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ADVANCE
The NOS NOS 2020/21 will start. At 7:00 p.m. on Friday, September 18, the SL Benfica visit FC Famalicão in 1st day. In the previous match at the Municipal Stadium of Famalicão, the coach Jorge Jesus Increased quantitative and qualitative targets.
Gone is the elimination of the Champions League, a match that showed a team with good game ideas, but yet to begin, naturally and gradually, its growth and solidification at the process level.
At a press conference in the North, Jorge Jesus highlighted the ambitions that move the group, including the desire to be a National Champion. For that, we must start winning now! “The favorites are always the winners”, reinforced the master, leaving a guarantee. “We will have a team with a lot of dynamics, with an artistic note!”, He promised.
What Benfica should we expect at this start to the Championship, this after the exhausting match in Greece and a trip during the week?
We are going to start the Championship in Portugal, because in Greece we have already started another competition. After arriving in Porto, we did it today. [quinta-feira] the first training. The team is recovering from the last game so that tomorrow [sexta-feira] get to Famalicão and play a match that lasts longer than Greece, where we had a very good 45 minutes, plus 15 minutes in the second half. In the last half hour we lacked some competitiveness to be able to play at the level of what the PAOK team played. morning [sexta-feira] we have one more game and we can be much better.
The day of his presentation he promised that Benfica would be great. FC Porto is the current champion. Who is the top favorite to win the national title in 2020/21?
The word “rock” has to do with confidence in the job, in the players I have and in the club I am in. This and all the teams I work with have a competitive advantage and quality of play, sometimes they shine and sometimes they don’t, that’s part of the game. The favorites are always the winners. The champion of the title is FC Porto, as Benfica coach I respect that, but I want to win the title. Respect is not ambition, because there is no other story for Benfica players or coaches, it is always winning. We will go out against an opponent who was the surprise of the Championship last season. We are prepared for another difficult game, but we are confident that we have the quality to leave with three points in the first round. Opening with a golden key is what interests us.
“WE ARE FORMING A STRONG AND HIGH QUALITY TEAM”
Almost two days have passed since the farewell to the Champions League. What is more difficult to handle with the work group, the psychological or the physical part?
One thing is linked to the other. That is, the victories are the food of all the problems that may exist. When you win, nothing happens, the players recover better because the mind is more confident. This Benfica is young, but with some experience and he knows that he is taking the first steps of the season … We know that we are going to grow a lot, the indications he had today. [quinta-feira] in training they are very good and I hope tomorrow [sexta-feira] the players are as confident as when we arrived in Greece. It was a travel [na Liga dos Campeões] That did not come out within what we thought and aspired, but life is done by walking … We have many goals to achieve and we have a lot of confidence in the team we have.
I already said here that Famalicão was the sensation team of last season. How do you see this opponent, who finished sixth, one point from qualifying for the Europa League?
Here we have some disadvantages. While Famalicão saw Benfica play in the preseason, we didn’t see any Famalicão games. We do not have a very deep knowledge, but we know the opponent based on the players, the coach and their idea of the game. We have an idea of what could appear in the game in Famalicão. We are sure that we will face a tactically good rival, whose coach has a one-year experience working with this team. There are no easy games, the Portuguese Championship this year will have much more quality. High quality players are arriving, I am very satisfied with that. It’s good for Portuguese football, it will be a more competitive championship.
“THE PORTUGUESE CHAMPIONSHIP THIS YEAR WILL HAVE MUCH MORE QUALITY”
Given the last game, and given that there is little time to rest, can we expect many changes in the eleven?
Today is a day that gives us some indication of what we can feel for the players, if they are too physically burdened or if there is a player at risk of injury. Our medical department gives us this data throughout the day … Tomorrow [sexta-feira] we will make sure we know the eleven that can be released. Now the coaches have an advantage because there are five substitutions and that gives some security, since we can modify it if necessary, and Benfica has players to do it.
Do you regret having returned to Benfica, Portugal?
When it comes to making decisions in a team like Benfica, which always plays to win, we are setting the bar high. This is part of my coaching career. I came with the conviction that we were going to have a difficult task, that we were going to make a good team. Looking at these five weeks in which I got to know better the players who arrived and those who were already here, I am convinced that Benfica will make a strong team, with a lot of quality. Regret, never crossed my mind. I am increasingly motivated so that the future is bright, and that has to be with work and adaptation of the players who are arriving.
“WE HAVE A LOT OF CONFIDENCE IN THE TEAM”
Do you recognize the difficulties in the defensive transition? On the other hand, Jorge Jesús himself revealed that he needs another striker, with certain characteristics. Do you keep that intention, given the context of Benfica with this elimination from the Champions League?
The goals conceded by Benfica were not a defensive transition. When we conceded the goals, the bottom line was positioned … Now, I agree with you when you say that the team is not yet automated within what I want defensively. That there is, in those five players, counting on the goalkeeper, one who has already worked with me [André Almeida] and you know my ideas, it helps a little. As for the striker, I didn’t ask for any striker. What I said is that we have to have a striker who knows how to attack the last line, who knows how to gain space, because they are players who have to have certain characteristics. For example, Vinícius and Seferovic do not have these characteristics. They are players who play very well on their backs, who eat because the team wins crosses, they are not players who know how to pull the game. This is a feature that we will have with Darwin. But, anyway, my conversation was not asking for a player, it was saying that we needed a player with those characteristics. Right at the beginning, when we started trying to balance the squad, the solution was always two forwards and, at this point, we have only hired one. It does not mean that it does not stay that way. Of the three players, I have to find a way that one of them has characteristics to pull the game, which for me is very important.
After the elimination of the Champions League, can you still ask the president for more players?
We are not asking for more players! Regardless of the elimination, before the game, in the Football structure (myself, Tiago, Rui and the president) it was determined that no more players would enter, even if Benfica went to the next round, except for one central player. The fact that we were eliminated didn’t change anything. Zero!
“WE WILL HAVE A TEAM WITH ARTISTIC NOTE”
How do you analyze the comments that come from Brazil about the defeat of Benfica? He won everything there was to win in Flamengo … How do you comment on this love-hate relationship with you?
You are wrong. It is a love relationship, 50 million who loved me! I had 70,000 fans yelling my name at the games. It is not hate, it is love. It is a club that marked me a lot, it was where I won many important titles, I was becoming world champion … I will never forget that, just as I will never forget the people who treated me well, I will never be ungrateful. It’s not because I’m at Benfica that I will say that the Flamengo fans hate me. None of this is the other way around. Sometimes when we part, it seems that love turns to hate, but it’s not … They lost what they liked the most, I understand that perfectly.
When he made his presentation, he said he wanted Benfica to play a triple. At this point, when is that team playing?
We only play one game yet, I can’t say what level Benfica is playing at the moment. When I said that Benfica had to play triple, you know that if I didn’t get this team to play two or three times what I played last year, I wouldn’t win either. This is natural logic. Benfica must have their level in order to achieve their goals. But of course, after five weeks, I can’t say we are at that level. No more no less. But we have collective and individual quality to do it. We are in a club with great capacity, I am sure that everything will go well and that we will have a team with a lot of dynamics, with an artistic note. It is game by game that we are improving.
Text: Filipa Fernandes Garcia, João Sanches and Sónia Antunes
Photos: Archive / SL Benfica
