Benfica coach Roger Schmidt on their 3-1 UEFA Champions League defeat to Real Sociedad and on their fans throwing flares

NicheSportMedia

Transcript

00:00 Hi coach, what went wrong with Benfica's team tonight?

00:07 Yeah, almost everything.

00:11 First of all, congratulations to Real Sociedad for the win and also for already qualification

00:17 for the knockout stage.

00:19 And they deserve it.

00:20 So I think if you see tonight and also the other matches we played, we were not good

00:27 enough.

00:28 And then of course you're out of the Champions League.

00:31 It's very disappointing.

00:33 But the game showed today the big difference between them and us.

00:38 So the intensity they played, the compactness, the focus, the togetherness, I think they

00:45 were in all these topics better than us.

00:48 And that's why the match was already almost decided at half-time.

00:54 So we are very disappointed about that.

00:57 And especially also myself, because I think if the team is not ready for the game, for

01:04 a Champions League game, of course then it's also my responsibility.

01:07 And so we have to think about our approach.

01:11 But today was a very disappointing performance in total.

01:15 Hello, Mr Roger Schmidt.

01:18 We are live to Sport TV.

01:20 My name is Tiago Pérez Costa.

01:22 It was a must-win match for Benfica and the sensation is it could have been worse today.

01:32 What are your explanations, what are your words to all the Benfica supporters after

01:39 this huge disappointment?

01:41 Benfica is out of the Champions League.

01:45 My thoughts or my words is that we played a really bad first half.

01:51 So like I said, the start of course was not good with the first goal after set-pieces.

01:56 Of course we lost confidence and the opponent gained confidence.

02:02 But I think that's not an excuse.

02:04 So I think to play on this level, we showed that we can do it completely different, especially

02:11 last season.

02:13 At the moment we play not with the same concentrations and focus and to play our style of football,

02:21 I think at the end the opponent showed how you can make the difference, how you can dominate

02:27 the game.

02:28 We were not able to respond today.

02:33 Like I said, my opinion, the explanation is that we were not ready.

02:39 So when we are not ready, then it's my responsibility.

02:42 Because I have to make the players ready regarding the tactic, regarding the match plan, regarding

02:47 the motivation, regarding everything.

02:50 If I see us playing today, I did a really bad job.

02:54 Do you want to give a word to Benficaistas?

02:57 Hi, Roger Schmidt, Cristiana Carosal, SIC Noticias.

03:03 Was playing with three centre-backs too risky today?

03:05 It was a mistake?

03:06 No, I think the tactical approach was not the reason for the defeat, so in my opinion.

03:15 Of course I think it worked well.

03:18 The last two matches today were a different opponent, different individual quality also

03:22 on the sides.

03:24 So I think that's why I also changed after 25 minutes.

03:28 Tino already had the yellow card and in my opinion we needed João Neves also in the

03:32 central midfield.

03:35 But in my opinion it was not the tactical approach, it was more the readiness and also

03:42 the big difference between the basic things in football between the opponent and us.

03:48 Hello Mr Schmidt, António Pede Carvalho for RTP.

03:52 Do you think that the game with Sporting on Sunday will be decisive for your stay at Benfica?

04:02 You can answer this question by yourself.

04:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]

Category

Transcript

Recommended