Benfica manager Roger Schmidt has announced the match against Arouca this Thursday, the match that will open the first round of the 2022/23 season I league tomorrow.
What are your expectations for tomorrow’s game? How important is it to start well? “We are going to play at home. Tuesday’s game was already a good preparation for tomorrow. When we play at home, we want to control the game, put pressure on the opponent. moments of transition. Opponents are looking for and waiting for our mistakes, but we talk a lot about it and we are ready. We have to pay attention to the gaps that we leave open, this is always one of the topics in training. Tomorrow starts the first of 34 steps, we want to play in attacking football. We hope to score a lot of goals, we want to win trophies and to have a lot of points you have to win matches.”
First game in Bwin League. What do you expect from the championship? Who is the favorite for the title? “I am happy to meet the Portuguese league. I already have experience in some foreign leagues. In Germany I have coached several teams and each league has its own characteristics and culture to find solutions to counter Arouka’s tactics. us to tell who is the favorite. We are Benfica and we have everything we need to fight for the title. Tomorrow we want to take the first step.”
Are you confident in your goalkeepers? “Honestly, I’m impressed with what I saw in preseason. Everything is at a good level, and I am also delighted with the younger ones. I have seen how hard and brave they train, they are very high level, and at the moment I am satisfied with what we have. But I’m not only happy with the goalkeepers, I’m also happy with the other players. So far, I’m quite happy with the line-up.”
What is the favorite team to win the title? “It seems I have already answered. Basically, your task is to find your favorite team. There are good teams, Porto, Sporting, Benfica… they are always candidates. I don’t want to say who is the favorite. We believe in ourselves, we need to work hard, we have a good atmosphere, quality football and we have everything to fight for the title until the end.”
Weigl wants to stay? “I don’t want to talk about what the players want. I can say that at the moment we have a lot of players in the squad, and the situation is not ideal. Everyone wants to start. There are players who are ahead of others. Weigl is a top player, he already showed it in pre-season, but we’ll see what happens. It depends on the other clubs, the players… for my part, I can say that I’m focused on games and Weigl is an important part of the team.”
Did you prepare the team to play against the low block team? “Yes. We didn’t have much time between those two games, Midtjylland and this game. As for the players who played on Tuesday, they didn’t practice much because they need to be fresh. out of that in pre-season because we know it’s often up to us to find solutions for opponents who defend from behind. We were creative, we showed individual qualities and it was a good preparation [o Midtjylland] for tomorrow’s game with Aroka. We know that the opponent is always looking for transitions.”
What do you think of Florentino? “In my opinion, from the very beginning of the pre-season, he impressed with his attitude and quality. He was very focused, very motivated to play for Benfica. He took the opportunity to improve his status with the team. For me, he was one of the players who showed a lot of qualities in the pre-season and evolved a lot. It is very important to have the ball, to press, when we win or lose the ball, you have to be a very perfect player. a good example of what a complete player is and a very good one for Benfica. As for the rumors [sobre Aursnes]Nothing to say”.
Author: write down
Source: CM Jornal
