Roger Schmidt: "We had opportunities and deserved the victory"

PRESS CONFERENCE

Roger Schmidt analyzed Benfica's triumph over Maccabi Haifa (2-0) on matchday 1 of the Champions League group H.

FOCUS AND DISCIPLINE WERE PIVOTAL: THE ANALYSIS

"It was a difficult game for us. The opponent is a good team, very physical, good tactically, with many individual markings. It wasn't easy for us to find open spaces to attack, something we tried in the first half. In the second half, it was important to score early with Rafa's goal and then with Grimaldo's fantastic goal. We were very focused and disciplined in defense, and we also had opportunities to score goals that would give us more confidence. We are happy we clinched the three points." 

THE ADVICE THAT CHANGED THE SECOND HALF

"We always have to respect our opponents, especially in the Champions League. They deserve to play in the Champions League, everyone has their own weapons, and we could see that in the first half, which wasn't easy for us. I told the players that we needed to be patient and wait for the best time to score. We deserved the win."

TEN WINS IN TEN MATCHES? THE IMPORTANT THING IS FAMALICÃO!

"The stat [10 wins in the first 10 matches at the Club] is not very important to me, the important thing is the matches that follow, that's what we have to be focused on.The schedule is tight for the team and the players, and when we play the Champions League, with matches that make us spend a lot of energy, we have to recover and put the focus back on the matches, such as the Portuguese League, because we have a match on Saturday [against Famalicão]." 

GAME BY GAME IN GROUP H

"The group is difficult and we will try to do our best. Our next match is away against Juventus [September 14] and it won't be easy. The focus has to be on that game and we'll see how it goes. When you're in the group stage, the goal is to get to the round of 16. We will see, because we are not the group favorites, that is for sure. The road is still long."