Carlos Carvalhal recalled a derby between Sporting and FC Porto, when he was coaching the lions, to design Sunday’s encounter with Benfica, which will enter the field with two more days of recovery in this week’s European games.
“Benfica have two more days of recovery, but we are going to the game to try to win, as I have always said since I returned to Portugal, with a lot of respect, we are on an equal footing. I remember that, when I was coach of Sporting, we were in in an identical situation, we played with Everton on a Thursday [para a Liga Europa] and FC Porto had played on Tuesday for the ‘Champions’ and we didn’t stop winning. The mind is as important as the body and we’ll be top on Sunday,” said the coach of Sp. Braga after the home victory over Ludogorets (4-2), for the Europa League. “We were a strong team, determined, we started very strong in the first half, we achieved an expressive victory, which is limited considering the opportunities we created. We were always safe in the game, with good facets, one more audacious, another one more of security due to the competitive density and approach of games. It was a conclusive and fair victory, we are in first place in the group, we are satisfied and now we are going to rest because we have a game in less than 72 hours [com o Benfica, domingo]”, said Carvalhal, in the analysis of tonight’s game, speaking in a “context is difficult”: “we played 72 hours ago, and that’s not possible to recover the players in that period of time, it’s a red line where injuries can occur. That’s why I appealed to the associative mass to support in times of failure, but there was no failure, rather a strategic retreat because if we always played as in the first part, we didn’t have players. The team was smart in how they managed the game.”
“Ludogorets created many difficulties for Olympiacos, who are a good team, in the qualifying round of the Champions League, they were removed on penalties, and this victory is to the merit of Braga, who are not giving space to their opponents, then they manage to create many opportunities and when you lose the ball quickly recover it, we make the game easy. The team is still under construction, reaching its maturity, things can’t be done in two days, they are new players, some who haven’t played in the year In the past, the injured walked at different paces, but with the stop [no campeonato] we managed to balance things out. Offensive effectiveness is increasing, we are growing as a team, but we have room to do even better,” added the coach.
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