Rafa Silva gave an extensive interview to Benfica's official media this Saturday. In addition to revealing the reasons that led him to leave the Luz club at the end of this season, the forward explained why he turned down lucrative offers to leave in recent years.

"I always preferred to be here, not because I was forced to, not because someone wanted me to stay here. I was the one who always decided, whether I had more money, less money, it was always my decision to stay here because my family was here, I was here, I felt happy here. And I think that's the most important thing, for me to feel good somewhere. And if I feel good somewhere, I'll stay, because, for me, that will always be the most important thing, it doesn't matter much 'Oh, you'll earn more here, you'll earn more there...'. That was never what I wanted in my life," revealed the Portuguese forward, who spoke about his relationship with his teammates.

"If you look at it, I think I have more friendships in football than I do outside of football. That says a lot about what football is, about what the dressing room is, about what our life is like here. We spend so much time here that many people really become your family, they become people from home, they become people from... You leave here and want to go to dinner with these people, you want to go to lunch with these people, in other words, your life ends up being these people. For me, that shows a lot about what football is and shows a lot about what I take into my life. Football has given me many friendships, and friendships even for my life," stressed the Portuguese international.

Throughout these eight years at Benfica, Rafa has crossed paths with several coaches. About Roger Schmidt, the forward says he hopes the coach will stay in Luz for many years, revealing that it was because of the German that he did not leave the incarnate emblem earlier.

"Mister Rui Vitória was my arrival here. I think we didn't connect very well. It's true, there's no getting away from it. I have nothing bad to say. The most I can say is: I think we end up not connecting with everyone in life. I didn't understand him well and maybe he didn't understand me well, but he did a very good job at Benfica, and he was the coach who brought me here. Mister Bruno [Lage] was a person who, when everything was a bit dark, brought us a bit of life. And when I say 'a little bit', it's not a little bit, to put it into perspective, because he was really a very important person at Benfica. He was not duly appreciated, so to speak. He should have been much more appreciated, and for me he was a very important coach. I learned a lot from him, and he brought a lot of good life here to Benfica and to our dressing room," guaranteed Rafa Silva.

"Mister Nélson Veríssimo ended up staying with us when Mister Bruno left. It's not easy. The two times he was with us, it's not easy, because it wasn't planned by him, it wasn't a season planned by him, it was to finish seasons, and that's never easy. We know that. And he was always a very honest person with me, with whom I still have a relationship and whom I like very much. Mister Jorge [Jesus] is one of the people I like the most. He may not know this, but he is one of the people I like the most, because I like him very much. I think honesty is a very important thing in our lives, and he is a very straightforward person. As he is a person who has no filters, he ends up being a person with whom I identify a lot, because I like that very much. I think everything he has to say comes out, and that for me, as a person... I like it very much and I learned a lot from him. He was a coach with whom I really learned a lot, who taught us a lot and who I would have liked to have left here [in a season] in which we had won a title, in fact," he continued, before talking about Roger Schmidt.

"Mister Roger [Schmidt] ends up being the easiest to talk about because he is our coach. I hope he stays here for many years. I hope they appreciate him as a coach, because they have no idea of the person who is here. He was also one of the strong reasons why I continued at Benfica, at a time when things were very... For me, in my mind, they weren't making the sense they were. And then it was Mister Roger who... We had a conversation when I got here, after our vacation. And it was also one of the reasons that made me stay here. I am very grateful for what he did for me, for having understood the person I was, for having known how to deal with me and manage what I am, because I think a coach is also very important when he knows how to deal with people, knows how to be. Mister Roger was very important here in my career at Benfica, in these last two years, and managed to bring us titles again, after three years," he concluded.

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