On the eve of the important match against Benfica, Maurizio Sarri spoke about the game in a press conference. He began by addressing doubts about who will play as the striker: “Gabbiadini or Mertens? I do not even know yet who will play. Tomorrow is a match where it will be necessary to have a player on the bench who can shift the momentum of a game. A strong player will certainly be benched because it will be fundamental for the team to receive a boost during the match. A game can drastically change in the final phase. The first 70 minutes of a match are played in a balanced, technical fashion, but in the final stages one team must take enormous risks and rely less on tactics.” A battle for achieving first place in the group: “We committed errors in the previous matches, but are here because we conceded a goal which was offside. Otherwise, tomorrow’s match would not have any purpose. With Besiktas we conceded too much to our opponents, but the result could have been different. It is pointless thinking about an offside call; tomorrow’s match is what counts.”
On Benfica: “We are going up against a difficult team with a dangerous offense. They could make us play a type of match that we are not used to. We will attempt to impose our style of play on the match, but they will too. One of the teams will succeed in doing this while the other will have to adapt and do something else. Playing against a strong team will be a good experience. It will be difficult, but we want to qualify and will do everything to obtain this objective because it is something we feel we deserve. This is a match where one’s mentality can be influenced by various factors. We can ruin the match, if we think about a tie. We are not used to playing for a draw.”
