After Portugal's defeat against Georgia in the group stage of the Europa League, defender Danilo Pereira spoke to SIC after the game to reflect on the match.
Pereira said that although the match was expected to be tough, the result and the team's performance were unexpected. He noted that the pace of the game was slow and intermittent, with Portugal unable to break down Georgia's tight defense. The team lacked breakthrough play and also lacked enough presence in the box to create a threat.
"They scored early and that shook up the young team a bit today." Pereira said, "We have to learn from this so we don't make the same mistake against Slovenia."
Talking about the team's mentality during the game, Pereira believes that the team showed anxiety. In an attempt to solve the problem, the players made some mistakes in passing the ball, which further added to the team's uneasiness. He confessed that the team was never able to get into the game as they wanted to.
Speaking about the defensive strategy, Pereira mentioned that the team chose to recycle their defense at certain times. He believes this was a necessary adjustment, but also noted that the game against Slovenia will present a similar challenge, as the opponent will also play a tight, low-position defense.
