Álvaro Magalhães has no doubts: Roger Schmidt has been doing a remarkable job but the former player of the reds, A BOLA, also praised Rui Costa for the bet he made on the German coach.
Who is primarily responsible for this moment?
The main responsibility for this great moment begins, of course, with the administration and structure – and above all with Rui Costa’s choice of coach. Roger Schmidt came to instill in the minds of the players that without discipline and without rigor, without work and without enthusiasm – you can have talent, but you certainly don’t have much success. And that was the fundamental click that led to the best Benfica returning to what Benfica has to be.
Which coach in your life do you consider most similar to the coach Roger Schmidt is?
Coach I had most like Roger Schmidt… Eriksson! Like him, a coach who is not afraid, who is not apprehensive. That puts the team to defend well and attack better. Which has well-defined game principles and, betting on an 11, goes with that 11 until the end, as far as possible. Eriksson was like that too – and no: Roger Schmidt didn’t surprise me! I always believed that a foreigner with strong leadership would succeed at Benfica, Benfica’s biggest problems weren’t the lack of talent, it was the leadership.
