Who is the “strategic” and “theatrical” Bruno Lage? A brief analysis of the Benfica coach

The man who has Jaime Graça as his guiding light returned to Luz in the first days of September, after Roger Schmidt was sacked following a draw in Moreira de Cónegos, leaving the team in seventh place, five points behind Ruben Amorim's Sporting.

"I want a football that the fans enjoy watching, dynamic, entertaining, fundamentally a football that pulls the stands, that's what we want", promised Bruno Lage at the presentation. It was the return of a coach who had already been champion at that venue, in 2018/19.

The Setúbal native's debut, who played for Botafogo and Wolves in the intermittent moments of his Benfica career, was a 4-1 home win against Santa Clara. Since then, the season has had its ups and downs. Lage, who like Rui Borges is fighting for a double (in fact, he is aiming for a national treble), wants to win his second national title with the Eagles and thus join the group of coaches who have done the same: Toni, John Mortimore, Fernando Riera, Béla Guttmann and Lippo Hertzka. All he needs to do is win the Lisbon derby by two or more goals tonight.

Bola Branca commentators Francisco Guimarães and Francisco Sousa give a brief portrait of the Benfica coach, now 48 years old.

Are you already following Bola Branca on WhatsApp? Just click here

Francisco Sousa

He is a strong coach at a strategic level. He prepares games well depending on the opponents, and he demonstrated this both tactically and with individual changes of players, in different scenarios, in the context of the Champions League (I remember the line of 5 against Atlético Madrid), but he also knew how to adapt very well against Juventus, Barcelona, ​​and even in the matches against Monaco, where at a certain point he managed to make the team grow at moments of the game, betting on player profiles that were most needed.

He made adjustments to the players, showed that he has a good reading ability from the bench to react and help the team improve. He was valued in both games against Porto this season.

Then, I see Lage often tense on the bench. I've played a few games at Estádio da Luz, and it's common to see Bruno Lage gesticulating a lot more, sometimes with behaviors that weren't so obvious during his first time at Benfica. I think that's, in a way, a sign of a more exacerbated, more emotional reaction; he feels a lot of pressure to prove that he's a coach for Benfica.

He often has a very service-oriented speech, in the sense of presenting himself as a Benfica employee, the man who answers to the president, who is obedient, and not so much the strong, marked personality, although he shows it from time to time, it is a sign of personal value.

We must not forget that this is a different Lage, who has already had experiences abroad, he has proven some things in the Premier League, I think that this was important in his return to Benfica, namely the idea of ​​being more versatile tactically. But, in fact, I think that Lage, with everything he has shown in terms of behaviour between the bench and press conferences, shows differences compared to his early days.

Francisco Guimaraes

He is a theatrical and sometimes populist coach. He talks to the fans, gestures on the pitch, but in practice he is gesturing to the fans, running along the touchline, shouting, waving his arms, and leaving us wondering whether he is really excited about the game or whether he thinks he is on stage at Dona Maria II.

He has concrete ideas about football. Although he doesn't always manage to put them into practice, it's clear that there's a collective effort involved, and it's clear what he believes in. He involves the flanks a lot. He likes forwards who can work together with the midfielders, and an intense, pressing game, usually with high lines. He prefers to have midfielders with different roles and characteristics, one who presses more, with simple processes, another who controls possession of the ball and another who is more focused on depth. Preferably, one of them who can make breakthrough moves.

He reads big games more accurately than small games, and his teams go from 8 to 80 in the same week. Defensively, he believes in 4-4-2, likes to steal the ball in intermediate and high areas, to launch quick attacks from short depth when the opponent is open and unbalanced.