The Benfica coach admitted this Saturday that he is “very happy” with the team after the end of the winter transfer market, but recalled that integrating new players into the current season is “not an easy task.”
At a press conference in Seixal, Roger Schmidt also noted the various returns of players from “long-term injuries” and stressed that this gives “confidence” for the coming weeks, during which the Reds face “many difficult games in different competitions.” “.
“I’m very happy with our team, but I also see a problem in integrating all the new players and those who have returned from injury. The good news is that even without injured players we have already played well and this gives us confidence,” admitted the German coach before the First League match against Gil Vicente.
In this sense, he emphasized that striker “Marcos Leonardo has already shown his qualities by scoring in every game except the League Cup” and stated that he “really wanted” to see how left-back Alvaro Carreras played from the very beginning, “who works Very good”.
On the other hand, he explained that Benjamin Rollheiser “has already played for Estrelo da Amador to establish himself faster” and the young Gianluca Prestianni “has already shown in training that he is a very important player for the future of Benfica.”
“We are very pleased with these four acquisitions and the fact that David Neres, Alexander Bach and Kasper [Tengstedt] are back. There were three long-term injuries. Juan Bernat may also soon resume training. Our task now is to get them on the field at the right time so that they are ready for a very difficult schedule in the coming weeks,” he concluded.
However, despite several comebacks, the red technical team has also suffered setbacks in recent days due to Prestianni’s injury.
“Gianluca Prestianni is a very young player for us. Unfortunately, he was injured and is out of action for the next three weeks with an ankle problem,” the coach said.
On Sunday against Gil Vicente, Benfica will face an opponent who is “clear in every moment of the game” and “very brave, playing even in the final third of the field”, but also highlighting a moment of form. your team.
“We know it is always difficult to play against them, but we are at a good point in the season and we are confident that we will play a very good game tomorrow. [domingo] at our stadium. We need to play a very good game to win,” the coach emphasized.
On Sunday, Benfica will host Gil Vicente in the 20th round of the Portuguese Football League, which is scheduled to start at 18:00 at the Estádio da Luz in Lisbon, with Thiago Martins (AF Lisbon) refereeing.
Roger Schmidt’s team remains second in the league, one point behind leaders Sporting, who visit Famalicao this Saturday, and four points ahead of Porto, who also host Rio Ave this Saturday “.