"It was a fair and solid victory"

POST-MATCH

Bruno Lage highlighted the fairness of Benfica's 2-0 victory over Nice on Wednesday, August 6, in the first leg of the third qualifying round for the league phase of the Champions League, praising the role of the entire squad in achieving this result.

MOURNING FOR JORGE COSTA

"First, I would like to express my condolences on the passing of Jorge Costa. He marked a generation, we all cheered on the triumphs of the national team, both the Under-21s and the senior team. I would therefore like to offer my condolences to his family and to FC Porto because, as I said, he marked a generation that loves football."

VALUING THE WORK OF THE COLLECTIVE

"I think it was a fair, solid victory. We controlled the game, both offensively and defensively. We created the opportunities we needed to win 0-2. Regarding aggression, it's not just Ivanovic. I think the team has shown the competitive aggression we want, but the most important thing is to value the work of the team and the work of two players who are very important to us. Barreiro started the last Super Cup game and was very important in the victory, but today, for strategic reasons, we thought we could start the game with two forwards. Even so, Barreiro came off the bench and helped the team again, as did Tino [Florentino], who is a very important player for us, one of the pillars of this team, and who helped the team consolidate the victory and even increase it."

DAHL'S DISPLAY

"I think Samuel [Dahl] put in a solid display, in line with the rest of the team. We all have a lot of room for improvement, to get to know each other better, and I think that's the path we need to continue on. As I said, time would be an opponent we would have to beat, and it's important to win because we had a trophy to win, we have a path to follow in these preliminary rounds that we want and have to win in order to be in the Champions League, so there is this path to be more solid, to be more consistent." 

BET ON A SYSTEM WITH TWO FORWARDS

"[Assessment of the dynamic between Pavlidis and Ivanovic and repetition of the system in the future] It takes time, hard work, and for them to get to know each other better. I think Ivanovic's performance was solid. We expect a lot of goals from him, and to put pressure on him in the first game, I even told him he had to score five goals in 15 minutes, but he only scored one in 75 [minutes], so he still owes me four goals. It's about letting him grow and settle in. When I say grow, I mean developing the fundamental reflexes needed to make the game even more fluid and adapting to a culture of high standards that is different from what he was used to, which is the culture at Benfica. But we knew he could offer this, be present in the area, be present in the small details, as Pavlidis did in the first half with a cross, if I'm not mistaken, from the left, and be in the small area to finish, and in the second half, it happened with Ivanovic [0-1 play]. It's interesting that you made that observation [Ivanovic finishing when Pavlidis dropped back], because those are the dynamics of strikers. The simplest way to explain it, without giving too much away, and which is easy to understand, is that when one player drops back to connect, the other has to push the line forward to create more space between the lines to play. After that, everything else is just details, where they will meet, combine, and also one or two strategic details."

THE MESSAGE AT HALF-TIME THAT LEADS TO AN EARLY GOAL IN THE 2ND HALF

"There is always, and one of the aspects we have is the ease of communicating with these players, and them interpreting our ideas. So, I reiterate, all credit to the players for playing with our ideas at all times, and then looking for the spaces we had to look for when playing against a team like this, the way they press and the system they play."

IVANOVIC WRITING HIS OWN HISTORY

[Comparison between Ivanovic and Gyökeres] "I think they are different players. One [Gyökeres] has had a very good run playing for his team. What we want from Ivanovic is for him to be himself, to have a very good run, and to contribute with increasingly solid performances and goals."