Benfica graduate hits out at Armenia-Portugal: “Wait till they play there…” | OneFootball

On the last night, September 6, Portugal took an important step in qualifying for the 2026 World Cup, by defeating Armenia by an expressive 5-0. An interesting fact is that all the goals were scored by athletes who play in Saudi Arabia, a topic that was addressed by João Cancelo, a footballer trained at Benfica.

The former Benfica player, in statements to RTP, was one of the goal scorers and when asked about the topic, he left a ‘quip’: “Until you play there don't think it's as easy as people say. The championship is getting better even the Arab players are also more prepared to play against us. My family and I are very happy there”.

Before talking about the Saudi championship, the Portuguese international analyzed the triumph of the quinas, led by Roberto Martínez: “I think we put on a good display. Armenia is a team clearly inferior to us, and on top of that we started well, with high pressure, with a lot of quality and we naturally scored the first goal”.

Absent from the last call for the national team, which coincided with the conquest of the Nations League, the Al Hilal number 20 shirt says he wants to seize the moment: “I had to overcome an injury that left me out of the last calls and I want to take the opportunity to thank my family and everyone who supported me during these times”.

Finally, he explained what led him to leave a heartfelt tribute to Diogo Jota, when he did his celebration after scoring: “I was in America, I went through that, me and Rúben, who is his best friend. I dedicated the goal to him... it was sad news and we were all in shock”.

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