"It's always important to win when you play first at home"

POST-MATCH

Although he regretted the narrow margin in the result, Roger Schmidt underlined the importance of the 2-1 victory over Marseille in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Europa League.

Speaking briefly to Sport TV and SIC, and at a press conference after the match on Thursday, April 11, at Estádio da Luz, the eagles' coach commented on the tribute to Sven-Göran Eriksson. 

TRIBUTE TO SVEN-GÖRAN ERIKSSON

"I met him today [April 11] at half-time. I'd never met him before. He's had a great career as a coach. I've heard a lot about him, about his personality, not only as a coach, but also as a human being. He's part of Benfica. We do our best not just for him, but for all the people who love Benfica. If, in the end, we win in Marseille, it will also be for him."

A NARROW BUT IMPORTANT WIN

"It's always important to win when you play first at home, but of course you have to put in a top performance in two games to reach the next round, that's always the case. without the ball. The players were very good. We had chances to score a third or fourth goal. We scored two very good goals, with a lot of passing and, at the end, with good shots from inside the box. We deserved to win 2-0, and we always had moments when we created chances. We created a good rhythm. Sometimes we rested a bit with possession and then, when the time was right, we picked up the pace again. We didn't give our opponents many chances to score, almost none. Until the goal, they didn't really have a chance to score. That's part of football, you always have to accept the story of the game. We made a mistake, which brought them back into the game a bit. At this level, sometimes you get punished for a mistake. Unfortunately, the opposition showed that they also have a lot of individual quality, especially Aubameyang, who finished very well. Nevertheless, we won the game. Of course, we could have had a better result, but in the end, a win is a win and now, in the second leg, we have to show that we deserve to go to the semi-final. Of course it will be a different game next week in Marseille, but we've shown again that we're in a good position and we're excited to play another good game and qualify for the semi-finals."

TEAM MANAGEMENT

"The players who started were very good, also in the two games against Sporting, but on Sunday [April 14] we need fresh energy. Nico [Otamendi] and Fredrik [Aursnes] are suspended, so we have to find new solutions. It's also only two days apart, so we have to come up with a good set-up to give some players a rest, but still win the game, and then we have to be ready for next Thursday [April 18]." 

CONFIDENCE FOR A DEMANDING SECOND LEG

"Everyone is excited about the second leg in Marseille. Our fans will be there, they'll support us. Sometimes you get injuries during the season, as Marseille do, and sometimes you're unlucky with that, it's part of football. Even so, we've seen that Marseille still have a very good team on the pitch. It's an open 2nd leg, we need a top performance. We've also shown many times that we can play away in these circumstances, this season and last season too. We played at Rangers' ground, the atmosphere there isn't easy either. We played a very good game and won. We know it's demanding, but we also know that we can believe in ourselves. We'll be ready next week, we'll do our best to get a good result and go through to the semi-finals."

DISSATISFACTION OF SOME SUPPORTERS

"I'm surprised by that too, but it's part of Benfica. If you're young, and you win a game in the quarter-finals of the Europa League, and the situation is like that at the end of the game, you're a bit surprised, because you can't understand it, but it's part of Benfica, there's no problem. It's never good enough. I'm not new, I've known it for two years. We're at Benfica. It's a very demanding club with very demanding fans. At the end of the game, some fans showed that they weren't happy, but I also saw a lot of happy fans. It's not as if all Benfica fans were unhappy, many of them appreciated the work, the fight, and also the play of the players. Next week, we have to show that we deserve to go through to the semi-finals. When we qualify next week, we'll have a full stadium in the semi-finals too, that's for sure."