"We were fair winners of the competition"

POST-MATCH

In his 100th game in charge of Benfica, Bruno Lage added the 2024/25 League Cup to the 2018/19 National Championship and the 2019 Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup. In his analysis of the final against Sporting on Saturday, January 11, in which the Glorioso came out on top after the penalty shootout (6-7; 1-1 in the 90 minutes), the coach praised the rigor of the display and considered that he deserved to win his 3rd trophy with an eagle on his chest.

COMPETENT IN THE MATCH

"It's a feeling of accomplishment. I think we were fair winners for the competition we had. Today [Saturday], we saw a great game of football. A very good first half, with chances on both sides. We had the merit of taking the lead. We created many good chances to eventually score another goal. Sporting equalized at the end of the first half and then, in the second half, we responded to the demands of the game. We made changes to keep playing with quality, to keep pressing, to try to control the game with and without the ball, and then we were very competent from the penalty spot. Looking at the competition, I think we're fair winners."

COMMITMENT AT WORK SERVES AS A BOOST

"Andreas [Schjelderup] had a great first half, but we felt we had to freshen up the players and we made that change. We also tried to change and bring on Aktür [Aktürkoğlu] on the right and Di María on the left. Defensively it was working, but offensively it wasn't, and we switched again. What can give us momentum for the rest of the season is to keep working. It's the way the team works, the unity they have as a group and the commitment they have to their work. That's what will give us the impetus. Of course, being at Benfica, the greatness of the club means you have to fight for titles and win titles. We're pleased with the title [League Cup], but the commitment to our work is what drives us to be at our best again in almost two and a half days, in 70 hours, because the Portuguese Cup is also a very important competition for us."

GRATEFUL TO THE PLAYERS

"First, I wanted to thank the players for their commitment to the job. I had promised myself that I would come, that I would return, and that my story at Benfica had to have a different ending. I'm grateful to them for that, because I had promised myself, I had promised my children that they would see their father win titles. That's fundamentally down to the work of the players. We've just won a title. On the second part of the question, I honestly don't understand what the strange reaction [from President Rui Costa] was... It's a conversation between me and the President. Maybe he didn't even understand what I said. I think it was more like that. Because then I said it again, and we had a good laugh in the dressing room. We've just won a cup that Benfica hadn't won since 2016. It was our goal to change that, because we have a wall with all the titles, and we've gone from seven to eight. A small contribution from us and a huge source of pride for the team." 

TOMÁS ARAÚJO INSTEAD OF BAH

"Bah has had a very good season, and he's a player who, because of the way he plays, suffers a lot from physical strain. What he does and the way he always plays at high intensity, the runs he makes when defending and attacking sometimes make us worry, because he's a very important player for us, and we can't afford to lose players to injury. So we have to be careful. I kept this team for the final because they played with the attacking dynamic that I like. We were safe on the ball, we were pressing, we played a very good game against Braga, our attacking dynamic was very good, we created a lot of chances. Today [Saturday 11th], when we meet for breakfast and the training session, as well as having all the information on the players, there's also what we have to be able to tell by eye... Looking at the players' faces and realizing that they're fresh, determined, confident, that we can go with the same team and, from the 60th/70th minute onwards, we can start making changes. The changes we've made have been with players like Bah and Aktürkoğlu, who have given a lot to the team, but sometimes it's important for them to go out, recover and come back and contribute to the team in the way they have so far." 

FULL-BACKS WIDE OPEN AND WINGER IN THE INSIDE

"Both in one game and the other [SC Braga and Sporting], we wanted to get away from the opposition's pressure, bring the midfielders into the game, and force them to reorganize and press differently."

BESTE'S ABSENCE

"He fell ill. He woke up in the morning with the flu, stayed out, and we had to call Adrian [Bajrami] in the morning."

BET ON SCHJELDERUP

"I feel we bet on him [Schjelderup] at the right time."