Portuguese media: ‘Ajax was a wolf offensively, a lamb in defense’ | Ajax in Champions League

“Right to dream”, reads the front page of the Portuguese A Bola† According to the newspaper, Benfica accepted the superiority of Ajax and then anticipated it well. ,,The Dutch started confident, fast, daring and powerful, but after the break Benfica returned to the field as a team. Determined to win back the ball quickly, so Ajax had to work hard.”

The same medium thought that Benfica dominated in the second half: ,,Benfica was superior after the break, resulting in a deserved equalizer.” Also oh jogo thought that: ,,Benfica reacted strongly to two deficits and still played a draw.”

Record spoke of a great football match in Estádio da Luz. ,,The Reds wore their European gala costume and showed themselves to be able to cope with two losses. Benfica managed to stop an Ajax that arrived in Lisbon with confidence. In the second half Benfica dominated and that resulted in a deserved draw. Everything is decided in Amsterdam.”

the same Record did see a wait-and-see attitude at Ajax: ,,Possibly assuming that they will solve this draw in Amsterdam, Ajax took a wait-and-see attitude, also because of the strengthening Benfica.”

According to publico Benfica has suddenly found something to play for. After all, the Portuguese club is already twelve points behind leader FC Porto in the competition and Benfica has already been eliminated in the Portuguese cup tournament.

,,The team can still impress. Benfica managed to stop a powerful formation from the Netherlands that was unbeatable in Europe. Ajax was a wolf offensively, a lamb defensively. It was already known how much space Ajax is exposing with their attacking game and that was visible in the second half. Then Benfica gave the ball to Ajax and it became dangerous. Ajax could have had a more comfortable lead, but Benfica reincarnatedwith or without the permission of Ajax, and eventually succeeded in pushing Ajax back.”

Nélson Veríssimo, Benfica coach, was satisfied with the performance, but not with the result. ,,We wanted to win. There were two teams playing to win, with a lot of intensity. I want to congratulate the players, both for the quality and the commitment shown. The public supported us from the first minute,” said the coach, who saw that his team did not panic after being behind twice.

,,The team never lost the defensive organization. We know what we could have done better and we want to continue with this. I believe we will go to Amsterdam with confidence. We played against an opponent that had a perfect group stage, is first in the league and has plenty of individual quality. In the end it will be 50/50.”

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