🎥 Bruno Lage: "It's a match that allows us to play an historic final"

PRESS CONFERENCE

Bruno Lage assures that Benfica has turned its attention to the Portuguese Cup and is focused on securing the presence at Jamor. To do so it will have to overcome FC Famalicão (Tuesday, at 8:45 pm), in the second leg of the semifinals. 

What weight do Benfica and FC Famalicão losses before the Portuguese Cup match have?

They have no weight on either side. These are different competitions, the teams just met a week ago, a month ago they also met. They were different games. At the moment, the teams are on equal terms because this 3-2 difference gives us no assurances. It is a final for both teams. What I feel is that our team has a huge desire to play well again, especially without ball possession, because with ball possession the team has been fine. Our offensive game has an undeniable quality. The way we scored two goals at Estádio do Dragão makes us happy, it's not easy. But then there's the other side, we conceded three goals.

After the clássico against FC Porto for the National Championship, how is the team physically and mentally?

I believe that physically the team will be fine, we are still in the middle of the recovery, but the data presented, especially in the last matches playing play every three days, has given us the indication that the squad arrives at the match in a good physical level. I expect a team in good form and in motivational terms the squad is looking forward to the next game. I'm glad the match is so important because my players want to give a good response, especially after what happened in the last game. We had the ambition to win, we didn't succeed, but that ambition remains and we are in a match that allows us to play a historic final in national terms.

Text: Diogo Nascimento, Filipa Fernandes Garcia and Sónia Antunes

Photos: SL Benfica