Goals from Thomas Muller and Arturo Vidal were enough to knockout Benfica on Wednesday in the crucial Champions League semi final second leg tie. Bayern have their sights set on the final in June as they prepare for the semi finals while Benfica will hope to come back stronger next year.
In the aftermath of their shattered dreams, Rui Vitoria sang praises of his squad who showed enough grit to come away with a 2-2 draw.
“We fought until the end, so I have to congratulate my players and these amazing supporters,” Vitoria is quoted as saying by Uefa.com. “It was a great match.
“We faced a very powerful team that knows how to dictate the pace of the game. We promised we would go eye to eye with Bayern and we did so.”
Raul Jimenez, the goalscorer added, “I am happy I scored. We even had an opportunity to make it 2-0, but football is like this.
“We are proud of what we’ve done. We managed to level the tie and we are happy with what we’ve done, because we showed we can compete with any team.” (via Goal.com)
Guardiola had earlier praised Benfica’s defense in his pre match press conference. His side, however, is now looking forward to a potential semi final clash with Real Madrid.
Guardiola said – “According to what I have read in Germany, if we do not win the Champions League my work will be incomplete in fans’ eyes”
“But in the end, us coaches are here to win titles and win as many games as possible.
“I have never won as many games in my life and I don’t think I can repeat it in the future.”
Guardiola is looking forward to sign out of Germany with the last remaining laurel – the Champions League.
With Barcelona out of the tournament, Bayern Munich are the immediate favourites to win the trophy this year as they have the squad depth to compete on all fronts. Benfica, on the other hand, will look to seal the Portuguese league and will hope to retain their talisman Renato Sanchez who is in the transfer plans of a lot of clubs in the summer.
