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ADVANCE
Then winning start Benfica in Famalicão, the Stadium of Light receive the game of 2nd day gives Call us. The Eagles face Moreirense at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday, September 26 and the coach Jorge Jesus He foresaw a challenge in which “difficulties” are expected, but where the “quality and form of play” of those incarnated can make a difference.
It is a Benfica in the process of growth and consolidation! In the previous one, the Mister confessed to expecting a well-organized Moreirense, waiting for Benfica’s mistake, however, “whatWhen you have talented players, it becomes easier “ build a winning collective. TO elections in the Club, a fake altercation, a system of three exchanges and even a very strong opinion about him use of mask is he public in sports venues in Portugal … All this, and much more, through the voice of Jorge Jesús.
What analysis does this team from Moreira do?
Moreirense in the last two years have not lost at Estádio da Luz, they are a competitive team, with arguments, but we also have ours and we want to continue with the brilliant victory we had in Famalicão. We are growing week by week, surely we will be better than in Famalicão. We have full confidence in what we are going to do and what we want to do.
What do you expect from this rival at Estádio da Luz?
From what we know about Moreirense, from what we saw in the preseason, since the last game he played with Benfica in the Championship, where he drew 1-1, not being the same players, it is a well-organized team. Obviously, given our quality and our way of playing, we will force him to play a lot more in his midfield, and there will be a team waiting for the counterattack and the dead ball. In football, the person who attacks more frequently and who shoots more frequently does not always win, but it is also true that they are closer to winning than their rival. Sometimes that doesn’t happen, but we are prepared for all the nuances that the game dictates, that’s why I prepare the team during the week. We will certainly be prepared for difficulties, because we will meet them.
Do you already know if you can count on Adel Taarabt for this game?
The call only goes out tomorrow [sábado], but I know that Adel will not have time to recover for this match with Moreirense.
“I AM SURE THAT THE FLORENTINO WILL RETURN MUCH MORE PLAYER”
Where can Benfica continue to grow?
The team will grow week by week due to the quality of the players and the work. I am sure that the players will grow much more individually, so the team will also grow collectively. There are many moments of play that we still do not get right. We still don’t have collective defensive ideas. Offensively, the team has been improving, more than defensively. When you have talented players, it becomes easier. A whole week of work becomes easier and more efficient to work in these sectors and, thus, allow the team to grow. The last line [defensiva] has been improving a lot.
Some newspapers reported an altercation between Jorge Jesus and Weigl during the last week. Do you want to clarify?
I am here to clarify everything about football. Anything other than football doesn’t interest me much. I don’t understand where that news came from and I don’t even care to know. Nothing happened to Julian, or to any other player. There could even have been an exchange of words or disagreement between the leader, myself and the players, but that was not what happened. Julian still doesn’t understand Portuguese very well, not even to understand some things that I want him to understand. It’s fake news, I don’t know with what interest. There is nothing, there never was, but if there were, there would be no problem. I am here, as a coach, to train my players, accept my ideas and what I demand is a team commitment. When I have to face a player, I do it naturally, period. This, to me, equals zero, but it was not the case.
Florentino went on loan to Monaco for one season. Was it the best option for him?
Florentino is a young man from Seixal who, I think, has all the conditions to be the first player, that is, to be, over time, one of the most effective players on the team, because he has several qualities. The most important thing is that he has talent. He’s a very smart boy for his age, even tactically. And I believe in him a lot, but he needs to play. He already had his space here, without playing, and he is not a player who can evolve in team B. With him, Julian Weigl, Samaris and Gabriel, he had four players for the position. He had already told me that he liked to go out, that he wanted to play. In the first approach I took, I didn’t quite agree with that opinion and said no. The other times he spoke to me, he presented me with some arguments, including financial ones. I realized that it was good to be able to help him financially because he was going to win a lot more, and I’m sure he will return a lot more player. One of the requests that I made to the president is that this kid should always return to Benfica, because I think he will be an asset at the Club. As it was he who started and asked me a lot for the two reasons that I mentioned, I thought he was capable of some reason and more players will arrive, for sure.
“GONÇALO RAMOS WILL TRAIN WITH ME DURING THE WEEK”
Do you expect any reinforcement for the attack?
