Roger Schmidt: "Play at a high level with the support of the Benfiquistas"

PREVIEW

Benfica travels to the Azores at the end of the 1st half of the Liga Bwin. At the Estádio de São Miguel, Santa Clara host the Reds on matchday 17 of the competition, on Saturday, January 21, at 6 pm GMT (5 pm local time). 

What do you expect from the match against Santa Clara?

I expect a difficult match. It's my first time playing in the Azores. Playing at home is an advantage for them, they changed their coach and that has positive effects. There is more tension in the players, they may have a new approach in terms of playing football and may surprise the opponent in these moments. We have to be prepared for this match. We have been playing good games in the last few weeks, the training this week has been good, the players are back in their rhythm, and we are looking forward to playing tomorrow [Saturday] and fighting for the three points.

For the game with Santa Clara, do you expect the support of the fans in the Azores for the team to feel like playing at home?

I have heard that we will probably have a lot of Benfica fans at the match. That's great. We have had a lot of support from Benfiquistas in our away matches. We count on them and that is a great motivation for us to be able to play at a high level. They come to the stadium to see good football and Benfica winning. That is a great motivation, and we want to make them proud.

For the game with Santa Clara, do you expect the support of the fans in the Azores for the team to feel like playing at home?

I have heard that we will probably have a lot of Benfica fans at the match. That's great. We have had a lot of support from Benfiquistas in our away matches. We count on them and that is a great motivation for us to be able to play at a high level. They come to the stadium to see good football and Benfica winning. That is a great motivation, and we want to make them proud.

With Gonçalo Guedes and Schjelderup in the squad, is Draxler less of an option?

No. The decision of who plays depends not only on me, but also on the players. Now we have a group with competition, very good players, and this should be a good motivation for them to be at the highest level. That's exactly what we want, more options and higher quality. We have several matches in the coming weeks and we will need all the players. I don't see a problem.