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Jorge Jesús acknowledged, on Wednesday, that Benfica is still far from the levels of performance they want, gave some clues about the team that will line up on Thursday, in Belgium, for the Europa League and also left a comment on an incident recorded in the match from PSGBasaksehir, which ended with the teams being abandoned on allegations of racism. “I can only have a concrete opinion if I know what was said,” he said.
At the press conference to launch the match with Standard Liège, which closes the group stage of the Europa League, the Benfica coach analyzed the current moment of the team. “Of course, you’re not playing triple yet [como tinha assinalado no discurso de apresentação]. Either game has worked, but most haven’t. We know that it is in a growth phase and I fully believe that, as the competitions develop, Benfica will have more and more knowledge of what the team wants and will perform better than it did ”.
The number of goals conceded is one of the factors of concern, as the coach recently acknowledged and as center-back Jan Vertonghen confirmed on Wednesday. “It is a reality. We are suffering too many goals. We work hard, we defend all together, we attack all together. We put a lot of pressure on them, because we have a very offensive game, but we have to be more solid in defense, it is true”, accepted.
The load of matches at the start of the season, with a very tight schedule, has been a sensitive issue, requiring more extensive management of the squad, and Thursday’s meeting in Liège should bring some news. Although the first place in group D does not depend only on the “reds”, the truth is that the qualification for the round of 32 of the race is already guaranteed.
Jorge Jesús assures that he will take advantage of the game to “launch some players who have never played”, but he discards that Todibo is one of them – “He started working a week ago and has no technical or tactical conditions” – and points out that the performance in Belgium it will have nothing to do with the jig adjustments in January. “Each game gives us more and more confirmation signals or not from a collective and individual point of view.
In addition, the coach has openly stated that he is not looking to lose any player in the winter transfer market and that, on the contrary, he hopes to receive reinforcements.
One last note for the interruption of the Champions League match at Parque dos Princes, after the Basaksehir assistant coach confronted the referee accusing him of treating him with a racist reference. “Today, racism is very fashionable. As a citizen, I can only have a concrete opinion if I know what was said at the time. Afterwards, anything that can be said against a black man is always a sign of racism. You can say the same against a white man and it is no longer a sign of racism. This wave is being implanted in the world and, perhaps, there were even [racismo] in relation to the things that were said against this coach, but I don’t know, “he said.
