Roger Schmidt does not understand Benfica’s difficulties in scoring goals. This is how the German coach reacted after the 1-1 draw at Moreirense in the opening match of the fourth round of the championship.
“I don’t understand why we have so many problems scoring,” Schmidt said in statements to Sport TV.
Benfica dropped two points in Moreira de Cónegos and remain on seven points, going into the derby match – and could drop to eighth place. On Saturday, the Reds will see Sporting and/or FC Porto move even further ahead at the top of the league (both lead with nine points).
Reaction to the game: “We are disappointed. We dominated the game, we did well. In the second half, we put them under pressure and created good chances to score the first goal, which would have been very important. I don’t understand why we have so many problems scoring. We had a lot of chances, but we missed them at the last moment. And if you don’t score, what happened today can happen, there’s a deflection and you lose. We saved the point, but we are disappointed with the result.”
The opening score was missing: “We had some really good chances and, as a team, we defended really well. Playing here is always difficult. We couldn’t take the game in our favour because we didn’t score. It’s always good to score the first goal.”
Energy to turn things around in the face of fan protests: “Of course I have the energy. And we have the quality. It’s always like this, I’ve been here for two years and it’s always the same situation whether we lose or draw. We’re used to it.”
Bad result before the international break: “It was important to win before the international break, but today it didn’t go well. We have to work hard to turn these results around.”