'Perfect' Benfica hailed by coach Jesus

SL Benfica coach Jorge Jesus was delighted with his side's 5-3 aggregate defeat of FC Twente stating that their UEFA Champions League qualification campaign had been "perfect", while Twente boss Co Adriaanse accepted that "the better team won". The Dutch side, meanwhile, were left to rue a poor result in the first leg which meant that they were always up against it in Portugal with midfielder Douglas conceding that last week's 2-2 draw in the Netherlands was "decisive" in sealing their fate.

Jorge Jesus, Benfica coach
Our goal was to reach the group phase and we did it. It is good for the club financially and it is where the best teams, players and coaches are. In these four qualifying matches we were perfect, we knew how to play. Twente are a very strong team and well organised, but we were very good at defending because we studied them well. We deserved to be in front in the first half for the quality of our game. We knew the goals would come and that’s what happened.

Axel Witsel, Benfica midfielder
It was crucial for us to qualify for the Champions League. We played very well and kept them under pressure, because we knew they are a team that plays very good football. In the first half, we were unable to turn our dominance into goals, but in the second half we kept the pressure up and if we kept playing like we did in the first half we knew the goals would come. In the Champions League group stage I expect us to produce wonderful performances and go as far as we can.

Pablo Aimar, Benfica midfielder
In the end we deserved to qualify, we played very nice football. In the second half things got better, you always gain confidence from scoring goals. We fine-tuned some details up front and scoring that first goal gave us control of the match. Now that we are in the group stage, we expect to do better than we did last year.

Co Adriaanse, Twente coach
We made it to half-time with the score at 0-0 and the longer we could maintain that score, the more difficult it was going to get for Benfica. They would then start to get caught in two minds and we could have profited from that. One goal from us could then have been crucial but unfortunately we conceded two goals from standard situations and that is a shame because could have avoided it.

The better team won, certainly in smaller patches Benfica were much better. They can play combination football at a high speed whereas the speed at which we think and see situations is just slower. Benfica are an excellent side with an excellent goalkeeper, a very solid defence, a creative midfield and in Óscar Cardozo they have an excellent striker. It is justified that Benfica go through.

Douglas, Twente defender
We knew it would be hard to beat Benfica here. They're a team which, if we're honest, has better quality than ourselves, with more experience having played in this competition every year. We went well in the first half, but in the second half we went to sleep in the first ten minutes and conceded two goals, and when that happens you have to take risks.

When we did that, we got our chances to score, and even scoring once wasn't enough. Benfica were superior, so congratulations to them for reaching the group stage. If we had scored earlier, things could have been different, and if we hadn't conceded those goals early in the second half, the outcome could have been different but, as I said, Benfica have tremendous quality.

Bryan Ruiz, Twente forward
If we had scored earlier things could have been different. We must admit that Benfica were far superior, they played better football and deserved to go through. In two-legged competitions, it is important to win your home game without conceding goals, and we didn't do that in the first leg. Benfica got a good result and they did what they had to do. We needed a better result at home, and that was decisive. We have a lot of young players who have just come into the side and need to gain more experience in these types of games. We are now in the UEFA Europa League, which is an important competition for us, so we'll try to go as far as we can.