THE The Benfica delegation left for Cyprus on Wednesday afternoon, with several new additions to the squad drawn up by Marco Silva. Without being able to count on a quintet of injured players, Marco Silva called up some new faces, such as Arnas Voitinovicius, Tiago Freitas and Gonçalo Moreira for the duel with Omonia, relating to the 3rd round of the single league phase of the Europa League, scheduled for tomorrow, Thursday.
The Lithuanian goalkeeper and the Portuguese midfielder duo therefore caught the eye, while Leandro Barreiro, Kaminski, Jhon Durán, Enzo Barrenechea, Daniel Banjaqui and Diogo Ferreira remained in Lisbon.
Marco Silva had announced, in a press conference, held in the morning, that he was without some injured players, also revealing that Claudio Echeverri will start in tomorrow’s game.
“Every now and then, I give you something new, and I give you just that. The game will start tomorrow. He’s started very well, regardless of not having been in the national team during that period, because he came from a pre-season in which he practically didn’t compete. Those two and a half weeks, even though we only had seven players, ended up being important for him, for us to improve his physical condition and understanding of the way we want to play”, Marco Silva began by explaining.
“Even before that, he had given, in the few minutes on the field, answers that, honestly, have left me quite satisfied. We cannot forget that he is another young man. We have been talking about Prestianni and other players, but he is another young man, 20 years old, who has always come on with a great personality. Now, it’s time to understand the answer. I’m very optimistic about the answer he can give, but we have to understand the answer in a starting game, because he has very specific characteristics, which we appreciate and which, in more advanced positions, can make a difference”, added the Benfica coach.
Riding with the Azores in mind?
With two victories in as many games in the Europa League, Marco Silva can take advantage of this duel with Omonia, an opponent theoretically inferior to the previous ones (Celtic and AC Milan) to rotate some players, since next Monday there will be a visit to Santa Clara, relating to the 9th round of the I League.
“I’ve already thought about what we’re going to do tomorrow, regardless of whether we have a few hours until the game and we can make some decisions, analyzing what will be best. The decisions have more or less been made. There is one or another change that we can make (…) Tomorrow’s game is the most important, we want to have a minimally fresh team. I’m not saying that what comes next isn’t important, the density will be huge until the next stop, but tomorrow’s game is important, and, with the rotation that has to be made, I believe that the team will respond well, as he has responded”, explained the Eagles’ coach.
The duel between Omonia and Benfica is scheduled for 8pm tomorrow, Thursday, and will be refereed by Belgian Jasper Vergoote.
Benfica’s squad list for the visit to Omonia
Goalkeepers: Trubin, Samuel Soares and Arnas Voitinovicius
Defenses: Alexander Bah, Circati, Tomás Araújo, Lenglet, Gabriel Índio, El Karouani, Samuel Dahl and José Neto
Midfielders: Manu Silva, Aursnes, João Palhinha, Sudakov, Echeverri, Tiago Freitas and Gonçalo Moreira
Forwards: Prestianni, Rafa, Schjelderup, Lukebakio, Pavlidis and Anísio Cabral
(News updated at 4:30 pm)
