“The team played a very good game”

POST-MATCH

In his analysis of Benfica's 0-2 win at Nacional, in the resumption of the game from matchday 8 of the Liga Betclicthat was interrupted on October 6, Bruno Lage praised his team's personalized display, highlighting how they managed to create numerous opportunities to achieve the desired victory.

HUGE PERSONALITY

"[How do you view the approach to the lead, now at a distance of one point, and the team's display?] With personality. The answer to both questions is just that: personality. Our intention since we arrived here three months ago has been to close the gap on the top two, and so now we have to look ahead to the next game and pick up three more points. For the first question, it's this part, and for the second question, it's the same answer. A huge personality. I think the team played a very good game. The result was 0-2, we had several chances, as is our aim whenever we go out on the pitch, to create several chances to score our own goals and win the game. And I think our display today [Thursday] showed what I said yesterday [Wednesday], which was that we were ready and eager to play the game. That's what happened."

ENORMOUS MARGIN FOR THE TEAM TO EVOLVE

"With me, we only have the last draw [against AVS, 1-1], and that's what's important to record. But the most important thing is to always look to the next moment. What we want most in a football team is stability and consistency. Whether we play every three days or every four days, it's up to us as a coaching staff and as a squad to find that consistency. I feel there's still a lot of room, a lot of margin, for this team to grow and evolve. It's in that sense... Always look at the good moments, the moments in the game that we value, that we want to keep repeating. Today [Thursday], the team managed to do that. They managed to control the game without the ball, with the ball, and put in a very good display. We're satisfied, now it's time to prepare for the next game, to recover, to have everyone available to prepare for the game against Estoril in the best possible way."

FINDING STABILITY AND CONSISTENCY

"Look at what we do in this game. Coming out of one, analyzing, understanding and always trying to do better in the next game. That's what we've been doing, regardless of the result of the last game [AVS], and we've already talked about what happened in the 2nd half. Also looking at what kind of space we can look for when pressure like that from AVS arises. Today [Thursday], the team did that very well. So the most important thing is to reaffirm the display we put in today [Thursday], with great character. And as I say, what we're looking for is consistency, team stability, and we, as a coaching staff, and the players, have to know how to find it playing every four days."

DI MARÍA AND OTAMENDI, TWO EXAMPLES OF TEAM MANAGEMENT

"That's what we want from consistency. I even had this ready to explain to you yesterday [Wednesday, at the press conference], why we make certain decisions. Things don't happen because today I feel like taking off three or four players and then putting on three or four [referring to the changes in the last game]. This has everything to do with how we manage the team. The health of the players comes first. If Di María played until the AVS game, he would be on a run of six consecutive games, sometimes playing more than 80 minutes. We felt that, at that moment, also so as not to put the player at risk, it would be a moment for him to possibly play 45/30 minutes, whatever was necessary, because we have a squad that gives us that quality. Today [Thursday], once again, he performed at this level. Di María deserves the award for best player on the pitch, but Nico Otamendi was coming off a run of 11 consecutive games. With us, in the first cycle, of six games, with the [Argentina] national team trip, he didn't play in the Cup game [against Pevidém]. In the second cycle, with the national team games, Tomás [Araújo] came back injured from the national team, Nico had to play [against Estrela da Amadora, in the Portuguese Cup], and he was already on a cycle with 11 Benfica games, plus the national team games, plus the trips he has to make to Argentina. We have to look at that, so that the different players always play at their best, so that we have the consistency we want. Today [Thursday], I really appreciate [the display], because I think Nico [Otamendi] played a full game. We needed our captain's personality, the aerial game he has, the balls he won, the second balls he won, and what made the team play. That's what we want, that's our job. It's like I say: we really want the team to be consistent. And we, as a coaching staff, players and my staff, have to know how to find it in order to play every four days, with the personality and quality that our players played with today [Thursday]."