Rui Vitória: “We asserted ourselves categorically”

Benfica beat Tondela, by 1-5, in a match held this Sunday, at Estádio João Cardoso, for matchday 15 of Liga NOS, the last of 2017. Pizzi (2), Salvio and Jonas (2) scored the goals in a big triumph, full of conviction and that keeps Benfica solid in the fight for the fifth title in a row.

Rui Vitória was pleased with the performance of the team, “a great performance”, that he considered to have been "nearly perfect".

“In our approach o the match, the players were very strong, in the mental point of view... they were extremely strong! We entered knowing what we wanted for the game, very determined and we did a high-quality performance. A nearly perfect performance, I would say, apart from the conceded goal. A performance with a big physical and mental health. It ended up being a win by big numbers, but a well-deserved one against a good team, but today we were superior.”, said the coach.

Pizzi made a brace in the match… Is this the best Pizzi of the season?

“It is always good when the players score goals. The goal has made his performance more colorful. Sometimes, when people make certain reviews, we forget that Pizzi was the best player of the last championship.  The quality is there... and today it showed up!”, said Rui Vitória in an emphatic way.

And this Benfica… is it the best of the season?

“We are not worried about that, we are just doing our job! The players are absorbing our ideas very well. Today was the follow-up of what we did on Wednesday [against Rio Ave, in the Portuguese Cup], which was also very good. We are going to have a lot of games, some will be less good... that is the life of teams like ours! This was a great performance, in a difficult moment and at difficult ground and we asserted ourselves categorically”, he stated.

In the next round of Liga NOS, scheduled for January 3^rd, 2018, there will be a Lisbon derby at Estádio da Luz. Rui Vitória remembers there are two League Cup matches to play before and that at Benfica people think "game by game". "In this moment, the most important match is the one on Wednesday [against Portimonense, for the League Cup]", he said.

Text: Sónia Antunes

Pics: João Paulo Trindade / SL Benfica