Roger Schmidt lauded Benfica’s self-belief after his aspect clinched prime spot of their Champions League group in thrilling vogue.
Benfica had already certified from Group H forward of Wednesday’s journey to Maccabi Haifa, although having drawn each of their video games with Paris Saint-Germain, they wanted an enormous enchancment to their aim distinction to beat Christophe Galtier’s aspect, and did what was required by claiming a 6-1 victory.
At 5-1 up, with PSG beating Juve 2-1, Benfica have been set to complete second and could be extra more likely to be handed a tie in opposition to certainly one of Europe’s heavyweights.
Nevertheless, Joao Mario scored in stoppage time to make it 6-1, and Schmidt believes it’s precisely what his squad deserves.
“I congratulated the gamers, they performed a unbelievable recreation, they performed at an important degree,” Schmidt advised reporters.
“We truly didn’t handle to beat PSG when it comes to factors, however in the long run we have been forward on away targets,” he mentioned.
“The gamers deserved it, [we played] our marketing campaign in one of the simplest ways. We needed to complete first, we believed in ourselves. We regarded on the factors, but in addition on the targets. It’s a nice achievement to attain this. The gamers deserve it.”
What an evening! #MACSLB #UCL pic.twitter.com/ncIpxTH3vz
— SL Benfica (@slbenfica_en) November 2, 2022
5 second-half targets proved to be the distinction in Israel and Schmidt highlighted momentum as the important thing, with Benfica scoring six instances in a UEFA competitors for the primary time since September 1991.
“The target was to win. We revered the opponent, it was not straightforward to face Maccabi, then we had our momentum with the fourth, the fifth aim,” he added.
“They knew what they might do, then we gave our all for the sixth aim. It’s a second and a chance to attain one thing necessary.
“They believed, they knew in regards to the distinction. It was the second, it was our type, there was momentum from the workforce.”
Benfica have gone via a Champions League group stage unbeaten for less than the third time ever (W4 D2), additionally doing so in 1994-95 and 2011-12, topping the group in every of these seasons.
Whereas they’ll keep away from the likes of Manchester Metropolis, Actual Madrid, Bayern Munich or Chelsea, Benfica may face any of Liverpool, Membership Brugge, Inter, Eintracht Frankfurt, Milan, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund within the final 16.