“This was the first step: to get the fans behind us”

POST-MATCH

The strength in the hearts of the Benfica fans in the stands sustained the 4-1 victory and the display in Benfica's match against Santa Clara on Saturday, September 14, on matchday 5 of the Liga Betclic. Coach Bruno Lage expressed this conviction in his analysis of the match at the Cathedral. 

ATMOSPHERE IN THE CATHEDRAL: DECISIVE!

"The team always tried to play at a high tempo, playing more often in attacking midfield, but the most important thing about the game was the atmosphere. That makes me doubly happy, both for the win and for the atmosphere. The team wasn't having a good moment and, after just 30 seconds, conceding a goal and feeling the support of the fans really helped us win the game. Curiously, one of the members of the coaching staff, when he arrived, mentioned the temperature, that it was cold in here, but I told him: 'Wait, it'll warm up. And it did! This is what warming up is all about: the heart and the lungs. The lungs did well, but they still need to do a lot to be at the same level as the heart. That's how we're going to work to get stronger and stronger. The best thing that could have happened was the atmosphere that the fans gave the players. That's what makes me very happy. You, me, in a positive atmosphere, we perform much better. In this first game, I want to give that word to the fans. It's going to be a long season. It was very important for the fans to leave happy, to realize that they were fundamental in a bad moment for the team. When we were losing after 30 seconds, they were fundamental in creating a favorable atmosphere for the players to play. There's a very important game coming up in the Champions League, in a new format, so, as the Brazilians say, we have to keep our feet on the ground and focus on what we have to work on and do in the next game [with Red Star]. We haven't won anyone back, we've played a game and that's three points."

AN EARLY GOAL AND THE MERIT OF THE ATHLETES

"My takeaway from today, and my takeaway for the future, is that with a favorable atmosphere, it's easier for the players to play football. Today, we started winning when Santa Clara scored and the fans were on the side of the team. That was decisive in us winning the game. The feeling of seeing the players trying to do what we had trained for in two days, so the credit goes to them [the players], because they created the various chances and scored the goals, in a favorable atmosphere. So things happen quite naturally. There's no time to waste, so I don't want to talk about the past. I want to talk about what we have to do. We still have a lot of work to do so that the team continues to play positively, so that the team creates many chances to score. That's my ambition, that's my desire, that's my focus. To prepare the team in the best way possible and for them [the players] to play. We've already had the game that I want the team to play and that the fans like. For me and the players, there's one thing that's very important... in a difficult moment, it's essential to be prepared for it. And in those moments we have to focus on our game plan. We have a strategy, and when things aren't going well for us in individual terms, it's about going to what we have best, to our safe haven, and from there building the game or growing within the game itself. When we conceded the goal, the feeling was that we still have 90 minutes to put into practice what we had talked about. But most of the instructions were to bring the players into the game in terms of positioning, to be more aggressive with and without the ball."

THE FORMULA AFTER THE HANDICAP

"I tried to get some energy into the team because I felt that the movement through the defenders was slow and not very aggressive. Then, when the ball reached the midfielders, we made a lot of vertical passes that were easy to break down and allowed Santa Clara some transition. We tried to adjust a little and reinforce what we'd said at one stop or another. I was very happy, for example, with the first goal, because of the way the ball came into the box, because we were more aggressive, because we looked for that space, and then because of the class of the player who scored the goal." 

KÖKCÜ'S ROLE

"I asked him to be a second midfielder, to link us up more with the ball. Especially in the second half, I think he came on much better in that period, because we started to link up play and that also gave us the opportunity to have Álvaro [Carreras] wider, and curiously enough the corner and the goal [2-1 by Florentino] came about. That's why I liked it. But we have a long job ahead of us. The most important thing is the work I'm going to do every day with the players. It's three points, but this was the first step, bringing the fans along with us. Only in an atmosphere like that can the players feel comfortable playing."

AKTÜRKOGLU PLAYS FORWARD

"It's to the credit of whoever chose him, but I like players like that, I like aggressive wingers, I liked Rafa, Cervi, Pizzi, players who play forward, and he has those characteristics. He plays inside, outside, I spoke to him, and he felt comfortable in the role I asked of him. I'm very happy about that. The player arrived in high spirits, he scored three goals [for Turkey] and today he scored the equalizer. I'm very happy about that."

THE “TIME” NEEDED TO PLAY AS DESIRED

"It's not the time, but the number of repetitions and training sessions I'm going to do with the players. At the moment, due to the schedule, we're not going to have many training sessions. That's why it's going to have to be a lot of work, in various ways: with recovery, with videos and, above all, with their ability, because we have a good squad that can still grow. It's not about time, it's about training and how many times I train a certain type of movement so that it's solid and understood in the team."