“Doing better": the players' reaction

In the Cathedral, on matchday 3 of the new Champions League format, Benfica lost against Feyenoord (1-3). A result regretted by Otamendi, Di María, Álvaro Carreras and Florentino, who nevertheless gave the assurance that the team will strive to “improve and win again”.

OTAMENDI

"It doesn't change anything, we must continue with the same mentality"

"They were actually more effective at the start, unfortunately. We wanted to get our third [Champions League win in a row] and it didn't happen, but that doesn't change anything. We'll try to be in top form for the next match and try to improve on the things that didn't come off today. Nothing would have been solved if we had won. We must continue with the same mentality and do better in the next match. We always respect our rivals. We were coming from a very good game against Atlético [Madrid], but with a different dynamic. In this one, we were coming off the back of an international break. We have to keep working, improving, obviously, and we'll try to get three points in the next game, which is what matters. We'll prepare to do better on the weekend and be able to get a win."

Di MARÍA

"We must be positive"

"I think we lacked aggression. We weren't as aggressive as in the last few matches, we failed, we gave away goals, with mistakes that we don't usually make. The Champions League is like that, when you give them away, you end up losing. It's hard to turn the result around afterward, you're against the clock, there were a lot of things going against you. That's what happened. All Champions League games are difficult, all the teams are different. We played a great game against Atlético [Madrid]. We tried to do the same today, but they also have their virtues, they play very fast. We already knew what would happen in the match, but we couldn't control them and ended up losing. This is football, these things happen. We just had to lose today. We were coming off two consecutive wins in the Champions League. Now we have to think about what's next, we have to think about the league and move on. We have to be positive. We're sad about today's game, because we were putting in a great performance, win after win. We turned things around, we were doing things much better, but today we lost. [Match against Rio Ave] We have to try to win, which is the most important thing. Give the fans something to cheer about. Today we had more than 60,000 people supporting us. We hope it's the same on Sunday."

ÁLVARO CARRERAS

"Thinking ahead to Sunday's match"

"The goals were missing, which is extremely important if you want to win. We had the match very well planned, but it didn't go as we'd hoped. We have to think about the future. We knew how they played on the counter-attack, with fast players. It was a shame, but now we have to think about Sunday's game. [Working with Bruno Lage] Each manager has his own plans, now we're playing further forward, closer to goal and, in football, that's important if you want to win. I'm completely focused on Benfica. I'll try to continue at this level and help the team as much as possible, as I've always done since the beginning. I'm just another member of the team, and I just have to keep working."

FLORENTINO

"We know we still have a lot of work to do"

"Games are games, they had a lot of quality, the team was very well organized. We tried our best, we did what the manager wanted us to do, but sometimes their individual play can break down our pressure, and that's what happened. These are issues that we can improve over the next few games. Overconfidence? No, quite the opposite. Of course positive results give us confidence, but we always keep our feet on the ground, we're humble, and we know we still have a lot of work to do. The good thing about this new edition [of the Champions League] is that there are more games, there's more margin, and we know that if we're at a good level in the next few games, we can still get through."