Coach gathered players on the field after victory over Monaco (3-2)
Bruno Lage, as soon as the game at Monaco ended, gathered the players in a circle and gave an emotional speech on the pitch. Later, at a press conference, the coach explained what was in his soul at that moment.
«We have very clear objectives in this competition, I said before this game, before we had 9 points. We want to move on to the next phase of the Champions League and by the end of the year we have very clear objectives in the championship as well. We want to win every game, we want to reach second place and reduce the advantage for first place. And we can only achieve this like this, playing with this quality, with this intensity. What we want is for the victory over FC Porto and Estrela da Amadora to extend them over time. That’s our focus, it’s already on the next game with Arouca», he began by saying.
As for the meaning of the wheel at the end of the game. «It was a sign of confidence, repeating what I had said at half-time. We felt that the game was difficult, we were playing against a very difficult, very competent opponent. You saw the verticality, the speed at which the opponent plays and the way he looks for deep balls. I asked them to continue believing in what we felt. I felt that the team finished well in the first half, I gave them that confidence. Ten minutes later I felt that the team needed new energy and to change some parts», he continued.
The turnaround ended up happening with two goals scored by players who jumped off the bench, Arthur Cabral and Amdouni. — The team ended up having a good response, we scored two very good goals, one of which was unfortunately disallowed. In the last thirty minutes I felt like I had to make this change because Tino was yellow and I felt like there was a space there for us to fill with Zeki [Amdouni]. We were happy, it was a very balanced game, we suffered in our moments, just as Monaco had their moments. The attackers have worked hard and we won three points with a goal from Pavlidis, a hammer from Arthur and a goal from Zeki”, he added.
