Rui Costa takes a swipe at Proença after Benfica book Champions League spot | OneFootball

Benfica released a video showing the behind-the-scenes of their qualification for the Champions League stage, achieved thanks to a 1-0 victory over Fenerbahçe. Rui Costa spoke to the team before and after the match. At the end of the game, he praised the achieved goal, but criticized Pedro Proença, president of the FPF, for not postponing the date of the Super Cup.

"Reaching the Champions League is where Benfica needs to be. So, for us, it has to be a natural thing: our reaching the Champions League is natural. What is not natural is this team not having had a vacation, not having had time for pre-season and having already won the Super Cup and being in the Champions League. And I don't forget that. Only you know what you had to do to present yourselves today in this way and I am very grateful," he began.

The highest official of the reds thanked his players from the bottom of his heart: "Thank you on my behalf, on behalf of all Benfica fans. Our fans also deserve to be in the Champions League. I am very grateful, very happy and moved as few times in my life, because you deserved this and worked for it. I am grateful on behalf of all of Benfica," he added.

Richard Ríos also appears in the video, at two distinct moments. At the end of the first game, the midfielder threw out the phrase "At home, we're going to 'kill them'," referring to the second leg match. Before the start of the second half of the round, the Colombian international repeated the idea: "We know it wasn't easy to play in Istanbul. Now the decision is in our house," stressed the reinforcement.

Benfica already knows that it will face Real Madrid (home), Chelsea (away), Bayer Leverkusen (home), Juventus (away), Napoli (home), Ajax (away), Qarabag (home) and Newcastle (away).

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