Jorge Jesus: "Confident that we will have a team with conditions to win"

PREVIEW

Although in adverse conditions, due to the 10 cases of COVID-19 in Benfica's team, Jorge Jesus believes that the squad that steps onto the pitch (Monday, at 5 pm) will have all the conditions to overcome CD Nacional in the game from matchday 15 of the Liga NOS.

What can a coach expect and how can he mobilize a squad, considering that he is currently missing ten players and his coaching team?

We must work with the players we have. We believe in all the possibilities and qualities of the players, we know that ten players are a lot and I also include my coaching team, which supports me in my work, but we are very confident. The players who are going to play must give their best for themselves and for the teammates who are at home. We hope that Benfica can, as far as possible, maintain a high and competitive pace to respond to the difficulties that the Nacional may pose, and provide solutions to create goal completion situations, with the collective quality of our team and the individual quality of our strikers.

How has it been working with separate groups?

It's complicated... We don't have more than half of the squad because we have to work some days in separate groups. To work by sectors, we need to have a coaching team that helps us and that's what we've been doing with the elements that we've picked up from the B team, that have helped us create the best working conditions and we're increasingly adapting to each other. It is within this principle that we have the confidence that tomorrow [Monday] we will have a team with conditions to beat Nacional.

With 10 active cases in the squad, namely two goalkeepers, are you considering asking for a postponement of tomorrow's match [Monday]?

We have one more goalkeeper who is fit. I believe a lot in Svilar. We have been playing with all this suffering, without making up excuses. It is not my job to make those decisions, my job is to train the team with the players I have.