Roger Schmidt: "We are completely focused on this match"

PREVIEW

A clear idea emerged from Roger Schmidt's preview of the match against Varzim, on Tuesday, January 10, at 20:45, for the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup, which will be held at the Estádio do Varzim Sport Clube: "We will not underestimate this team! We are completely focused on this match." 

What kind of difficulties do you expect from the game against Varzim?

I expect a typical Cup game, we are in the round of 16 of the competition, and our opponent is a Liga 3 team, but has been very good in the Championship. They have already shown their quality and spirit in the Portuguese Cup, where they won the last three matches [in the previous rounds] by 1-0. That says a lot about their approach. We won't underestimate this team. We know we have to be ready for a difficult game, we want to advance to the quarterfinals and do everything we can to win the Portuguese Cup. It is an opportunity to show our will, determination, and motivation to win the competition.

In the next round of the Liga Bwin, on January 15, Sunday, Benfica will face Sporting at Estádio da Luz. In view of the schedule, are you planning to rest players for this match against Varzim?

Tomorrow is Tuesday, then we will only play on Sunday, there will be no problem recovering between matches, we are already used to that. We are very motivated for the Portuguese Cup. We take this competition very seriously and we will find the right approach. Eventually, we may make some changes, but we want to win, we are only focused on that, we don't think about the coming weeks or the next League match, even if it is a derby against Sporting. We are completely focused on Varzim.

How do you analyze Enzo's return to training and to the team? Are you going to include him in the starting eleven?

As I said last week in the press conferences before and after the game with Portimonense, the Enzo subject is closed. Enzo is our player, he is in very good condition, training well and happy. He is a part of the team and a key player. I've said it all on that subject.

Do you think you have a wide range of players that will allow you to manage the effort between competitions? Is it necessary to go to the market?

We showed in the first months of the season that we can count on several players. Of course we often played with a similar starting line-up, but we had several moments when we made some changes and maintained the level. Yes, we have players to face and play according to the schedule. During a transfer window, we always have to see if we can adjust the team. There are always conversations around players who might want to leave to play more, because they don't play as much as they want, we also evaluate if we can improve the team a little bit. It's not like summer, but adjustments are always possible. We are prepared for that.