Luisao demands perfection from Benfica

Benfica captain Luisao has demanded a “perfect” display from his side when they host Galatasaray on Tuesday.

Rui Vitoria’s side were beaten 2-1 by the same opponents in Istanbul on matchday three after Selcuk Inan and Lukas Podolski cancelled out Nico Gaitan’s early strike.

Luisao expects a tough test against the Turkish champions, especially given a spate of injury problems which have hit Benfica, and he has called for a clinical approach to secure their third victory of the campaign and give them a real chance of reaching the knockout phase.

“Galatasaray are a resilient side that know what they want,” he said.

“It will be difficult with the losses, but we know that we have a good squad and we must trust the players that are here,” he added, referring to the suspended Andreas Samaris and injured trio Kostas Mitroglou, Ljubomir Fejsa and Nelson Semedo.

“We have 90 minutes to get the result we want. We played well there, we managed to play some good football. Now it’s another game, against a quality side and we’ll have to be perfect in order to take advantage of the chances that we create. We know that in the Champions League there won’t be many [opportunities].”

Head coach Rui Vitoria believes the defeat in Turkey will serve them well as they look to gain revenge on Hamza Hamzaoglu’s side.

“Galatasaray will cause us lots of problems. They are on a good run and very experienced. We lost in Turkey, although we were good in some areas. The away match gave us a better knowledge of our opponents,” he said.

“We have the maximum respect for them but we know we can beat them. Our last meeting showed that for sure.”