Rui Costa is in Dubai to attend Globe Soccer Awards “Benfica has been nominated for the Best Academy in the World award,” and told Sky Italia about the dedication of the Reds in training. “Let’s just say that this is one of our advantages, one of our best works. Over the last 10 years we’ve exported so much of the great talent that we see today, so it’s part of our culture, the culture of the club, and as president I don’t want to let that happen. Get lost and keep training players for the first team, and then we’ll see what happens next,” the coach said.
And he continued, giving examples: “The more players we export, such as Ruben Diaz, Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Joao Felix and many others … Then when they go to work, it’s normal that they think about these names and think that Benfica is a good school for them When Milan wanted to buy me, I grew up in the generation of three Dutchmen, from Capello, so it was very easy for me to want to go to the club, to the team, because I grew up watching them. what Benfica represents today for the young man both in Portugal and abroad. Feeling the name of Benfica because we have so many players of this level, it’s easier to import talent.”
The Champions League draw was also discussed in a conversation with Italian television: “It would be hypocritical if I said that among the teams that could be chosen, Club Brugge were the most difficult, but the fact is that they had an excellent group stage. we are a team with such a big name – obviously we didn’t make out Brugge – that would be easy. It’s going to be a tough game, they beat Porto 4-0 in Porto and that should be a warning to us. But we are our ambitions. [Na época passada] We reached the quarter-finals at a time when internally things weren’t going very well. We played with Liverpool. This year we will try to go further.”
The Reds, it should be noted, have already been awarded twice at the Globe Soccer Awards. They won in 2015 and 2019, in which case they shared the distinction with Ajax. Rui Costa was also present, but already as the administrator of the SAD.
