Luisão likes look of 'intelligent' Benfica

SL Benfica captain Luisão stressed the importance of having kicked off UEFA Champions League Group C with a home win and praised his side's "intelligent game management" in the 2-0 victory against RSC Anderlecht. The visitors rallied after the interval and midfielder Demy de Zeeuw conceded: "We had the wrong tactics in the first half."

Luisão, Benfica defender
It was very important to start with a win at home in a competition like this. We played well and we deserved to win. We started the game very well, scored early and were intelligent in our game management. In the second half Anderlecht tried everything to score but we were very focused, denying them clear chances. It was good to keep a clean sheet but what really matters is the three points. In this competition it's very important to win your home games and tonight we showed a mature approach, we were strong in every department.

Being man of the match is a good thing but personal awards are a consequence of the team's work. I helped the team in defence and I had a chance to score. I always go up for set pieces and this time I was fortunate enough to score. When I saw the ball in the air I instinctively chested it down and kicked the ball goalwards straight away.

Filip Djuričić, Benfica midfielder
I'm really glad that we won today and the first game in any competition is really difficult. I'm really glad that we won today and I'm really glad to have scored. I think we played like a team and, like I said, we expected a difficult game, we gave it our best and we won. We were 2-0 up and played the way that we wanted.

We'd already given what we needed to give and the final score was 2-0 and we're all happy about that. We're taking it game by game, first of all we have league games to play and only then will we start to think about the trip to Paris.

Sacha Kljestan, Anderlecht midfielder
In the second half we played a lot better. I think it was just being back in our normal lineup with our normal positions making us feel a bit more at ease and we went for it more because we had nothing to lose. I wish we'd played that way from the first minute because Benfica was giving 100% in everything and we were only giving 90.

We lost every second ball and every duel and it was not good enough. The game's always more open in the second half and you can't judge everything just on the 45 minutes we played in the second half, but we certainly played better than we did in the first half.

The big game for us now is the next one against Olympiacos and if we take three points at home it will give us a big boost in the standings and a big boost in confidence. We've got to play better.

Demy de Zeeuw, Anderlecht midfielder
It wasn't a question of us having young players out there; we had the wrong tactics in the first half and I think that's the problem and why we didn't play a good game. We're young and we can learn from this sort of game and it's good to be playing in the Champions League.

They attacked from the wings in the first half and we had the wrong tactics as we were playing down the middle of the pitch and not down the sides. Benfica is a strong team but I don't think they played very well today; we played badly. In the second half we had more width and found more space and played better. I think we're at our strongest when we play attacking football.