Arbeloa: "We couldn't measure up to what we needed to"

Álvaro Arbeloa spoke in the press room at Benfica's stadium after the Champions League matchday eight fixture. The coach said: "I don't regret any message because it's what I believe. If your reflection is that today's game was like that because the two up front didn't run enough I don't agree at all."

“Obviously, today we were far from what we wanted to be, given the difficulty of the match, the demands of our opponents, the atmosphere, what they were playing for, and what we were playing for. I don't think we were able to play 90 minutes at the level we needed to be. Before coming here we knew we had a lot to work on, a lot to improve and we are aware that we still have a lot to do. To win this kind of game you have to do a lot of things well, not just one, and you have to do them for 90 minutes.”

Is what happened today the strangest thing that has ever happened to you on a football pitch?
"It's not the first time a goalkeeper has scored against me. Obviously, they had to take a risk, we were playing with two players less and we also needed to score a goal to be in the top 8. They took a risk, we took a risk and in the end they won."

Benfica's game and the final embrace with Mourinho
"I was not surprised at all. I said it yesterday in this press room and in the different interviews I gave, that the demands of the game were going to be very high. I was fully aware of the level of the opposition, the atmosphere and the coach that was going to be in front of us. I told the players but obviously I didn't know how to transmit to them what I wanted them to do on the pitch. When things don't work out, when the team is far from the level we gave, for example, in Villarreal, the responsibility is always and absolutely mine because I didn't know how to get the players to face the game in the way I wanted them to. And the rest is between me and José."

What assessment do you make of the performance in 15 days?
"I just said it, I don't know if you heard me. I am responsible for the defeat, just as I was in Albacete. I don't know if you've been to those two press conferences, but I said it and I'll say it again: I feel totally responsible when things don't go well and we don't achieve the objective we had. It's not that we have been eliminated from the Champions League. We have two games ahead of us and with the objective of going through to the next round, we are going to face it."

You went for Cestero and didn't bring on Ceballos, for example. Did something happen or was it a technical decision?
"It was a technical decision. We needed the changes because we didn't want the situation that happened with Raúl to happen. They all were on cards. Álvaro was on one, Dean was on one, Raúl was on one, and I wanted to protect the team because I knew that in an attack we could be overrun and have to make a foul to cut off a counterattack and we would be at risk of being sent off. In the end, Raúl was sent off and that's why we made the changes. Obviously, I have a lot of confidence in Jorge, full confidence in the player he is and for the game and the way we were playing, he was very good for us. That's it, that's all there is to it, they were purely technical decisions."

Do you think the team lacked intensity?
"We lacked a lot of things. It was a Champions League match, at Champions League level, against a team that we knew was playing for their lives, that needed to win, that needed to win in front of their own fans, and that not only showed intensity, but also defended very well, attacked very well and for us, as I said before, I can't give you a single reason. I think we lacked a lot of footballing things to have taken the three points, to have won the game and to have beaten Benfica today."