Benfica manager Jorge Jesus seemed pretty agitated following the 2-2 draw against Rangers in the Europa League last night. Steven Gerrard’s men went 2-0 ahead, thanks to goals from Scott Arfield and Kemar Roofe, before the Lisbon club fought back for a draw.
Jorge Jesus couldn’t even have a proper handshake with Gerrard, and that’s only one of the things that left a tense mood at the Ibrox.
Something else that has been doing the rounds in the media is that Jorge Jesus said Rangers ‘aren’t a big team in Europe’.
Not only Scottish but also South American outlets have been picking the manager’s quote and making it look like he was simply attacking the Glasgow side.
But we need to show the other side here, as the manager was actually trying to defend Rangers when speaking to the Portuguese media.
So here’s his quotes in full.
“But today the defence was fine. We’re not playing against Legia or Standard. We’re playing with a team that got good results with Portuguese teams last season. Don’t try to make Rangers a little team!” Jorge Jesus told Sportv (via Record).
“They’re not big in Europe, no, they aren’t, but you have to realise that others play, they have value. I cannot say that the team didn’t do well, because it did. Rangers having scored two goals rewarded their finishing, but not because we weren’t well on the defensive.”
Regarding the incident with Steven Gerrard, newspaper Record only highlights that Rui Costa tried to make things better by explaining to Gerrard what was going on. ‘At the end, the British seemed to understand’, they say.
