Bruno Lage: 'Barça are a quality team'

The Estadi Olímpic is already donned in blaugrana for the Champions League. This afternoon it played host to the Benfica's pre-match press conference and training session. The Portuguese side arrived this morning with the aim of turning the two-legged tie around to go through to the next round. However, they'll have to defeat a very much in-form Barça side going for another win in the tie in order to achieve that goal.

Benfica coach Bruno Lage is very aware of the situation, acknowledging that Barça are a very strong side. However, he indicated that they have no doubts, assuring that "we are feeling confident. We began very well in the other two games, creating chances and scoring early. We have the courage and ambition to do it again".

Despite Benfica's confidence regarding getting a good result against Barça, the coach praised the blaugrana playing style, stating that they "dominate possession. The midfielders see a lot of the ball, but they are also deadly in one-on-one situations". Lage considers that the Catalans are potent in attack too, as he went on to say that "they are very strong and we can't just base our approach on defending against Lamine. Raphinha and Lewandowski play very well too and can cause us a lot of problems".

Additionally, Bruno Lage gave some clues as to where they will try to do damage to the blaugranes. He thinks that the defence and goal are the key despite their talent, stating that "we see that Barça set up the defence in one way or another depending on the players. We need to understand where the spaces will be and I think we can do that very well".

"I'm ready to defend against Raphinha"

Defender Tomás Araújo is available for the game and spoke to the press before his coach. He is confident about his team's chances and commented that "we have prepared like we always do. We know we can get a positive result".

Despite losing both games, the Portuguese defender considers the team can create chances against the Catalans, stating that chances will be "key", before going on to say "it will be a challenge" to potentially defend against Raphinha, but that he "is ready".