When I arrived, I was very explicit about the players who were important to strengthen the squad: two center-backs and two spearheads. I am not saying that they will arrive … A center-back is one of the possibilities I always asked for, and the other forward. If these two don’t appear, better than the ones here, no one else will enter. Final point.
The elections are approaching at Benfica. Having been a bet and hiring of President Luís Filipe Vieira, if he is not re-elected, do you consider leaving?
This has nothing to do with football. I already told you, I’m here to talk about soccer. They are political problems of the Club, which the people will decide at the appropriate time. I have nothing to talk about. There will be elections and now I am the coach of Benfica.
There has been a lot of talk about Gonçalo Ramos in recent days, due to the performance he has shown in team B, the goals he has scored. What is the project you have for this player?
Gonçalo Ramos is one of the players who has stood out the most over the years, like Jota, Florentino and Nuno. The project I have for Gonçalo Ramos is to train with me during the week and, as long as he is not called up, he will play for team B, because he cannot and should not be without playing. When you need to be with the main team, you will be. When he is not, he will play for team B. During the week he trains with the rest of the players, this being the case that there are no games in the middle of the week.
Given Taarabt’s absence, will you choose Pizzi?
There are several possibilities … Pizzi spent two years with me playing as a second midfielder and for now he has been training in this position. He can play in three positions, but I think he’s a center aisle player. I also have Chiquinho, he is working with me in that position, which he does not know. In fact, at Benfica he played as a second striker. In the rest of the teams he always played as a second midfielder. I’m calm, that’s why I also released Florentino, to be able to grow.
“I DON’T UNDERSTAND HOW 15/20 THOUSAND ADOPTS CANNOT BE AT THE LUZ STADIUM”
Benfica won 1-5 in the first round. Can a result like this create pressure?
The pressure of the requirement, if that’s the case, is good. I always want my players to score more goals, to play better. My demand is total during the week and on game day. This pressure is a sign of quality, because for the positive only requires someone who has quality. This club has grown a lot in terms of quality of infrastructure, it provides all working conditions, so the pressure is daily. You always have to be better than your opponent, whoever he is. For that we prepare the team. He has seven weeks of work and we are sure that he still has a lot to grow.
Are you prepared to lose Rúben Dias, if the market dictates it, or are you an untouchable player?
There are important players, and Rúben Dias is one of them. He is one of the starters of the team, trained in Seixal, he is the only Portuguese international who plays as a starter for Benfica … This means something. He is a very valuable boy and he is important in that sector, since at the moment we only have three centers, because Jardel is injured. Right now he is an essential player, but I was also used, in the years I was at Benfica, to the best being signed. This is nothing new to me. If it starts with Rúben Dias … If I liked it? No. But if the financial factor is important, that’s fine, we are open to that.
He spoke of the different nuances of the game and the possibility of reaching another center. You can see Benfica playing in a system with three defenses this season?
If possible! We can see Benfica playing this season, in some games, with three saves. I have no doubt about it. In fact, if I continued my career as a coach, my first ten years were playing with three centers.
How do you analyze Benfica’s initiative to bring the fans back to the Stadium?
Fortunately, you ask me this question … I see you with an open heart, and that this is a possibility quickly in football in Portugal and around the world. With all due respect to the Directorate General of Health, I do not understand why there are no spectators in football. But what does football have to be an example of? This conversation that being in football is different from being in the cinema, in the theater, in the Fiesta Avante … And luckily, I was happy that the Fiesta Avante was there. Anyone who can control the organization, how it happened and how any club in Portugal can do it, I do not understand that there are no fans because of the capacity of the stadium. And now we have the example of the final of the European Super Cup, between Bayern and Seville, with 20,000 people in the stands. I don’t understand how 15/20 thousand fans cannot be at Estádio da Luz. I don’t know what mask politicians wear … For football there is always a mask. Soccer was, in the world, the professional activity that best knew how to work and live with the issue of the virus. We have to know how to live with it. We have to know how to prove (what is not done), prevent and isolate. There is no other way! Or, if that doesn’t exist, we all go home and go crazy. We have to be realistic and take off the mask, just have a mask for COVID. Today we know how to deal.
Text: Filipa Fernandes Garcia, João Sanches and Sónia Antunes
Photos: Tânia Paulo / SL Benfica
