Shortly after the end of the electrifying Benfica-Barcelona match, Bruno Lage gave an energetic speech on the pitch surrounded by players who were somewhat crestfallen with the defeat achieved in the last play. In an interview with TNT Brasil, the Reds coach explained the content of the message he wanted to convey to the squad. “It's learning, learning from the last moment. We tried to score, we had two good opportunities to score, with Aursnes and Di María completely isolated. We could kill the game because looking a little at the way we marked the game and how we conceded goals We were left with a bitter taste after the draw,” said Lage, immediately focusing on the next two challenges: “But we learned from the emotion, everyone asked for a penalty and we let Barcelona go out in transition. have time to look. 15 days ago we left here with a fair defeat and it was in the dressing room, as a team, that we rose and won the next trophy with Casa Pia and then go with this personality to play in Italy to win the points we got. allow us to move forward in the test.” Asked whether the team will be able to produce a performance in Turin similar to the ones they did against Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, Bruno Lage was confident of a good response in the last game of the Champions League phase. “It's not just the attitude, but also the dynamics. Now it's about recovering but they feel and believe once again in the work we're doing. When I look at the performance I'm happy, when I look at the way we scored goals I'm sad, when I look at the bitter result and I'm completely disappointed. It's not even worth talking about the referee”, he said.
Dutchman Danny Makkelle's refereeing received harsh criticism from the Eagles' coach. “We've had some time to understand what the arbitration experts' opinion was on the bid [entre Fermin López e Leandro Barreiro]. It is regrettable that at this level, even more so now with VAR, these errors continue to be made, but the most important thing to highlight is the team's tremendous performance against Benfica. A bitter result for us, but I feel enormously proud of our players and our fans for the way they supported us during the 90 minutes,” he said.
