Analysis: “We had a bad result in the first round and it had nothing to do with attitude. We had moments when we could have done better and been more effective – because the performance was very good. Concentration and focus sometimes have nothing to do with attitude, but with important aspects in a football game that we have to keep alive. Starting with the players, of course. After a bad result, the reaction has to be like this. I’m not talking about the numbers, but about arriving and winning the next game.
I believe the big difference from the first round to this one was the presence of the fans. We played away from home, but practically at home, the support from the first minute pushing the team made the difference. It was our fault that we didn’t win the first game, they took away the great strength of this club and today we demonstrated that with their support.
It was a very good performance, playing in both halves as it should be, scoring and putting pressure on the opponent’s midfield. We could have scored more goals in the first half, the efficiency was not what it should have been on a difficult pitch to play on. I know it’s not easy, but it’s the first step to watching good football, we have to protect the spectacle.
The victory was very positive, I’m very pleased that we didn’t concede goals, for me it’s very important and I talked about that at half-time. We had the mentality to kill at the right moments, we created a lot in the first half and continued like that in the second. After the seventh goal we slowed down, we started to manage, giving minutes to players in pre-season at the moment. Fair victory for our team. It’s just three points.”
Lukebakio’s offside caused a reaction on the bench at 0-7: “It has nothing to do with Lukebakio, it was a reaction to the simple play, the ball was under no pressure, it didn’t need to be offside. It’s in these moments that we can’t miss opportunities to attack the opponent for the sake of focus. I’ll be like that on the bench, I pass on emotion and calmness to the players as necessary.”
Do you fear approaches from Pavlidis? “I fear absolutely nothing. The market is open, there are a lot of rumors. There may be calls to our club, we can also make them. Our expectation is to reinforce the team in the positions we still want. We have an important game on Thursday, we have to be in the group stage of the Europa League. We focus on what we can control, which are the games, the rest is up to Benfica’s structure.”
