Coach Roger Schmidt said on Monday that “nothing is impossible” to win the football Champions League, but it would already be a big achievement for Benfica to beat Club Brugge and reach the quarter-finals.
At a press conference in Seixal, the German coach suggested that “all the teams in the play-offs could beat” the “champions”, but stressed that the odds were not equal.
“Teams with a smaller budget always have a small chance, big teams have a better chance. But of course it’s possible. Nothing is impossible in football of this level. Right now we are very focused on reaching the quarterfinals. , which for a club like Benfica would already be a great achievement, ”Schmidt fired.
To do this, Benfica “only” needs to maintain the 2-0 lead achieved in the first leg in Belgium and realize that Club Brugge “will have to attack at some point and look for those goals”. but the coach admitted that he did not know from the very beginning whether the opponent would do it, and preferred to focus on the processes of his team.
“If we are still in this competition, it is also because we have always believed in ourselves and have always tried to play our 90 minutes. And tomorrow [terça-feira] it is the same. Of course, we have an advantage, because we won, but, no matter what, we will try to play on offense and show that we deserve to reach the quarterfinals,” he said.
Schmidt confirmed that Alexander Bach, Goncalo Guedes and Chiquinho are ready to play, so he has “the whole squad except Draxler and Ristic” at his disposal, but added that he has not yet decided who will play first.
“I’m still not 100% sure how we’re going to get in, but I’m glad I have all the options. Last week there was a big question mark with Chiquinho and Gonçalo Guedes, but in training we got confirmation that they are ready. There are two more options, and now I need to think about the best approach,” said the coach of “embodied”.
In front of the coach, António Silva also commented on Luz’s advantage at the start of the round of 16 second leg and suggested that Benfica would play to win.
“No doubt they will have to take a little more risk, but we have our own idea of the game, we want to clearly take the game and win. [queremos] try to make a good game, negate the strengths [Club] Club Brugge and try to get us to a draw to reach the quarter-finals,” commented the 19-year-old centre-back.
On Tuesday, Benfica will host Club Brugge in the second leg of the 1/8 finals of the Champions League, which is scheduled to kick off at 20:00 at the Estadio da Luz stadium in Lisbon under the control of Turkish referee Khalil Umut Meler.
The team led by Roger Schmidt enters the field with a two-goal lead from the first leg with a 2-0 triumph in Belgium against an opponent who, despite reaching the Champions round of 16, is in the same group as Porto have only won two of their last 14 official matches.
Author: Portuguese
Source: CM Jornal
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