"Take advantage of our stadium and show that we deserve to go to the final"

PREVIEW

This Tuesday, April 2, at 8:45 pm, at Estádio da Luz, Benfica will play Sporting in a decisive clash to reach the final of the Portuguese Cup. Looking ahead to the second leg of the semi-finals, Roger Schmidt has guaranteed "a lot of motivation" in his squad to reach the final match of the Portuguese Cup.

What differences do you expect from the first leg of the Portuguese Cup semi-finals?

The first big difference is that we're playing at home. The second big difference is that it's a decisive game, it's the second leg of this knockout round. Tomorrow [Tuesday, April 2], we'll have a decision on who goes through to the final. It's all very clear. We're a goal down, and we have 90 minutes to play good football and turn things around, that's what we need to do. We have a lot of motivation to reach the Cup final, we've already shown that in the previous rounds. Now it's up to us to take advantage of our stadium to play a top game against a very good team and show that we deserve to go to the final.

There are two derbies in a few days, one for the Cup and the other for the league. Could this Tuesday's game in any way influence Saturday's [April 6] league match? Could the season be decided this week?

The closer we get to the end of the season, the more decisive the games are, especially in the league, but of course also in the cup, because we're in the semi-finals now. At some point in the season, you're either going to the final or not. Of course, in the Cup, we have a decision for the final this week, tomorrow [Tuesday, April 2]. In the Championship, there are only seven rounds left, and it's also clear. If you're fighting for the title, it becomes more and more decisive. That's something we know, but it's still very important for us to focus on every game, because otherwise it's impossible to play this schedule. Our complete focus is now on the Portuguese Cup. We have a lot of motivation to win this game, and then we'll start focusing on the Portuguese league again, and our game against Sporting on Saturday. This is our scenario, and the best mentality is to be prepared for every game.

What kind of striker will you use, and what do you expect from that role in Benfica's team against Sporting? Will you opt for a player who adds speed to the Reds' attack, like Tengstedt?

I'm not going to announce the line-up today [Monday, April 1], or who the striker is. What we need is a very complete performance overall. In attack, we have several different options. So, as I said, of course you always need speed, but you also need creativity and physical power. I think that, in the end, we need a set-up that also shows that we have different options to attack the final third, to create danger and score goals. That's something we've shown many times this season. All the strikers have their own profile, but in the end, from a tactical point of view, we expect similar things from all of them. The tactical aspects are team aspects, and they have to be part of that. Of course, we also need the individual quality of the different attacking players, as always. That's something they've all shown. Clearly, we need a striker up front, but I expect a game in which we also have to rely on the substitutes. Depending on the story of the game, we also need good players on the bench. We'll see who starts. The most important thing for me is that we need a clear top team performance.