As Benfica are making their pre-season in England, the club will face Sheffield Wednesday tonight at Hillsborough.
Of course, the Portuguese papers didn’t miss the chance of speaking to The Owl’s Portuguese manager Carlos Carvalhal, who gave one more of his nice interviews.
“We will have at least 12,000 supporters, because we have already sold 20,000 season tickets,” Carvalhal told A Bola. “There are a lot of people on holiday, otherwise the stadium would be full. The fans always celebrate.”
On Benfica’s first pre-season match in England, against Derby County, the manager said: “I didn’t watch the game, I only saw the goals, but Benfica are always a very strong team, they have several options, I could see in the summary that they changed players, but the style remains the same.
“It’s a team with a very strong sense of pressure, a high defensive line, well worked and prepared by Rui Vitória. They kept the coach, more or less the same players, we are seeing great difficulties for us. If Derby, who finished in front of us, conceded four… we have to take some precautions .”
But Sheffield Wednesday manager Carvalhal is not concerned about winning the game.
Despite facing a Champions League side, he’s taking the friendly more as a preparation for the season: “It will be for us and for Benfica, we never value the results in these games, the performance comes first, that’s what matters. I want to thank Benfica for coming here. Luís Filipe Vieira, Rui Vitória, Rui Costa, all the structure. Portugal have played here in 1996. There is a connection to Portugal here, it’s beautiful.”
