Casa Pia boss makes debut against Benfica, calls it a great opportunity | OneFootball

Gonçalo Brandão did not hide his desire to show what he is capable of against Benfica, despite acknowledging the difficulty of the challenge he faces. The new Casa Pia coach, making his debut in charge of the team against Clube da Luz, spoke to journalists in a press conference previewing the match.

"What we tried to do was treat this week as a normal one and prepare well for the game, which is going to be difficult. The results haven't been good, but we have to keep going and think about improving the situation. It was more about recovering mentally after a defeat that wasn't good, but also realizing that it's a new week, a new opportunity, and there will be a new game to show what we are," the new Casa Pia coach began to explain.

Gonçalo Brandão continued: "We had to work on a bit of everything. In two games we really conceded nine goals, which is never good, but we had to go through all the moments, and we will have to be compact and very supportive of each other. The mentality was already like this before and will continue to be: try as much as possible to keep a clean sheet".

"They haven't lost in the league, haven't lost at home for many games, 56 I think [in the league]. It's a team that scores a lot of goals and has been scoring. For us, in terms of motivation, it's a bit easier to work on these games because it's a game against a big team, in a big stadium, full. It's a great opportunity to show ourselves, to show that we have value. We have to compete and the final result will be seen later. The important thing is to go with the spirit to compete, respecting the opponent, as is obvious," the Casa Pia coach said about Benfica.

To conclude, Gonçalo Brandão downplayed the Eagles' electoral period: "I'll be honest, I didn't even have time... My thoughts didn't even come close to Benfica's elections. With or without elections, it's Benfica, a strong team. It's not that the players don't care much, but they are focused on the game. They will be focused, we will be too, and what I want is for the team to play a good game and, above all, compete and leave a good impression at Luz".

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