The stage belongs to everyone

Everyone counts! The motto underlined by Roger Schmidt has been proven effective in the coach's actions and choices. That's one of the conclusions that can be drawn from the fact that Benfica's coach has used 27 players in the 11 games played so far in the 2023/24 season.

Among the 27 players involved in the different matches were three goalkeepers, and the last to get minutes for the first team was Gonçalo Guedes, who hadn't yet had the chance to play officially for the eagles this season because he was in the process of getting back to full fitness. He did so against Estoril on matchday 8 of the league.

Only two members of the current squad haven't played yet: goalkeepers Kokubo and André Gomes, and the latter is recovering from injury. This means that all of Roger Schmidt's outfield players have already been called up to compete this season.

Looking at the contribution of each of the players used, we see a diversity in terms of goals scored. There have been nine players who have scored so far, with the particularity that members of all sectors of the team have put their name down as scorers: Bah, António Silva, Aursnes, Kökcü, Di María, Neres, Rafa, Musa and Tengstedt.

The assists are also notable for their diversity: seven Benfica players have provided an assist for a teammate this early in the season.

Midfielder Aursnes has played as left-back in the win (2-3) in Barcelos, against Gil Vicente and provided the assist for Rafa's goal. Looking at this chapter as a whole, midfielders João Neves and Kökcü, forwards Di María, Neres, Rafa and Musa have also provided assists.

As Roger Schmidt is keen to point out, "all the players are competing". "That's how we try to work with the players, everyone has the same chance of playing and what decides them is what they show in training and in the minutes they play", said the coach after the clássico won on September 29. The run of consecutive wins in the Liga Betclic now stands at seven (it is one of the best on the top of European football), after beating Estoril (0-1) on matchday 8 of the competition.