The knockout playoffs of the UEFA Champions League have concluded and with it, the draw for the Spherical of 16 of this season’s UCL marketing campaign.
After a formidable league marketing campaign that noticed them end second, within the Spherical of 16.
It’s fairly a beneficial opponent for Barcelona, who had an opportunity of going through the mighty Paris Saint-Germain within the subsequent spherical.
Nonetheless, Benfica can be a frightening opponent nonetheless, as they’re approaching the again of a 4-3 mixture win over AS Monaco.
SL Benfica coach on going through Barcelona
Reacting to the Barcelona draw, Benfica coach Bruno Lage identified how it is vital for the Eagles to have ambition if they’re to get via to the quarterfinals.
Lage additionally talked about the unlucky 5-4 loss to Barcelona earlier within the month however was fast to level out the win over Juventus within the closing league match of the season.
“It was an important sport and an important night time in opposition to Barcelona. Sadly, it resulted in an unfavourable end result, however the group was capable of reply effectively in opposition to Juventus,” he recalled (h/t ).
Lage added that Benfica will attempt to replicate related performances after they tackle Barcelona within the Spherical of 16 subsequent month.
“That’s what we’re going to attempt to do. We’ve got two video games in opposition to Barcelona. We need to give a very good response. We should have ambition to maneuver ahead.”
The Portuguese tactician additionally mentioned that Benfica shouldn’t take into consideration ‘revenge’ however reasonably deal with how you can overcome the problem posed by Barça.
Benfica are set to tackle the Catalans on March 5 within the first leg, which can be performed at Estadio da Luz.