Roger Schmidt lauded Benfica's self-belief after his side clinched top spot in their Champions League group in thrilling fashion.
Benfica had already qualified from Group H ahead of Wednesday's trip to Maccabi Haifa, though having drawn both of their games with Paris Saint-Germain, they needed a huge improvement to their goal difference to beat Christophe Galtier's side, and did what was required by claiming a 6-1 victory.
At 5-1 up, with PSG beating Juve 2-1, Benfica were set to finish second and would be more likely to be handed a tie against one of Europe's heavyweights.
However, Joao Mario scored in stoppage time to make it 6-1, and Schmidt believes it is exactly what his squad deserves.
"I congratulated the players, they played a fantastic game, they played at a great level," Schmidt told reporters.
"We actually did not manage to beat PSG in terms of points, but in the end we were ahead on away goals," he said.
"The players deserved it, [we played] our campaign in the best way. We wanted to finish first, we believed in ourselves. We looked at the points, but also at the goals. It is a great achievement to achieve this. The players deserve it."
Five second-half goals proved to be the difference in Israel and Schmidt highlighted momentum as the key, with Benfica scoring six times in a UEFA competition for the first time since September 1991.
"The objective was to win. We respected the opponent, it was not easy to face Maccabi, then we had our momentum with the fourth, the fifth goal," he added.
"They knew what they could do, then we gave our all for the sixth goal. It's a moment and an opportunity to achieve something important.
"They believed, they knew about the difference. It was the moment, it was our form, there was momentum from the team."
Benfica have gone through a Champions League group stage unbeaten for only the third time ever (W4 D2), also doing so in 1994-95 and 2011-12, topping the group in each of those seasons.
While they will avoid the likes of Manchester City, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich or Chelsea, Benfica could face any of Liverpool, Club Brugge, Inter, Eintracht Frankfurt, Milan, RB Leipzig and Borussia Dortmund in the last 16.
Al-Riyadh 0-3 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic double sends hosts top
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored twice late on to secure Al-Hilal a 3-0 win over Al-Riyadh, sending them top of the Saudi Pro League on Saturday.
Salem Al-Dawsari orchestrated the victory though, scoring one and assisting both of Mitrovic's goals, while Marcos Leonardo was denied a strike of his own.
Al-Hilal dominated the first half, managing 10 shots as they smothered the hosts, but they could not find a breakthrough, only testing Milan Borjan twice.
Both sides moved through the gears in the second half though, with Ibrahim Bayesh rifling a powerful effort against the woodwork minutes after the break for the hosts.
Al-Dawsari found a way through shortly after – he made a sensational run down the left before cutting inside and dinking a lovely shot over Borjan and in off the far post.
Leonardo ran off the back of Al-Riyadh's defence and scored a chip of his own, only to have the goal ruled out as he started his run too early.
Mitrovic made sure of the three points after 80 minutes as he slotted in from a tight angle and got his second in the 100th minute to round off a good day for Al-Hilal.
Data Debrief: Al-Dawsari steals the show
After struggling to find their shooting boots in the first half, Al-Hilal can be thankful for their left-winger, who caused all sorts of problems for Al-Riyadh.
He had the most touches in the opposition box (seven), and created the most chances (four), while only Ruben Neves (27) made more passes than him in the final third (22).
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Ahli: Toney denied winning start by late own goal
A Bassam Al-Hurayji own goal in the 100th minute of the match handed Al-Nassr a 1-1 draw against Al-Ahli and denied Ivan Toney a winning start to life in Saudi Arabia.
Franck Kessie looked to have won all three points for Al-Ahli with a wonderful effort from the outside of the box after 57 minutes, but Al-Nassr's pressure was rewarded late on when Al-Hurayji diverted Sultan Alghannam's cross into his own net.
The home side started the match well, with Sadio Mane seeing an early effort cleared off the line and Marcelo Brozovic testing Edouard Mendy from distance, but they were unable to find a way through in the first half.
Kessie had gone close just after the break, dragging his shot wide of the far post, but he was not to be denied a second time. He met a pullback on the edge of the box, opening his foot to send a wonderful effort into the top-left corner.
But Cristiano Ronaldo's side kept probing, with Talisca deflecting a shot wide of the far post before they eventually got on the scoresheet thanks to Al-Hurayji's attempted block.
Data Debrief: Al-Nassr continue scoring streak - just
After scoring in the closing stages, with a bit of luck, Al-Nassr have now scored in their last 22 Saudi Pro League matches, a feat which has not been achieved since March-December 2017, with the final match in that sequence also being against Al-Ahli.
Furthermore, they are now unbeaten in their last six matches against Al-Ahli, which equals the longest unbeaten streak in the fixture - their opponents once went six games unbeaten between 2011 and 2013, winning three and drawing three.
Nagelsmann pleased with Germany development after Euro 2024 disappointment
Julian Nagelsmann believes Germany have taken the next step in their development after sharing the spoils in an entertaining clash with the Netherlands on Tuesday.
Tijjani Reijnders handed the hosts the lead with just a minute and 39 seconds on the clock, only for Deniz Undav and Joshua Kimmich to respond before the break.
The Netherlands drew level five minutes into the second half through Denzel Dumfries, leaving the pair joint-top of Group A3 after the opening round of fixtures.
But with German ambitions of being strong contenders at the next World Cup after their Euro 2024 disappointment, Nagelsmann is looking to see improvements in every match despite the tournament being just under two years away.
“There is an awareness that every game is important,” Naglesmann said.
“We have the Nations League now, the qualifiers next year and then hopefully off to the World Cup. We have 18 games left until then - if all goes well.
“The team believes in itself and that is the key. That is what we all want to see. Today we saw a team that wanted to win."
But in an enthralling encounter, Nagelsmann acknowledged that improvements need to be made at both ends of the pitch.
Germany managed just five shots on target from the 21 they attempted, registering an expected goals total (xG) of 2.94 during the contest.
While only restricting the Netherlands to 11 shots, their opponents created four big chances to Germany's three, with the Oranje also winning 53.1% of their duels compared to 46.9% for Nagelsmann's side.
“Both defences were too vulnerable but offensively, we were stronger, tried to create more and took a bit more risk," Nagelsmann said.
“In the early stages of the second half, we tried a little too hard and were maybe a bit too aggressive in the tackles.”
The Germany head coach was particularly pleased with his side's response to falling behind early on Reijnders' finish.
“The way we came back was very good. It took us five or six minutes, but then we were well in the game," Nagelsmann concluded.
Germany continue their Nations League campaign with two away fixtures next month, starting with Bosnia and Herzegovina, followed by a reunion with the Dutch on October 14.
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