Wesley Sneijder was impressed by Jorge Jesus’ tactical move on Wednesday evening. The Benfica trainer made four substitutions twenty minutes before the end of the match against PSV, but let his players leave the field one by one. He interrupted a strong phase of PSV and Benfica eventually pulled the 2-1 lead over the line. Sneijder speaks of ‘Benfica’s smartest moment’.
Roman Yaremchuk, Julian Weigl, Diogo Gonçalves and Pizzi left the field and were replaced by Gonçalo Ramos, Everton, André Almeida and Soualiho Meïté respectively. “It is the most beautiful moment of the competition,” says Sneijder in the studio of RTL7. “It started with three substitutions and then it will be four. I believe that took five or six minutes. That was in the phase when PSV was dominant and put pressure. He just killed the whole game and took the pace out. “At some point, the referee doesn’t understand what Jesus is doing either. But as a referee you can’t help it, because he just wants to change four times. He does it one by one. That’s smart.”
Sneijder about ‘the best moment of the match’: the substitution tactics of Benfica coach Jorge Jesus. #benpsv #UCL pic.twitter.com/nZ1h8xIDTt
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“That is also the experience he has”, Jan Boskamp adds. “He sees that PSV is played upside down, so to speak. You used to be able to make one or two substitutions, but now you can do four. That also plays a role That’s also the job of a trainer.” Despite the defeat, Sneijder sees enough prospects for PSV in a place in the group stage of the Champions League. He thought PSV was the better team over the entire match. “You can continue with this in the home game. You have handed in your business card and show that you are no less than Benfica. They just have to draw a lot of energy from that. PSV will certainly score next week.”