With Benfica and Rangers drawing 2-2 in Lisbon in the first leg of the Europa League’s round-of-16, there was no arrogance from Portugal about the second leg being any easier against Philippe Celement’s side.
That’s why the Portuguese media is now giving great attention to the win at Ibrox, as the 1-0 victory over Rangers is taking the Lisbon side to the tournament’s quarter-finals.
Newspaper Record today shares some quotes from Antonio Silva, who spoke to Sport TV and detailed what was necessary to beat Rangers in Glasgow.
Silva highlighted the physical strength of the Scottish side, explaining Benfica had to work hard to beat them in that aspect.
“Then we had to make good decisions in the final third. In the first half, we failed a little in this regard and had little ball in attacking midfield, but in the second half we had more quality and we got the goal, which is what we needed.”
UEFA have conducted the draw for the Europa League’s quarter-finals, and Benfica will be facing Marseille in the next stage. The other clashes will be AC Milan vs AS Roma, Liverpool vs Atalanta and Bayer Leverkusen vs West Ham.
Rangers, meanwhile, are top of the Scottish Premiership, with one point more than Celtic after 29 fixtures. The Ibrox side are also qualified for the Scottish Cup’s semi-finals, and will be playing Hearts on April 21st.
