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João Braz Frade, former vice president and mentor of the “much bigger Benfica” movement, talks about eliminating the Champions League and points to a change in strategy
Surprised by the loss to PAOK, Braz Frade believes that the team is worth more and the manager did not have time to prepare it. Now there are at least 37 million to recover and sales will be the way to go.
What impact does Benfica’s loss to PAOK have?
-For Benfica it sucks, we are very disappointed. We go to the Europa League, but nobody thought it was possible to lose to PAOK. Now, what matters is to recover quickly, already in Famalicão, to support the team and the coach. There are already enough people talking bad about Benfica, some even do it when Benfica wins. I do not go into that, although I did not like the performance of the team, especially in the second half.
Are you not worried about being far from the big goal?
– The Champions League is over, but life goes on and Benfica has more goals this year and now they must focus on them: the League, the Europa League and the national Cups. And he has one main goal that will sustain all of these, which is a large group of players, with many acquisitions, some international and renowned, to come together and form a team. I understand that the team was not top, because they have five weeks of training and some players not even that, some even came from injuries. Now he is giving them motivation and hoping that the players will commit to the level of sacrifice that Benfica makes to keep them in the team. It is not acceptable that there is not a great commitment on the part of the players.
Benfica spent what they had never spent to be in the Champions League and reinforced themselves with renowned players …
-In gross terms, Benfica has already spent 80 million euros. What happened differently was that Benfica has not yet been sold. The market has become complicated, but I think that the club will not have a squad as long as it does and will balance the balance with the passes of players who should negotiate in the meantime. The net investment will always be large, from the loss of future earnings no one will save us and Benfica will have to find a way, and I am sure they will find it, to compensate for this, because they still have many assets. Based on the analysis made by our group and what we know, the Board of Directors has the conditions and the means, in the short term, to overcome the problems that arise and the lack of income. The operating income of each club will decrease, we all know that, so the clubs are forced to look for other forms of income, because the stigma of covid-19 is not resolved overnight. There is a 40 million gap that needs to be made up and I think it will be made up, but it puts more pressure on UEFA’s financial fair play ratio.
Will there have to be a change in SAD’s strategy?
-I am convinced that there may be a need for an adjustment in the strategy, but, in essence, Benfica had to build a new team, they hired players for that purpose, but perhaps they will not sign more, perhaps it is not justified outside of a classification of the Champions. Despite everything, this Benfica is worth much more than what it showed yesterday, which is far below what this coach and this squad can give. The technician has been working for five weeks, he did not have time to better prepare the team.
Will the elimination of the Champions influence the electoral race?
-Everything influences the electoral acts, but a large part of the benfiquistas will have already decided the vote and there will be a part of undecided, and it is in this strip where there will be influence. In these moments when Benfica loses, you have to go to the fight, nobody likes it, maybe I didn’t like the deployment of A, B or C, but Benfica does not end with a defeat with PAOK. It was a very unfortunate moment, which broke the plans that the Board had, but I hope that none of the candidates want Benfica to lose. I always want Benfica to win, with me there is no doubt, whoever it is.
Does the possible re-election of Luís Filipe Vieira endanger?
– I do not make electoral predictions. I help anyone. For me, Benfica is above everything. We must all guide our electoral behavior, at least that is what we try to do in our group, for the interest of Benfica and not for our personal interest. Therefore, in our group we are not even candidates, we can work with any list or with the Board. If I were a candidate, I would want to win with Benfica winning. It makes no sense, after a defeat, to make pious statements.
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