The Brazilians fell 1-0 to their longtime rivals Palmeiras in a fiercely contested Round of 16 match at Lincoln Field Stadium, after 120 minutes of intense battle.
Just as the match seemed headed for a penalty shootout, Paulinho’s goal in the 100th minute secured the victory for the Green and White, who will now face Premier League giants Chelsea.
In his post-match reaction, the Portuguese coach was asked by Flashscore.com about the positives he took from the defeat against the three-time Copa Libertadores champions and his goals moving forward.
"No, it's... every game that we played, now we build a team. We keep building a team. Here (in the United States), we had some time to train. We had some time which we don't have in Brazil," Paiva stated, highlighting the importance of continuous growth.
His goal will be to integrate the new signings into the squad and ensure that every player understands both their individual roles and how they contribute to the overall team dynamic.
"Fortunately, we will now have some days to train and to receive the new players, to make them understand what they have to do — defending and attacking — the relationship with their colleagues on the field.
"We will have this time to work, to continue to build a real team. When we left Brazil, I felt that we were already a very good team.
"In some difficult moments, our reaction was very good. So, when we left Brazil, we were one team. Now that we return with this experience, we are another team, still building the team.
"And now, as I told you, working with the new players and looking forward to the competitions that we have."
Botafogo got off to a strong start in the competition, defeating Seattle Sounders FC in their opening match before stunning reigning UEFA Champions League winners Paris Saint-Germain in their second game.
Despite their 1-0 loss to Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid, they qualified as Group B runners-up and advanced to the knockout stage.
Nevertheless, coach Paiva expressed pride in his team’s performance on the global stage. He told the media: "That is the first feeling as soon as we heard the whistle, and regardless of whether we would win or lose, that would be it.
"Pride for what our players have done, what the technical staff did, pride that we were playing against a strong team that we knew very well.
"We knew that this match would be settled under details. There were two moments for this match with Palmeiras coming in stronger as we expected. We regained ball possession and we came closer to their goal. This was a first half with no goal opportunities.
"As the match went on and in the beginning of the second half, I brought in fresh players who were not in tune with the rest of the squad. But we felt it was time as the match went on to do something different.
"We had our opportunities but we were unable to finish them. On one end we are sad, on the other side, all players share my feeling of pride about everything that we have done."
Although Paiva praised Palmeiras' strength, he admitted he wasn’t surprised by the way they approached the match against his team.
He added: "There is absolutely no surprise, this is a very compact team. It’s a team that is being fine-tuned for a while, a team that plays with their eyes closed.
"We analysed them, this is the third team that were making crosses to the 18-yard box. When Palmeiras does that, they put three to four players in the finishing area. Sometimes, they would switch the ball and have two passes to put the ball in the goal area.
"We knew we would go for man-to-man situations. I think we were able to control them for some part of the time, but it was essentially what we expected (from them).”
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