Benfica, who is the coach Schmidt who faces Inter in the Champions League – Corriere.it

One statistic must put Inter on alert when thinking about tonight’s match at the fascinating Estadio Da Luz: Benfica is the team that, in this edition of the Champions League, has recovered the most balls in the last forty metres: 18 with 5 goals, almost one every four attempts. Juventus, eliminated by the Portuguese, knows what we’re talking about: two games, two defeats, two severe football lessons. Simone Inzaghi would do well not to trust Roger Schmidt’s affected smile

mechanical engineer and amateur footballer, when he says that every night is different.

It may be so, but Benfica, together with Napoli the revelation of Europe, always plays in the same way: aggressive, intense, fast, vertical. Ready to pounce on you and take your breath away. Schmidt is 55 years old and was the last happy intuition of Rui Costa, former champion of Fiorentina and Milan, who entrusted himself to this German maniac of gegenpressing, that is the high and asphyxiating pressing, trademark of Jurgen Klopp. Benfica interprets him with that pinch of Portuguese quality, which exalts him. A spectacular team that has won 23 games out of 27 in the Primeira Liga, with only two defeats, the last one just last Friday at home against Porto di Conceiao, their all-time rivals. A misstep that must not deceive the Nerazzurri. Benfica first in the league with a 7-point lead with 7 games to go.

true that some mechanisms jammed with the sale of Fernandez to Chelsea and that the absence of the other world champion, Otamendiin the heart of the defense, has taken away some certainties, but Eusebio’s grandchildren are a particularly difficult customer. Woe to expect them too low. To counter them you need balance and knowing how to cover every area of ​​the pitch well. Also the desire to attack them, because if they have a weak point, the defensive estate. Schmidt a courageous man, always face to the wind, ever since he left an assured future as an engineer in a car company to try to be the coach of Delbrucker, an amateur team from North Rhine, where he had stopped playing. His real career began in Paderborn, then in Salzburg with Red Bull, in Bayer Leverkusen with Calhanoglu, in Psv Eindhoven together with Dumfries. Also an experience in China, which enriched him without making him lose his rhythm. There was no shortage of defeats, that is, exemptions. But he has never betrayed himself. His philosophy is to get to the shot quickly, within 7 seconds of recovering the ball. Attack and risk. Now try to win the Champions League.