Roger Schmidt: "The team is in good condition"

PREVIEW

Roger Schmidt previewed the match against Arouca, for matchday 18 of the Liga Bwin, scheduled for 9:15 this Tuesday, January 31, at the Estádio Municipal de Arouca.

How do you preview this match against Arouca?

It will be a difficult away game. We played away against Santa Clara and Paços de Ferreira. This will be the third away game. We played well in the last two matches, and we are expecting a difficult opponent. Especially at home, they are a good team, they play fast, they are good in transitions. They are in 6th place in the League, that says it all. We must be focused and start well to fight for the three points.

Arouca is 6th in the Liga Bwin, but they are the fourth team that concedes more goals. What are the strengths you identify in this opponent?

Yes, it's true, they conceded a lot of goals, especially in some matches they conceded a lot of goals, but they scored 22 goals, they have offensive power, and when they have counter-attacks, if we are not organized, they can put us in trouble. We have to respect Arouca's speed in attack. If they are in 6th place after 18 rounds is because they deserve it. It's a team that believes in itself, very disciplined and combative.

Is Gonçalo Ramos available for this match against Arouca? If not, can Casper Tengstedt make his debut this Tuesday?

Gonçalo Ramos has only a small muscle problem, but he is out for tomorrow [Tuesday]. We hope he can be ready for Saturday [against Casa Pia at Estádio da Luz]. It's a minor injury, that's positive. When he went out in the last match, we feared it might be something more, but it's a minor thing. We have prepared Casper [Tengstedt] and Andreas [Schjelderup] very well in the last two and a half weeks. They have been doing extraordinary training sessions, because it is important to compensate for the downtime, and they have to prepare for a long season. They were not training when they signed, but now they are in better shape. Given the situation, it's good that we can count Casper among the available players for this match.

In the near future, Benfica will also play the Portuguese Cup and the Champions League. Do you feel the team is ready to play different competitions at the same time?

Yes, in the last few games we have already shown that we are at a good level, with a very tactical football and the players had a good mentality, they started the matches well, very attentive, and tactically disciplined, taking responsibility for what needs to be done on the pitch. We needed these matches to get back into our rhythm, the team is in good condition, and now we must be prepared to play every three days in three different competitions. We did it in the first half of the season, we showed that we are capable of doing it, and we will do it again.