Benfica boss Marco Silva was proud of how his side carried out their plan to a tee and were able to beat AC Milan at San Siro.
Going into Wednesday night’s Europa League opener, Benfica had never beaten Milan in a competitive game. The six previous meetings had come in the European Cup/Champions League of which two were finals that the Rossoneri won.
Read SempreMilan ad-free and get access to exclusive news. Click here for a free trial!
However, Ruben Amorim’s side were not at the races as they lost 2-0 to one of the other pre-tournament favourites to kick off their campaign in a bad way. The Eagles were efficient and controlled in their performance, scoring a goal in each half to emerge with three precious points.
Marco Silva spoke to Sky (via MilanPress) after the game to explain how he was able to engineer a winning effort despite the fact he made nine changes from the team at the weekend, with an eye on Sunday’s game versus Porto.
“I’m very proud of the lads, I have to congratulate them on their extraordinary tactical work. It wasn’t easy to replace nine players , but we needed to find new energy. The team responded very well, we didn’t give Milan much away, and I saw many good things, he said.
“It was a deserved victory on a historic evening because it saw two huge clubs face off and because Benfica had never won in their history against Milan. They are very capable, we did well to put them in difficulty and to inhibit Musah and Jashari in midfield.”
Silva also spoke at a press conference after the final whistle and he gave a rather philosophical answer regarding the performance, which was relayed by MilanNews.
Is it a perfect night?
“It’s not easy to talk about a perfect night, because perfection is very difficult in football and in life. It was a beautiful night for us, without a doubt. I clearly knew I was taking risks: when you change nine players from one game to the next, there are always big risks, regardless of the competition.
“Whether it’s a Portuguese Cup, a League Cup or a league match, in a game of this size the risks are extremely high. From a motivational point of view, they are a little less, because naturally in a game like this, motivation is sky-high and there isn’t much you can do to motivate the players.
“Instead, there is much more tactical work to do. From this point of view, the players were brilliant. That’s why I say it was a beautiful night, but not perfect: we still have a lot to improve on.
“Today we showed it again: we need to be able to defend a little higher than we did in some moments of the second half and make different decisions, which could have given us the opportunity to create even more chances. This is the reality, but I want to start by congratulating the players.
“We’ve been extraordinary, also thanks to a slightly different attitude. At the beginning of the week, we started talking about it, saying that there are times when you need to take the field with a different attitude.
“Today, we also presented some slightly different tactical issues, especially in Kaminski’s positioning without the ball, and the players were extraordinary in understanding everything in just two days of work between matches, and then managing to put it into practice.
“The early goal helped us, there’s no point in hiding it: scoring early gave us the confidence and calm to approach the game differently. We made the most of the space we allowed, especially in the first half.
“In the second half, we lost a few too many balls that we shouldn’t have lost, otherwise we would have created even more. Defensively, we were solid: we didn’t concede much to Milan, if not a little more in the second half.
“I was already expecting some tiredness and lack of energy from some players, because looking at our team today, several players were playing ninety minutes for the first time. Kaminski himself hadn’t played for a while. Regardless of the fact that he’s a very physical player.
“A certain lack of energy was noticeable throughout the match. I felt it would happen sooner or later: I couldn’t make all the substitutions, otherwise I would have made even more, but the reality is that overall the team did a great job.
“Winning against Milan is not easy. Benfica are a huge club, as are Milan, but the reality is that it’s the first time Benfica has beaten Milan in a competitive match. We also discussed this topic in the last meeting before leaving for the stadium.
“I had a good feeling, and one of them was when I arrived at the stadium to see the pitch with the players: the welcome the Benfica fans gave the team at that moment was something special. Being able to reciprocate with the three points is fantastic for us.
“As for being candidates or favourites, I don’t want to get into that. I said during my presentation that a club like Benfica, if it’s in the group stage or the Europa League, due to its size, even though there are other top-level clubs, must come with great aspirations and ambitions, and these are ours.
“We’ve already played six games to be here, and now there’s no point in being afraid to play football or to face opponents like we did tonight. I know full well that won’t always be the case.”
You made a lot of changes tonight…
“I haven’t shown it much with the starting line-up, but I have some certainties. It’s obvious that when you field the same eleven often, you don’t notice it, but it’s positive to have doubts, and it was the players themselves who instilled them in me.
“I think that in a month or two they’ll create even more, because many of them will be at a different physical level: I have no doubts about that. And that’s a good thing, it’s good for me, it’s exactly what I want.
“In my view of football, it only makes sense like this: a club that plays four competitions and has ambitions in all four can’t rely on just 13, 14, or 15 players; it doesn’t exist. Sometimes the players don’t fully understand it, but at certain moments we have to show them that we believe in their qualities.
“Tonight, they were given precisely this trust: it’s not easy to make so many changes, and their response was excellent. It makes me satisfied and will make it even more difficult for me to make decisions, I have no doubt.
“From a strategic point of view, we knew it would be important to have both full-backs a little deeper in the first half. build-up phase. In the first half, it was clear: we practically always found our full-backs free when we switched the ball around. We chose this solution for all these reasons.”
What is your relationship with Amorim like?
“He’s very good, and he knows perfectly well that if he doesn’t play against me, I’ll be rooting for him, and of course he does the same. There’s enormous respect between us, and what we say stays between us.
“It wasn’t anything extraordinary, it’s much more about personal and family matters than the game itself. As for the other issue, it’s very simple: we’ve started the Europa League group stage or league stage very well.
“As I said, it was a historic victory between two great European clubs who have already faced each other in European finals, but the reality is that Benfica had never won a competitive match before. We’re left with the great feeling of having achieved it: three points and a good start to this phase.
“I know perfectly well what kind of team I have with me. They need confidence, but I’m humble enough to understand that we’re only at the beginning. We’ve earned three points, achieved a wonderful victory, and given our fans, more than 5,000 of them here in Milan, a great feeling, an extraordinary feat.
“Everyone needs to be calm enough to understand what I said after the match against Benfica. Gil Vicente: We have many battles ahead of us and I have no doubt that we will continue to have them, even after having won this match.”
That is a very diplomatic way of saying ‘it was really a piece of p!ss’