Game analysis: “I prefer to start talking about the game. I understand everything that happened in relation to the unfair expulsion of a Benfica player, but it was a good game for our team. We played with a well-organized team, they are having a good championship. We started to dominate, Gil reacted well, and we grew with the game. We didn’t start in the sharp way that has happened, we had a lot of changes in the team, but after we unlocked, the game was completely ours. With 3-0 We took away the hopes that Gil might have had. We won with impressive numbers, we are in the semi-final of an important competition for us. I’m not going to comment on what Luís said. All this noise was created because Jhon shouldn’t have been sent off and Benfica couldn’t remain silent.
Lukebakio display: “He played an excellent game, he had very good moments, he is growing in his connection with his team-mates. He is strong in one-on-one and continues to grow in our offensive idea of connections, reaching the second post, and there were good connections with Sudakov, with Dahl at times. And he is very strong in the open field, it is his strongest moment, when he can better exploit his qualities. He ended up scoring goals, gave good opportunities to Rafa and Anísio. I already congratulated him on the two goals what he did.”
Appreciation to Sudakov: “Our interiors in midfield play in the same position. Being more of a midfielder than Prestianni or Rafa, there are different defensive moments and after winning the ball he faces the game. Then he has to gain dynamic coverage of the opposing midfielders. He scored an excellent goal, very important for him. He is a supportive player, works without the ball, happy for him. I also want to highlight Trubin, at a time when the game was balanced, he kept the goal to zero with a double defense at one point important part of the night, before we set off for a good victory.”
Use of Jhon Durán: “This has happened at other times, it’s not a virgin thing in Portuguese football. The management was simple, it coincided with the day of the game, normally punishments come out on Thursday and we knew that the player hadn’t done anything, we weren’t here playing around. We had his word, the images and the report and we ended up bringing him with us to the game, to spend the whole day with us.”
