VERONA - Benitez, in Verona, talks about the defeat to Chievo: "Clearly after a defeat nobody is happy, but the players worked hard and had the right reaction in the second half, they showed everything a team with character should show. Unfortunately we lacked the goal on a couple of occasions, but as far as effort and attitude are concerned the team was there. The reactions of the players was positive, right until the end, the pitch was awful. The team demonstrated character and had we scored it would have changed everything.
Benitez was then asked of an eventual meeting with the Nerazzurri directors after the game: "It will be like always - explains the coach -, we talk after every game, with Branca, with Ausilio, with Carboni. It's obvious that a team like ours should be winning these sorts of games, but the boys displayed character. I am a professional coach and have been in these types of situation: the only way to change in these cases, though, is to continue working and today I saw the will to win in our players. The first goal we conceded? It was a situation of one on one, there was a mistake. It was not a question of will to win, but a technical error. What we are living is a difficult situation, of a team which has won a lot, but also where a lot of players are missing, reason for which we are forced to field so many young players".
At the end the Nerazzurri coach was asked to comment on the tension between Eto'o and Cesar, for which some are calling for video evidence: "You can see Eto'o received a punch and had a reaction to being provoked, in a difficult situation. There are four referees on the pitch and if they didn't think to do anything, it means there was nothing to do".
