Lima soaring after 'perfect final'
Sunday, April 25, 2010
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SL Benfica coach André Lima said their 3-2 dethroning of Interviú Madrid was "the perfect final with an unbelievable crowd", while Jesús Candelas described his side's devastation.
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Coach André Lima watched his SL Benfica side beat holders Interviú Madrid in the UEFA Futsal Cup final in front of a competition-record 9,400 attendance at Lisbon's Pavilhão Atlântico and swelled with "enormous pride". Lima had played in the 2004 final when Benfica lost to an Interviú side coached, as now, by Jesús Candelas, who praised the hosts as deserved winners of a close game.
André Lima, Benfica coach
It was the perfect final with an unbelievable crowd at the arena. We faced the best team in the world and what's more we had to play extra time. Interviú were a little lucky at times and without the many interventions of Luis Amado extra time wouldn't have been needed. Maybe to win a tournament like this we also needed that little bit of luck but we pushed and pushed to make sure that things went our way.
I feel enormous pride at the moment. There were many times in my career that I had to look up to Interviú Madrid but right now I can say that for once it's their turn to look up at us; I have enormous respect for them. We were the best team throughout the encounter and so our victory is deserved. We played the perfect game tonight. We've wanted to win this tournament for so long and we've finally achieved our goal.
Jesús Candelas, Interviú coach
My first words tonight are to congratulate the victors, Benfica are the champions and the champions are always the just winners. They controlled the rhythm of the game while we entered into the type of match that really didn't suit us. We were missing that extra bit of nerve, that extra step in our game and at times we were just a second off the pace.
It would have been nice to have the type of constant support from the crowd they enjoyed throughout the game. The guys in the dressing room are completely destroyed at the moment. It's tough on us because we were always close; we were mostly on a par with Benfica and the game was quite even. Unfortunately the expectations placed upon us were so big going into the game that the defeat represents a big blow.
