"Everything was affected by the pitch"

POST-MATCH

The conditions of the Estádio D. Afonso Henriques pitch "conditioned everything" that the two teams did during the 90 minutes, as Roger Schmidt stressed in his analysis of the draw (2-2) recorded in Vitória SC-Benfica, on matchday 21 of the  Liga Betclic, played on Sunday, February 11. 

DRAW ACCEPTED IN A GAME OF STRUGGLE

"It's always difficult to play here against Vitória SC. They're a very good team, especially at home. The game was completely affected by the circumstances of the pitch. So it wasn't much about tactics, but more about fighting for second balls, making mistakes - trying not to make them - and taking advantage of them to score goals. It was a different kind of football match. In both halves, Vitória SC scored first and, of course, whoever scores the first goal on this type of pitch has the advantage. I think we did well, with Rafa's goal. After the break, we tried to put the opposition under pressure, we had some good moments, but it wasn't easy to play football, especially in attacking midfield. Short passes were impossible [to make], so we had to opt for long balls. We had to try and get the ball into the box. Then Vitória SC had a good exchange of players in attack and, with a good cross, [André] Silva scored. It became more difficult, because on this pitch it's much easier to defend than to attack. We wanted to win, and when we scored to make it 2-2 right at the end of the game, we had to accept that. A point is better than nothing. In the end, it's a fair result. We accept that."

MOBILITY TO EXPLORE THE DEPTH

"By playing with Rafa and Di María we wanted to be mobile, with João Mário and Fredrik [Aursnes] playing between the lines and taking advantage of the right moments to attack deep. But, of course, with this pitch it was difficult to put [the idea] into practice. The goal we scored [from Rafa] was the goal we wanted to score, exactly as we planned, looking for variation between the sides and then attacking the area. That was the plan, but putting it into practice was very difficult. Of course, in the second half, we needed more presence in the central attacking area, with Arthur [Cabral], and a player for second balls, like Tino [Florentino]. We adjusted our game plan and the way we played to the pitch."

TURF DICTATED THE "LOTTERY"

"Twenty years ago we played a lot on this type of pitch, I think it's something that's part of football. Sometimes the circumstances are difficult, as they were tonight. It was the same for both teams. Of course, I'd rather play on a good pitch. The special thing about today's pitch was that the two halves were in completely different states, in one part you couldn't play soccer, while in the other you could. Both teams tried their best. In these circumstances, it's almost like a lottery. My players tried everything. We also tried to use set pieces, we had a lot of them, and the second goal came from one of them. Everything was affected by the pitch."

GETTING BACK TO WINNING WAYS

"Impact of the draw in the League? We lost two points because our goal is always to win. We got a point, we'd won a lot of games before, and now we have to keep winning a lot of games in the future."