Schmidt dreams of champions league glory
Benfica may no longer be regarded as an European heavyweight, but Roger Schmidt remains hopeful of an unlikely Champions League triumph.
The Benfica coach declared “nothing is impossible” when the question was posed as to the Primeira Liga side’s hopes in UEFA’s top club competition this season.
Schmidt’s men will face Club Brugge in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Tuesday, with a 2-0 lead from the first meeting in Belgium.
The first priority for Benfica will be to reach the quarter-finals of the competition for the second time in a row, having last done so in the European Cup in 1967 and 1969.
“I think all the teams who are in the knockout stages can win the Champions League but not with the same probability,” Schmidt said at Monday’s pre-match news conference.
“For the teams with the lowest budget, there’s always a small chance. For the big teams, there is a bigger chance. But actually, of course, it’s possible.”
Benfica has won the prestigious European Cup twice in their history, first in 1961 and then again the following year.
However, no Portuguese team has lifted the Champions League since Jose Mourinho’s Porto in 2003-04.
While Schmidt is aiming for unlikely continental glory, he says the first challenge will be to secure the “big achievement” of making the last eight.
He added: “Nothing is impossible in football at this level, but at the moment we are very focused on reaching the quarter-finals, which would already be, for a club like Benfica, a big achievement.
“So we have to do it. It’s not done, as I said before. So step by step and tomorrow we will try to bring it to the end.”
As well as having a two-goal lead in the tie, the omens for the last-16 second leg are in Benfica’s favour given they have never lost in 10 previous home games against Belgian sides in all competitions (W8 D2), winning each of the last six in a row.
Victory in Portugal would also mark Benfica’s fourth Champions League success in a row, last winning more consecutively in Europe’s premier club competition in the 1989-90 campaign (six).