Prestianni nets stunner on Benfica return and says: I needed… | OneFootball

Gianluca Prestianni was one of the standout performers in Benfica’s 6-1 thrashing of Hearts in the first leg of the third Europa League qualifying round, scoring a superb curling goal in the 59th minute and also winning a penalty in the first half, converted by Vangelis Pavlidis. The 20-year-old Argentine winger believes he will have an even better season than the last.

"I think what I was missing was the goal. I know there is a lot of work to do both defensively and offensively, but I believe this season will be much better than the previous one," he said in exclusive comments to BTV.

The young player revealed that he had spoken with people close to him about the possibility of scoring at the Luz. "I spoke with my friends who came here, with my girlfriend, and we said that maybe I would score, and thank God the goal came," he said.

As for the win, the No. 25 warned that nothing has been decided despite the comfortable advantage the Eagles will take to Scotland. "Very happy, but the second leg still has to be played. We have to go and win at their ground and keep pushing forward as the coach asks. Benfica demands that you always win on any pitch. It doesn’t matter if you win the first leg, you have to win the second leg too, and that’s what we’re going to do," he concluded.

The second leg will be played next Thursday, August 13, at 7:45 p.m. at Tynecastle Park. The winner of this Europa League stage will face the loser of the tie between Denmark’s AGF Aarhus and Azerbaijan’s Sabah FK in the play-off.

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