Zalazar affected by Benfica interest? Carlos Vicens says no | OneFootball

Carlos Vicens is looking to secure important points on the trip to the Estádio da Luz. In the press conference previewing the match against Benfica, the Spanish coach - who could have Ricardo Horta available - spoke about his team’s recovery after their European elimination and also sent a warning to the Eagles regarding Rodrigo Zalazar, who is being targeted by the Reds.

Match at the Luz and managing the team physically: “We’re going to manage things as we have been doing. We’ve spent the last two days recovering mentally, showing them pride in what we did, in what we’ve been doing, even if there was no reward in the last match, and then controlling the physical workload. After that, we’ll decide who is in the best shape, against a rival that plays very well, in a difficult game. We’ll try to deliver a competitive performance and be more of a team than ever".

How is the team? “The team is sad not to have got the reward from the tie, because they were two matches - without much being said about it – in which there was a feeling that we were really close. The team felt capable of reaching the final, we lost that opportunity, but we are aware of what we did, of the top collective effort, of never stopping wanting it, of giving everything. 48 hours have passed and now we have the chance to achieve our objective in the league. We are all focused on that".

What kind of Benfica do you expect, knowing the opponent has some unavailable players? “They, like us, focus on those who are available. We don’t focus on those who won’t play, but on those who will. We expect a Benfica side that will give everything because they need to win to secure their objective. In these games and in all games, there are moments that favor you more, others that favor the opponent, and it is within that exchange of moments that we will have to compete, with a very strong mentality, hoping our accuracy is what we want and the result is what we want. We’ll try to give our all and hopefully we can do it".

Interest from Benfica and Sporting in Zalazar. Does that affect the player? “When you’re a Braga player and you have a season like the one he’s having, and others are too, there is more noise because they are clubs from this league. It’s normal for there to be interest, whether it is real or not. But that is part of being a player at a big club like Braga. When you compete at a high level in a team with a clear idea of how to play, you attract attention and you have to manage that by being a player at that level for as long as possible. Affected by that? No, I feel he is like the others, affected by not having reached the final [of the Europa League]. In the end, when we went over to our supporters, you could see how affected people were, and my role now is to help them get back up".

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