Coaches admire clinical Benfica
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
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Jorge Jesus and Unai Emery agreed SL Benfica were deserved winners against FC Spartak Moskva, the defeated coach pointing to the home team's cutting edge as the decisive factor.
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Jorge Jesus, Benfica coach
We deserved to win. We tried to use the ball in a better way after we went 2-0 up, but after the sending-off everything became easier and we could have scored more goals. We played a good game and only depend on our results.
The mathematics will come only in the end. First we have to beat Celtic and it is not important to talk about Barcelona now. I knew Glasgow would be the place Barça would struggle more because Celtic are very strong in the air. We have to play to win against Celtic and then we will try to win in the Camp Nou. But it is not certain that Celtic will beat Spartak at home.
Unai Emery, Spartak coach
Overall Benfica were superior in every part of the pitch tonight. We came here to win but failed to take our chances, while they created more and took better use of them. We were better in Moscow; Benfica were better in Lisbon.
We were preparing ourselves to play Benfica both with and without [Óscar] Cardozo. We knew perfectly how dangerous he was and talked to the defenders about his style. But let me say that again, there is another side of the coin because Cardozo took his chances and Spartak did not.
We still have chances to qualify, though they are now smaller than before. We do not want to, and we will not, lose heart. We will work hard and try to win the two other games. Given their victory against Barcelona, Celtic are favourites now and Benfica's chances are better than ours. But I will say again: we are not going to give up.
