António Silva on Marco Silva's arrival and Benfica issue: too thin | OneFootball

Just a few days before the start of pre-season at Benfica Campus, António Silva expressed confidence about the new era led by Marco Silva. The centre-back believes the Portuguese coach has the ideal qualities to get the most out of Benfica’s squad and bring the club back to winning titles. In an interview with João Oliveira’s YouTube channel, the Portugal international looked back on last season and highlighted Marco Silva’s track record in England.

“We had a year with coach José Mourinho. It was a season with some difficulties, and we failed, as a team, in decisive moments when we could have moved closer to first place. Marco Silva has a lot of ability. He spent four years in the Premier League with a team whose objective was survival and he always managed to achieve good finishes,” he said.

António Silva did not hide his disappointment with the results achieved by Benfica in recent years, acknowledging that the team’s performances fell below the club’s usual standards. The defender admitted he understands the fans’ frustration and assured that the group is fully aware of the need to turn that situation around.

“The last few seasons have been below expectations. Any Benfica fan is aware of that, and we, who are inside it, are aware of it too. In the last seven years we have only been champions once, with coach Roger Schmidt, not counting the cups. That is far too little,” he admitted.

Despite his critical view of the recent past, the ‘number 4’ believes this is the time to look ahead and embrace the new coaching leadership. For António Silva, unity between the team, the club structure and the fans will be decisive in putting Benfica back where he believes it naturally belongs.

“What I can say is that we have to work on that, but looking to the future and embracing the new coach’s ideas. We have to stay positive, all together. That is the only way we will manage to put the club where it should be, which is to be champions. That is the minimum expected at Benfica,” he stressed.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.