The head coach of Benfica Lisbon, Roger Schmidt, commented on his team's victory over Dynamo Kyiv (2:0) in the first match of the Champions League qualifying playoff round, which took place last Wednesday in Lodz, Poland.
Roger Schmidt “It was a difficult game. The away win is a good result, we aimed for it and achieved it, but we only played the first half of this confrontation.
Dynamo Kyiv proved to be a team with high quality, especially in attack. Our opponent knows how to act at speed, making good combinations. Especially, this could be seen in the second half, where we had a very difficult time in defense, and in some episodes the goalkeeper rescued our team.
Dynamo took more risks in the last 20 minutes of the game, brought more freshness to the game with substitutions and did everything possible to score goals and achieve a better result for themselves before the second leg. We must always respect the quality of the opponent. Dynamo Kiev is a difficult team to defend, especially on the last frontier: this opponent is very good at creating combinations and chances.
Therefore, we do not lose concentration before the return match with such a dangerous opponent. We will be alert from the very first minute of the game. It is necessary to prepare in the best possible way for the second meeting. We are only halfway to the Champions League: today we showed a good performance, achieved a good result, but that doesn't mean anything yet. Anything is possible in football, and anything can happen on the football field in 90 minutes.
In the second leg, we must be attentive and one hundred percent focused. We will strive to defeat Dynamo in Lisbon as well. We are at the beginning of the season, and we must confirm match after match that we are a good team," Schmidt said at the post-match press conference.
