"We want to play a good game at our stadium"

PREVIEW

Benfica will host Gil Vicente, in Matchday 20 of the Liga Betclic, this Sunday at 6 pm, February 4, at Estádio da Luz, seeking the 7th win in a row in the competition.

What kind of game do you expect against Gil Vicente, a team going through a good moment with two consecutive wins?

Gil Vicente are going through a good moment in the season, they're a good team. When we analyze Gil Vicente, we see that they are a team that has a clear idea about every moment of the game, with and without the ball, they are very brave, they believe in themselves a lot. They play their game in the final third of the pitch and [the players] are very strong tactically. In the last two games they've been very good, they got a win away at Portimonense and had a very positive win against Vitória SC. It's always difficult to play against Gil Vicente, but Benfica are also going through a good moment in the season and we need to keep our confidence up to play a good game at our stadium. We know we need to play a good game to win.

Benfica have been chasing Sporting for five matches now and have played before or after their direct opponents. In terms of pressure, do you prefer to play before or after?

I'm not worried about that. We have to keep our full concentration in every game. I'm expecting a fight for the championship right up until the last game. All teams are extremely strong, Sporting are still doing very well, FC Porto and Braga too. Of course, the other league games are going to be extremely demanding. I'm concentrated and focused, it has no effect on me if the other teams play before and win or if they play after. It's true that we need a lot of points to win the league. The calendar is what it is, we have to accept it.

What the new players can bring to the team in the second half of the season?

We have to distinguish between all the players. They are different and, above all, they were in completely different physical shape. Marcos Leonardo has already demonstrated his quality comming off the bench, he scored in three games. The challenge for him is to be 100% physically. We're getting the players into good physical shape. With Arthur Cabral, Marcos Leonardo and Casper Tengstedt, who is already training with the team, we have more and more options to use the right player at the right time. Marcos [Leonardo] has been doing very well, Álvaro [Carreras] has also been doing very well in training. He's already had a few minutes, but I think he could also start in the future. He's a player capable of quickly acquiring the team's tactical behavior as a left-back. Benjamín Rollheiser was out of action in Argentina, but he also played against Estrela da Amadora and was able to connect well and quickly with his teammates. Gianluca Prestianni, unfortunately, suffered an ankle injury and will most likely be out for three weeks, but he is another player who has shown in training that he will be extremely important for Benfica's future. We're very pleased with the four new signings, and we're also very happy with the returns of Alexander Bah, David Neres and Casper Tengstedt. We also hope that Juan Bernat can return in the near future. We have a very tight schedule, we have a lot of games for different competitions, and the challenge is to use the players at the right time, but always to win games.

Is Benfica's squad better with the signings made in the winter transfer window? Is it also the best and most balanced in Portugal?

It's a good question, but I can't answer it... It's something that has to be demonstrated on the pitch, particularly over the next few months. Things are going well, we did very well in the first half of the season. Of course, we had to make some changes, more than we expected, because certain players wanted to leave Benfica. We agreed and managed to make good transfers, but we also found opportunities in the market to get other players and to be better prepared for the summer in terms of integration. We have fresh energy in our squad, lots of players with potential for the future, a young team, young players... The balance in the squad is very good, and the outlook for the potential and quality of the players is also very good. I think that, at the moment, we have tremendous potential, because we have players who are going to grow, develop and increase their value, but this is a long-term objective. In the short term, the challenge we have is for the players to reach their physical peak, to be confident and to be able to perform at their best. Of course this isn't easy, there isn't a six-week pre-season, some of these players arrived after a [competitive] break, but we want to win titles this season and this is our challenge, for the players and the coach.