Otamendi clears the air after Newcastle - Benfica row: Defender moves on | OneFootball

Nicolás Otamendi refused to make statements to the press after the Newcastle - Benfica match, which ended in defeat for the Eagles (3-0). The Benfica center-back pushed away the Luz press officer, but later returned to the quick interview area to explain his attitude.

"We are not involved in the elections. We only think about football, about giving our best in every game. We want to satisfy our fans, both in the league and in the Champions League. These are tough defeats. In the first 30 minutes, we were confident with the ball. We created chances, hit the post, managed to get the ball between the lines", he began by saying.

For Otamendi, "the most important thing is to keep our heads up and believe that in the next game we will do better", before going on to explain the previous episode: "Why didn’t I want to speak in the flash interview? I needed to be in the locker room with my teammates. We spoke with Gonçalo, he was going to be here in the mixed zone. The most important thing is to be with my teammates and share some feelings. The most important thing is to keep our heads up".

"When you’re doing better is when you suffer. It’s not difficult. We will try until the last game. The important thing is to recover. This weekend we have a very important match. In the Champions League, we’ll see what happens later on. It’s clear that we need to score. When we can’t win, we shouldn’t blame the forwards for not scoring or the defenders for not defending. We are a team. When we lose, we all lose. When we win, we are all happy", he said.

This season, wearing the Benfica shirt, Nicolás Otamendi – currently valued at 1 million euros – has played every minute of all 16 matches. In the 1,440 minutes he has spent on the pitch, the Argentine has delivered several high-level performances.

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