Benfica coach Jorge Jesus feels his side were better than Juventus over the two legs and deserved to qualify for the Europa League Final.
The Águias won 2-1 on aggregate in the semi-final, after a 0-0 draw in the second leg on Thursday evening, despite going down to ten-men following Enzo Perez’s sending off midway through the second half.
“Benfica earned the Final because we played better in both legs, better than Juve in Lisbon and Turin,” he told Sky Sport Italia.
“Juve are a good team, but defensively Benfica played very well.
“We had the advantage from the first leg and controlled all their movements in the second leg. We deserved to reach the Final because we were better than Juve.
“I thought it wasn’t easy to make up for these situations with Juve attacking, but we knew that we had to stay calm and our players maintained their heads.
“I think Benfica gave a masterclass on how to defend and it’s not easy with nine men on the field against [Pablo] Osvaldo, [Carlos] Tevez and [Fernando] Llorente.”
