Rui Costa's statements

STATEMENTS

In Braga, after the professional football team's performance in the Liga Betclic 2024/25, Rui Costa, President of Sport Lisboa e Benfica, spoke to the media and answered a few questions about the Club's sports moment.

A message to the Benfica fans, who made their support felt in Braga.

First, I want to acknowledge our failure to win the league, which was the main objective of the season. As the man in charge, I'm here to take on that responsibility, in a year in which we really wanted to win this title, we fought for it until the last matchday, but unfortunately we weren't able to give the fans the joy they so richly deserved. It's a moment of great frustration, of great pain, it's a year's work that will be marked by this lack of a title. Regardless of what happens between now and the end of the season, there's no denying that the main objective has been missed. As for the fans, I'd like to thank them from the bottom of my heart for all the support they've given us throughout the league, even in the most difficult moments when it looked like the league would be lost, ending with today, when they showed what they did. So it wasn't the fans' fault, quite the opposite, that we didn't manage to win this championship. My special thanks for all the support they gave every day, every game, every field, all over the country, and I can only be grateful to them and apologize for this failure to win a title that we wanted so much, and they, above all, deserved so much.

In the press room after the match, Bruno Lage said that he would never be a problem for Benfica. I would like to ask if the Benfica board is considering whether Bruno Lage should continue, regardless of the results in the Portuguese Cup and the Club World Cup. And I ask, in relation to your position, because it has also been reported in recent days that you could be considering your candidacy [for the presidency of Benfica], taking into account the title, or not.

Bruno [Lage] has never been a problem for Benfica, and he said it well, and he will never be a problem for Benfica. Bruno arrived as the season was starting, he won the League Cup, he's in the final of the Portuguese Cup, he fought for the Championship until the end and, therefore, I think he's the least to blame for this situation. And so I'd like to thank him for all his commitment, all his effort, and he is, like me, like all those who represent the Club, doubly frustrated, one because he personally didn't manage to win the Championship, and the other because he didn't manage to give it to Benfica. Right now, that's not the issue. Despite the immense pain we're all feeling today, and the enormous frustration with which we'll all be resting our heads on our pillows today, the reality is that next week we have a cup final to play in. Although we leave here with a tremendous weight and, as you can imagine, with a difficulty in accepting this absence of a title, the truth is that we have to have the courage and ability to move on from this mourning as quickly as possible, because in 7 days' time a final will be played, which, I repeat, does not eliminate and does not annul the absence of this title, but it is one more trophy in dispute, and which Benfica obviously wants to win, and must present itself in a position to win. So you have to get out of this mourning quickly, although it won't be easy. Regarding my position, as I've always said throughout the season, I'll say it again, despite the news that came out yesterday [Friday, May 16], that I don't know where it's coming from. It's not the time to think about that, it's not the time for a leader of a club of this magnitude to think about a situation like that, when the season isn't over yet, when I've always said that my focus was on what the team's goals were, and right now, we still have a Portuguese Cup to play for, we still have the Club World Cup to play for, we still have a season to prepare for, and, in due course, I'll be able to decide what's best for me and for Benfica, because I've never put myself above Benfica, and, in due course, I'll be able to decide, and, in due course, I'll also communicate that.

Can you guarantee that Bruno Lage will start next season 2025/26?

Bruno Lage will start next season.

And will Di María be starting next season too?

Then, when we start with the market situations, you'll know everything. Di María, as you know, is a player who is out of contract, and we'll analyze it with the player himself and see what conditions we have.

It's unusual... I've said here that the fans aren't to blame, and that Bruno Lage is probably the least to blame. But regardless of Sporting's result today, the team ultimately failed to achieve that goal.

I'm responsible as a leader. I'm here taking responsibility as a leader. It was one of the things we had, of course, as a purpose, we believed in it to the end and we wanted to get here and do our job, and whatever depended on us, us controlling it, which was to win this game. Unfortunately, we didn't manage that either. It wasn't easy to make this journey. As much as you don't pass on what's happening on other fields, it's not easy, and I can tell you, not as President, but as a player, it's not easy to play a game like this. It wasn't today that we lost the Championship, it was a season... - I'll take advantage of the question and try to answer everything... It was a very fluctuating season, where Benfica didn't start well, where they lost points in the first few games, and it ended up being a very, very fluctuating season. At certain points in the season, when the league seemed to have slipped out of our grasp, we were often able to recover those disadvantages in relation to our rivals, and then, when we were ahead, we couldn't hold on to that lead, or even extend that lead and try to escape in the standings. I think that's what the season comes down to, a lot of fluctuation, it's been an atypical year, almost for the whole league, but we have to look at what we've done right and what we've done wrong, and we clearly weren't competent enough, in the moments when we recovered from the deficit, to try to escape and win this title. So congratulations to our opponents, Sporting in this case, who were champions. Congratulations, they were more competent than us.