13 April 2007, by Marco Pereira

Benfica 0-0 Espanyol: match reaction

Petit, Benfica midfielder:

“We knew that Espanyol would be a difficult opponent because they defend well and came here to play on the counter attack, thanks to the passing of De la Pena. I think the first half of the game in Spain decided the tie. We worked hard and hit the post twice.”

“We did not achieve our objective and I would like to leave a word of thanks to our supporters. We will continue to focus on the championship, where it is all to be decided. We must lift our heads.”

Simao, Benfica captain:

“The first half was very complicated. Espanyol came here to defend and hit us on the counter attack. In that period, we only created opportunities from dead ball situations. In the second half we hit the post twice and had the Nuno Gomes opportunity, which the goalkeeper saved, and I could have scored on the rebound.”

“We played poorly for 60 minutes in Spain, but we also lacked luck because we deserved more in this tie. Tonight reminded me of the game against Boavista when we could have been here all night and still would not have scored. We are all disappointed, but we will lift our heads and fight for the one remaining objective, which is the championship.”

Fernando Santos, Benfica coach:

“Benfica won more second balls, were closer to the opponents’ net, had good chances to score, passed the ball around better and did not allow Espanyol to reach our net. In the second half, we even increased our domination. We had four or five good opportunities to score, two balls hit the woodwork, but we were not lucky.”

“The players deserved to be happy because they worked so hard for this, but it did not end the way we wanted. We will recover. We do not have the Uefa Cup, but we still have the championship. There are six games remaining and we will try to win all of them so that we can accomplish our goal of being champions.”

Ivan De la Pena, Espanyol midfielder:

“We knew that we were going to suffer a lot and that it would be an open game, and that we would be dominated a lot of the time. I think the team played a magnificent game. We helped each other and had some luck. They could have scored in the second half, as we could have when Pandiani hit the post.”

Benfica 0-0 Espanyol - match report