown that we are ready to move on with our lives.” meets these expectations,” commented the German.

Regarding the meeting with Rio Ave, which ends a “long and difficult season” for Benfica, Schmidt said he wanted “a good game and three points” in order to “go on holiday with good feelings”, but recalled the difficulties who are waiting for the team in Vila do Conde.

“Since the last game we played against Rio Ave at home, they lost one game. They faced all the teams and lost once. This says everything about the complexity of tomorrow. [sexta-feira]”, I remembered.

Benfica will visit Rio Ave on Friday in the match of the 34th and final round of the I Portuguese Football League, scheduled to start at 20:45, at the Estádio do Rio Ave Futebol Clube, in Vila do Conde, under the refereeing of David. Rafael Silva from the Porto association.

The Roger Schmidt-led side missed out on this season’s title win against Sporting and are guaranteed to finish in second place, while Rio Ave are 10th with 36 points and can only be beaten by Farense, who have just 37. but has already ensured its preservation in the I League.