Fighting to the end is a “motivating factor” for Benfica and Braga. João Tomás sees a duel of “conditioned” teams

João Tomás, former Benfica and SC Braga forward, believes that both clubs should use the fact that they are still fighting for their objectives in the last round as a “motivating factor” and not a cause for discouragement, despite the less positive results of the previous week.

“What happened last week was important for the outcome of the championship, but I believe that both coaches and players will do everything in their power to win. Each team’s objective is very well defined and the players have to be part of that objective. I believe that this doesn’t affect the players at all. I think it’s even a motivating factor”, he said in an interview with Bola Branca .

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Benfica drew in the derby with Sporting and no longer depended on themselves to be crowned champions. SC Braga lost to Casa Pia and goes into the final round three points behind third place, occupied by FC Porto.

The Eagles and Minhotos enter the field depending on third parties, but João Tomás is not afraid that the game will lose interest. Coaches and players must maintain “maximum concentration” and “disregard everything that is said outside”.

“Benfica and Braga may be a little more conditioned because, regardless of what they do, they will have to wait for results from others, but that cannot inhibit everything that needs to be done by the teams. Regardless of that, I believe it will be a great game, provided by two great teams”, he explains, in these statements to Renascença .

Benfica can still win the championship title if they get a better result than Sporting against Vitória SC, while Braga will go into third place if they win and FC Porto lose at home to Nacional. João Tomás admits that it will be impossible for the players not to know the result of the remaining games, all scheduled for 6pm on Saturday.

“This is inevitable, especially because, given the way information circulates nowadays, even if we don’t want to know, it’s impossible. In a stadium with 30 or 40 thousand people, the stadium will react and so it’s impossible for us to be immune. All these variables have to be well controlled by the players individually, that is, they have to be well aware of what scenarios they might encounter, what scenarios are available and what scenarios they’ll have to fight for. Therefore, hiding this or that is impossible”, he concludes.

SC Braga will host Benfica on Saturday, starting at 6:00 pm. The match of the last round of the I Liga will be reported on Renascença and followed, minute by minute, on rr.pt.