Vítor Pinto wary of Fenerbahçe-Benfica, slams dirty dealings | OneFootball

Benfica will travel to Turkey to face Fenerbahçe next Wednesday, August 20th, in a match counting for the first leg of the play-off to access the regular phase of the Champions League. Vítor Pinto, commentator for the Now channel, looked at the knockout stage and anticipated difficulties for Bruno Lage's team due to the atmosphere being created around the game.

Fenerbahçe comes to the duel against Benfica after a goalless draw in the league and a long knockout stage against Feyenoord: “There's the European hangover from the previous knockout stage, which was quite challenging for Fenerbahçe, and it adds up with the anticipation of the upcoming game, so it's the pressure that demands. Both teams knew they would go through this, the players are human and try to perform at a minimum level.”

“Benfica secured the three points with great difficulty, Fenerbahçe did not, and José Mourinho was dissatisfied at the end of the game. Now, that game conveys very little for the duel on Wednesday, Fenerbahçe will adopt a different stance, with total commitment, playing at home. And the same applies to Benfica, because, from the moment the Champions League anthem plays, and it will be played in the play-off, the players respond immediately,” emphasized the Portuguese journalist.

Vítor Pinto urges caution for the reds: “From the moment Benfica lands at Istanbul Airport, they will have to be very focused and prepared for a true battle. They have to think one game at a time, first Benfica has to look at what will happen in Turkey before seeing what to do in the second leg, which will certainly be complicated, because José Mourinho is very good at setting traps.”

“It will be a high-level tactical challenge, and above all, we have realized in recent days that Fenerbahçe will stop at nothing to eliminate Benfica in the play-off. And we will see how far they take this pressure, especially since Benfica will be working the day before the game at the Turkish club's facilities and will be exposed to various situations where pressure will be deliberately created. Let's hope everything stays within the normality of these duels and does not exceed the level of reasonable, because what we saw with Akturkoglu is already starting to enter a level of dirty dealings that is completely unsportsmanlike,” he concluded.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.