“Everyone counts, there's a lot of teamwork”

PREVIEW

With “tremendous focus” on the match against Vitória SC, Benfica's opponent on matchday 13 of the Liga Betclic, Bruno Lage emphasized the importance of the red team's unity in order to continue on the road to victory.

Given what Vitória SC have been doing in the league, and also in Europe, which opponent do you expect to face tomorrow [Saturday, December 7] at Estádio da Luz?

A very competent opponent. The work that Vitória have done this season is really fantastic, both in the league and in international competitions. We've had the chance to watch a few games, particularly against FC Porto, SC Braga and even the last one against Gil Vicente, and you can see that they're a team of enormous quality, both individually and collectively. Playing a team with names like Bruno Varela, Bruno Gaspar, Tiaguinho - Tiaguinho, no, it's Tiago Silva now, he's team captain and everything, but he'll always be our Tiaguinho -, Nuno Santos and Nélson Oliveira, in itself shows the individual quality of the team, and then what the processes are. They're a very well-organized team, a team with a great dynamic, and as such I expect a difficult opponent, who will force us to be at our best. We've had a very good week of training, so we're confident that the team will be at its best tomorrow [Saturday, December 7], especially as we're playing at home and have the support of our fans. According to my information, the stadium will be full, with our fans backing the team to put in another good display and win the game.

At Monaco - if I'm not mistaken, it was at that press conference when you launched the game - you had said that one of the objectives you had for the team was to be close to first place in the league by the end of the year. Given the circumstances, has that goal changed to finishing the year in first place in the league? Do you think it's possible?

We've only just started the month of December, we've still got a few games to go, and we've still got 12 points to play for before we get to the game with Sporting [matchday 16]. So what's important right now, especially for us to understand, is that there's no point in our opponents losing if we don't win our points, and that has to be our focus. Our focus has to be on tomorrow's game [Saturday] and what we've been doing to win the game tomorrow [Saturday].

Is it easier to work now, because maybe a month ago it would have been unthinkable for Sporting and FC Porto to be challenged, and for Bruno Lage's Benfica to be relying solely on itself to reach first place in the league? How does coach Bruno Lage feel today, as he didn't a month ago?

It's not a question of thinking about it, it's looking at what's ours, and the progress we have to make in the team; what's crucial at the moment is that we understand this, and I repeat what I said earlier: there's no point in our opponents losing points if we don't win ours. I maintain the ambition of what I said recently, because it's legitimate for us to have that ambition, which is what we want, it's what we work for, but we have to remain very humble, and focus tremendously on tomorrow's game [Saturday, December 7]. 

Bruno Lage replaced Roger Schmidt, and João Pereira replaced Ruben Amorim. There have already been eight changes of manager in the I Liga. In your opinion, what does this mean for the Portuguese league?

Now you've reminded me of something, as a joke... It's not the Portuguese league, it's Portuguese football. My kid is 9 years old, he plays for a team that, in five or six games, has only won one game, and the coach has already been replaced, and we're talking about 9 and 10-year-old boys, so this is Portuguese football. The most important thing is what we do in each moment. Our experience leads us to that, which is why what I focus on is what we can do in each moment. There's no point looking back at records or titles we've already won, and in the future there's no point looking much further ahead than the next game. Our ambition and what we always tell the players is that, when we're in a good moment, what we want is to add more good performances to that good moment, and that's what we have to focus on. That's why I've been saying: at the moment, a lot of humility, realizing what we have to do at every moment, and the moment is already tomorrow's game [Saturday].

During your first spell [at Benfica] you talked a lot about the word reconquest. Is that word also the motto for this season - you mentioned it at the presentation - or is there something new you're introducing internally in relation to the players?

I don't know if there's a word for it or not, what we feel is that there's a lot of teamwork. I've been saying that, and that's what our players should feel, which is: everyone counts, and everyone has counted, and everyone has contributed to our momentum. Our fans have been tireless, so they can also help us. What happened in the Estrela da Amadora game with Arthur [Cabral], and Arthur then scored a goal three days later, earned us points; the players coming off the bench and being able to help the team; having the three strikers scoring goals... that's the feeling I want, I think that's the feeling the players have already understood that I want. Again, the lunch they had two or three days ago to celebrate Zeki's [Amdouni] birthday is also important, someone who is abroad, doesn't have his friends here, and them getting together to celebrate that birthday really shows that. So it's a feeling of togetherness, of teamwork and that everyone counts.