From favourites to tricky issues: Marco Silva before St. Gallen-Benfica | OneFootball

held, this Wednesday, July 22, the press conference previewing St. Gallen vs Benfica, the first leg of the second qualifying round for access to the Europa League, which will be played tomorrow at 7:00 pm. The Eagles' coach spoke about Benfica’s favoritism, the António Silva situation, the squad selection, absences, among several other transfer-market topics, such as João Palhinha. Check out everything he said.

Benfica’s favoritism

"For us, and for anyone who has been in football for so long, and knows how things are worked in different countries, that does not exist on our side. Not for a single second do we think about that aspect. As for possible favoritism, we know the size of the club we represent and, theoretically, on paper, many people may go down that road, but any percentage of favoritism is proved on the pitch and not beforehand. We are going to face an opponent coming off a very good season, in the way they competed in the league and also in the Cup, and that is why they are playing this tie against Benfica. We have to be serious and professional, as is our duty"

Leandro Barreiro unavailable

"Yes, after last Friday’s match, the player started not feeling very well. At a point in the season when we do not have the full squad, with all the players who were at the World Cup only gradually arriving, it is certainly not the ideal scenario. We are missing at least six players, now adding Prestianni and Leandro as well. That is a very high number, but it is the reality with which we have been preparing for this match and the reality we have at the moment. When someone cannot play, among the players who have been playing more in this pre-season, it is always an opportunity for others to be used, and that opportunity will be there. Whoever starts will certainly have the ability to take it"

Strong presence of the fans in Switzerland

"It is very important for us, it shows Benfica’s stature. Apart from the Estádio da Luz, and the draw made it this way, perhaps one of the best places to play would be here, in Switzerland, because of everything the country represents and because of the size of Benfica’s fanbase, and it will be very important for us, playing away from home, to feel the support of the fans"

Importance of a good result in the first leg

"We consider it important to start in the best way and to be competitive enough, taking into account this stage of the season and the unusual pre-season we have had, for reasons of starting to compete very early, and because of the World Cup as well. Being competitive and being in the next round is our objective. We know it is a two-legged tie, we want and are aiming for a good performance and a good result tomorrow, always knowing that we will have a second match at the Estádio da Luz"

Trubin starting

"As for which goalkeeper will start, I will not reveal that to you, naturally. The players will know tomorrow who will start and, naturally, your time to know will come as well. As for the market, regarding Trubin, and any of our players, I will not comment. You began your question by saying there has been a lot of talk, but certainly not from our side, so if it is not from our side, I will not make any comment. Otherwise I would do nothing else during pre-season, or even during the season, except comment on rumours. Our focus, and all the professionalism and seriousness with which we look at this competition, I cannot be here shifting that focus — I would not do it anyway — and talking here about rumours and that kind of issue"

António Silva situation

"I can answer the question about António without any problem. If António did not have his head on training, on his duty, and on what it means to be a Benfica player, he would not even be involved in the pre-season matches. And if he was in the pre-season matches and I used him, it is because the signs he gave me, day after day in training, were that he was in condition to play those matches and train the next day. If any player shows signs that he is not committed to his profession and to the club he represents, which in this case is Benfica, he cannot be present in the next training session, let alone the next match"

Is the transfer window being open a problem?

"But it is not only with us. The big issue here is that it is July 22 and we are going to compete, which is not very normal or usual for a club like Benfica. That is the only difference. Departures, arrivals, rumours or player signings end up being a natural process of football clubs’ pre-seasons. In our case, coaches prefer everything to happen very quickly, for the squad to be completed and all the players to be working from the very first day of pre-season — it is almost impossible for that to happen worldwide. For us this year it has been even more different because of the players who were at the World Cup and who are arriving little by little; that is the only big difference at the moment compared to what it would be if we were starting to compete. As the president said, more arrivals will still happen in the squad"

Dedic and Tomás Araújo called up

"We have the squad we have at the moment. You mentioned Tomás Araújo, but we also have Dedic, players who were starters in last year’s team, who know the club well, and also the importance of these matches, and given the number of players available, it was important that they were here. They are not in condition to start the match, as you can imagine, they are building up rhythm so they can begin contributing more intensely to our daily training sessions. As for reinforcements, I will not make any kind of comment, we are completely focused on tomorrow’s match, and we will have plenty of time to talk about that over the next month and a half"

Leandro Barreiro’s spot

"This is one of those questions that, for you this time, will not be very easy; the options are not many, so it will not be very difficult to predict who fills the spot, something we were not expecting but that can always happen in football. A player who is always available, who has not had many injuries, had a somewhat different illness and, after last Friday’s match, did not feel very well. It is a loss for us, also because of the limited number we have available in midfield, but it is always an opportunity for someone who will come into the team and, in these moments, you see the ability to seize the opportunity. We have to go in with eleven players and we hope that whoever comes into the starting eleven gives the response he has to give. I believe he will, tomorrow we will see"

Analysis of St. Gallen

"We recognize the strengths the opponent has. We will have to pay attention to them and be very consistent in the moments when St. Gallen will try to hurt us in the game. A physical team, which showed exactly that in their league and in pre-season matches, a team that likes to press all over the pitch, that takes the game into a lot of one-on-one duels, always very direct in its play, with a pair of strikers looking for depth, and naturally that shows that we will have to try to impose our game with the ball, which is how the match will begin. We have to show the ability to overcome the opponent’s strong pressure, especially at the start of the match, and solve problems"

Signing Jhon Durán

"If [Durán] were not [committed], he would not have signed for Benfica. He had a year below what he can and should do, two loans that did not go as he wanted. That is the past; what interests us is the present and what he can do. We are here to help him, like everyone else. We do not want to put the focus on one single player. Benfica has to be a collective force. Durán came to help; today or in three days he will not be there because he came off a holiday period. He is a striker with different characteristics from those we have [in the squad], I know him very well, he had a tremendous impact at Aston Villa, our aim is to get the maximum out of him, bring him to the highest level, I believe in that, and if that happens he will help Benfica. He has a lot to learn, he is young, he has been through many clubs and leagues, perhaps excessively so for his age [22], but he came wholeheartedly to help, he knows the size of the club he is going to represent"

João Palhinha case

"I am not going to say how many times I speak with players I care about. João was my player, naturally at certain moments I may speak with former players. As for the rest, I will not talk about players who are not Benfica players"

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