"Huge ambition to win the game"

PREVIEW

Bruno Lage sees a Benfica team with “enormous ambition to win” the match against Santa Clara, on matchday 22 of the Liga Betclic, scheduled for 6 pm (mainland time) on Saturday, February 15, at the Estádio de São Miguel.

Benfica will play Santa Clara in the Azores. They have one of the best defenses in the league. How do you anticipate this match?

All that, and we're doing very well in the league. With our opponents playing at home, we know how difficult it will be to play Santa Clara. As such, we have to be at our best. Fresh and with a huge ambition to win the game, that's what we have to do. We know that we're going to be playing against a line of five [defenders], a team with good mechanisms, doing well in the league, very aggressive in attacking deep, the front three with a very good dynamic, with lots of positional changes, and as such we have to be prepared. I feel that our team also does well against lines of five, we've been able to do that. So we're very optimistic and ready to have a good game.

Benfica have had physical problems recently and, if I'm right, there have been four trips in the space of five days. I ask you: how do you manage the squad with this overload? Does this game against Santa Clara force you to make changes and give minutes to those who haven't had many?

I'm going to use my cheat sheet here [Bruno Lage stands up and shows his notebook]. The camera men are already zooming in [smiles]. This isn't so much about travel, but travel counts too... The biggest thing, really, is the time we have between games. We played at 9 pm in Monaco and, on the third day, we're playing at 5 pm in the Azores. So we won't even have the minimum [break time], which is 72 hours, to leave one game and prepare for the next. So what we have to do is look at all the data, and the data is here, to possibly answer a question that comes up next, and choose the best eleven. When I say that, at every moment, we choose the best eleven, that's essentially why. It's about understanding who's fresh, who's available to play according to the strategy.

Di María turns 37 today. He injured his left thigh, came back, got injured again in the same place, only lasted 18 minutes on the pitch [in the game against Monaco]. How was that managed? Couldn't such a quick return jeopardize his return to competition? And, while you're at it, your comment on the Florentino footage [a play in the Benfica penalty area at the end of Benfica-Moreirense, matchday 21 of the Liga Betclic].

Look... I'll start with the second one. My schedule was the same as yours. You even got back from Monaco later than I did. Mine was to prepare for matches, make the journey, get here, have lunch, train, get home at 8 pm, spend some time with the family and be here today to prepare for the match. I haven't had the chance to see the images yet, and when I realized that they're images from the stands... I'm not even going to watch them. What I'm challenging you to do - since you've challenged me to see the images - is to treat all the penalties that have already happened this season in the same way. Get all the coaches to watch and analyze all the penalties in the Premier League like this. I'll tell you about Di María... Even in a very simple way, so I was already prepared for this [shows notebook with records]. I have a degree in Physical Education, Health and Sport. So you see, I even know what the sternocleidomastoid is. So we discuss, analyze and make decisions based on facts, and these are the facts. In addition to the knowledge I have, I also have the objective data from training and the sensations the player gets. And what happened when Di María left, in the first situation... Di María wasn't injured; he felt discomfort. The medical examinations - we did the X-rays and the ultrasound - were analyzed by radiologists, both inside Benfica and outside Benfica, and the player didn't show any kind of injury. Having said that, he's done everything that we believe is necessary... I'll even give you an example: he averaged 30 km/hour in terms of speed in training; he did all the injury mechanism exercises that are normal; we made the same demands that we normally make in the game, and we have these records [shows notes]. I have a member of my technical team just for this, Alexandre Silva. Since 2018, when I joined the B team, I've been concerned that we don't have injuries, and that we have to be careful about the dynamics of the load for each player. So there's individual treatment for each player... But back to the Di María issue: for what it was, what I've just explained, the sensitivity that the player had, that after two days he had no pain, he did more in training than he did in the game, we were sure that we could use him as soon as possible, and we did. But now we've got this injury, but that... we've got his injury, just like the others that have happened recently. Whenever we put 11 players on the pitch, plus the 5, or even in the warm-up, or even in training, players can be subject to injury. But, because of what we do, decisions aren't made by chance, they're made based on scientific data, the results of tests that the players undergo and, of course, also with the player's sensitivity, especially him, who is 37 today and knows his body very well to give us his own feedback on this.

Bah won't play again this season, Tomás Araújo left with complaints in the last game, and the man who could play in this position, Aursnes, is also injured. Who is the option for right-back? How are you managing this situation?

The right-back option for tomorrow [Saturday] is Leandro, and we've been managing him since I joined. Trying to identify a potential player for each position, because that's also a Benfica coach's job, especially when you have the training you have, and then also the background I have in training, knowing the club very well and the way it works. Identifying a potential player for each position very well in three markets - international, national and in our academy. That player has been identified, started working with us from an early age, has spent more time with the B team, is ready to play and will start tomorrow.

Knowing what you know today, with regard to the injuries and the lack of talent in Benfica's squad in recent weeks, don't you regret not taking a more aggressive buying stance in the January market?

I'm almost going to use your colleague's words... We had Bah, we had Tomás [Araújo], Fredrik [Aursnes] could still play there [at right-back], we still have a kid, Leandro [Santos], and we still have [Diogo] Spencer, if something happens to Leandro. We have five solutions, they are valid, I think we did the market we had to do. We went in search of what I thought was fundamental, in the adjustments I thought we could make, also in function of the market. So I think we did a good market.

Bearing in mind that the calendar won't stop and Benfica will continue to play a lot of games, with the absence of so many players, the burden will fall on others. Do you fear that this could aggravate this wave of injuries? Do you fear that colleagues will be afraid to play with greater intensity when they see that so many colleagues are getting injured?

There's no such thing. When the players go out on the pitch, they're not thinking about anything, they're thinking about playing and contributing. Now, of course, every time there's an injury in any squad, not just Benfica's, in any squad in the world, only if... How can I explain this? Based on the idea that you have 2 players for each position, based on teams the size of Benfica, who regularly play every 3 days - and we won't even be able to do that tomorrow [Saturday, February 15, against Santa Clara] - as soon as one player can no longer contribute due to injury, the other players have to be subjected to greater demands. As they are subjected to greater demands, they are more prone to injury. Tomorrow, what I don't want, but because of the circumstances, is to put the players at risk, and we're going to have to do that, within limits. We have two or three players who will have to do it, to the limit. But that's part of life. It's up to me to find solutions, we have the solutions we have in our squad, and what I told you at the last conference: apart from the players, I've worked with practically both teams, both the B team and the Under-23s, a great deal of rotation. I know the two squads perfectly, and they have a better understanding of what I want for each position, and it's certainly there that we'll find solutions to respond to each moment. 

I want to ask you about Otamendi. It seems that every game you feel the influence that the central midfielder has, he played every minute in the Champions League. As he's at the end of his contract, would you like Otamendi to renew with Benfica?  Also, just to be sure: will Tomás Araújo be available for the game against Santa Clara?

We don't know yet, we'll still have time to analyze Tomás [Araújo]'s situation. Regarding Nico [Otamendi], the same answer as Di María. They're both 37, Nico turned 37 on the day of the Monaco game, Di María turned 37 today. I'd also like to take this opportunity to publicly congratulate them. They are two excellent professionals, they have a great deal of dedication, and what I notice and what I could highlight here as an example is the way in which the two of them, who have already won what they have won, celebrated winning the League Cup.That in itself represents very well the pleasure and enjoyment they have in being here, so in due course, President, with my opinion, and whatever is best for Benfica and the players will be the best decision for everyone.