“We feel a great energy and positive spirit”

PREVIEW

In his preview of the AVS-Benfica match this Sunday, December 15, on matchday 14 of the Liga Betclic, Bruno Lage praised the energy and positive spirit in the dressing room ahead of a game for which, he stressed, the team is ready to win all three points.

What's your outlook for tomorrow's match [Sunday], against an opponent with only two league wins to their name?

Yes, but they also have a new coach who is very experienced, and I really admire Daniel's [Ramos] work. So it's going to be a very interesting game. We saw the two games the [AVS] team played. They played a very good game against SC Braga, losing 0-1 at home, and then the last game against Casa Pia. It's certainly a team that's under construction in this new system they've been playing, with five defenders. They have experienced players from the Premier League, particularly the spearhead. It's a difficult game that requires us to be very well-prepared to win, which is our main objective.

If I've done the math right, it's now three months since your first match, since your return to Benfica. What is your assessment of these three months and, specifically, is the team at the point where you wanted it to be, were you expecting to have the possibility of even possibly jumping into the lead on this matchday, given the gap you had at the time when you arrived with the league leader? Do you feel that this is the best thing that has happened to Benfica in the last three months??

Look, I didn't actually have this idea of three months, but what we'd like to say is: trust in the work, there's still a lot of room for improvement. About, I can't tell you exactly how long, but a month, a month and a half ago, I had this conviction that, depending on the team's progress, we could reach the end of the year closing the gap on first place. And right now we have a very good opportunity during this month to go into the match already in a different position. But in order to do that, we have to keep working, understand what we have to do at each moment, and the moment really is tomorrow's game [Sunday]. We're convinced we're going to have a good game, the players are confident, the team has been working very well. We feel a great energy and positive spirit. Even today [Saturday], at the start of training, we were there talking to the players to prepare for training, our captain gave us a message of confidence, and that right now we all need to be together, that in the team circle, like the one we had at the end of the Monaco game, nothing negative can get in, because the energy within the group is very positive. This is the state we're in. We want to extend that over time, and that state is extended over time with good results, good performances and winning games. And that's what we're aiming for tomorrow [Sunday].

This is the first time, if memory serves me right, that Benfica have the chance to take first place, even temporarily, by winning. Is it important to put this kind of pressure on your opponents? Does that somehow come into your speech to the team, or in the speech that the captain gave this morning [Saturday], as you mentioned, for example?

No, it's about looking at ourselves. We felt that we had an objective for ourselves until the end of the year and that, depending on the circumstances, it changed. But nothing changes, and it's no use if we don't win our points. So the fundamental thing is this: tomorrow [Sunday], a decisive focus, with very positive energy, as a team, as we said before training, to win the game. Then the next game, and then the next game. But for now, it's one game at a time. So tomorrow [Sunday], we're going to meet, and I'm reinforcing this, a very experienced coach, who has done excellent work wherever he's been. A team with a positive energy, who had a good game against Braga, got a point against Casa Pia, a line of five, and we'll have to be at our best, with our dynamics, to create the chances we've been creating and score the goals that will get us three points. 

You'll have to make changes for this match due to the absence of Álvaro Carreras due to suspension. He's been one of the most used players, but he's also been one of the players who has created the most opportunities for the Benfica team. You've often said that everyone counts, but are you worried at all about the reaction and the different dynamic for this match, given his absence?

Álvaro [Carreras] has been a very important player, but I'm not worried about the dynamic, because for each game we try to find our own dynamic for what we think is ideal for the game. The player who is going to play in that position knows how to interpret what we want for the team very well, that's the most important thing, and when I say that everyone counts, it's because I really feel it, I feel that I see the team working towards that, that the players are available to help and contribute to the team's success. Of course, as coaches we have to make decisions, and we're going to make decisions at every moment. I feel the team is motivated, the players are motivated, everyone is available to play, and it's up to me, in particular, to decide the best eleven for each game.

Benfica has three forwards who have only scored 14 goals so far. Have you asked the President for a goalscorer this Christmas?

I haven't spoken to the President about the January market or anything else. When you talk about forwards, I count Di María, Schjelderup, Prestianni, Aktür [Aktürkoğlu], Beste, and all of them, forwards, have contributed to close to 50 goals since we arrived here. That's what I wanted to stress. If we look at the strikers, I think the volume of opportunities we've created is so great and the opportunities are so good that what we have to do is continue to value the work, continue to give our frontmen confidence and realize that there's huge room for them to continue to grow and evolve. Because when you look at the number of goals scored by the strikers, and then the movements and chances created by the spearheads, in three months of work we have to feel satisfied with our work. So we have to keep believing in the work and the process, keep giving the team a lot of confidence and realize that there's still a lot of room for development and improvement.

I'd like to ask you about Tiago Gouveia and Renato Sanches. Are they expected back yet? I'd also like to ask if anyone else is unavailable for this match.

I'm glad you're asking that question, because at the last [press] conference I spoke about Renato's [Sanches] situation, because I really didn't know how many days it was. But I can give you the good news that Renato returned to training with the team today [Saturday]. We felt he was happy, with positive energy, and that's very important. Tiago [Gouveia] still has some time to go, he's also working very well, but at the moment I can't tell you when he'll be working with the team again.

I'd also like to ask you, since Renato Sanches is training, if he'll be able to get minutes in this game and be called up.

Not yet. He trained with the team, very well and with positive energy, but he's not available for the game yet.