João Alexandre Florêncio believes that the Eagles will be able to reverse a two-goal deficit and qualify for the European Cup final; coach of the incarnate highlights the importance and difficulty of the possible achievement
Never has a Portuguese women’s handball team been as close to securing an international victory as Benfica, who this Sunday will seek to recover from a two-goal deficit and reach, for the first time, the European Cup final. The task seems difficult…but it doesn’t scare the Reds’ coach, João Alexandre Florêncio, who highlighted the ability of the opponent with whom the Eagles measure strength.
«It’s a good disadvantage for now, because Iuventa is a very strong team at home and is leading the MOL League (a championship that brings together teams from Slovakia and the Czech Republic), they still have no defeats, they have four Ukrainian internationals who are, in this At the moment, in his team, two Montenegrins, two Poles or the goalkeeper of the Brazilian team”, explained the coach, determined to try to “make history” for the club and for the sport itself in Portugal.
If they remove Iuventa Michalovce, Benfica will achieve an unprecedented feat, which, the coach highlights, will only be achieved at the cost of a lot of sacrifice from very young players, the majority of whom are university students. «They will possibly have to leave some studies behind, they have been training and didn’t go to classes, many will probably fail or repeat their classes… but this is a sacrifice that is worth it because it is a generation that is opening up path to others», he pointed out.
An ambitious generation that dreams of achieving a European victory, similar to what the men’s section achieved two seasons ago, when it won the European League, in front of a very well composed MEO Arena, in Lisbon. However, João Alexandre Florêncio remembers that the current level of Portuguese women’s handball is not yet at the same level as what happens in the men’s panorama.
«We want to reach that level. In men’s handball, Benfica, FC Porto and Sporting have this investment that promotes this evolution, in the championship and in the teams, and in this case, in women’s handball, for now, it’s just Benfica and therefore the responsibility is even greater because it is, really, very difficult”, he finally acknowledged, even though he believes that the complicated challenge will be possible to overcome.
