With Brentford's pre-season camp in Portugal coming to an end, Bees head coach Thomas Frank has discussed the trip and described it as "the best" that the club have done from a training perspective since he arrived in west London in 2018.

A game at Estádio da Luz against Portuguese giants Benfica on Thursday has been sandwiched between intense training sessions at the home of the Portugal national team, where Frank praised the facilities available to his side.

Frank said: “This pre-season has been up there among the best - last year [in America] was amazing because of all the culture and all the other stuff around it, because I think that's a big part of it as well. But the main thing and the most important thing is that we train well. 

“Here, the lads have a top training pitch, gym facilities, recovery and all of that; in that sense, this is the best. These are fantastic training facilities here, we are using the Portuguese Football Federation’s training ground and it’s just top in every area.  

“It’s closely connected with the day rooms inside when we're out here for a whole day, with the restaurant for lunch as well, so this has been super in many ways, I would say.

"It's fantastic, I love [being out on the grass]. We have a similar time at home, but it's just a different location and you just have a bit more time - you can have longer sessions or even double sessions - that's good.

“Another big part of getting out here is that you have the whole day for maybe more meetings or exploring things or team building, all of that. All in all, it’s very good.” 

Discussing the heat in Portugal, the Bees boss added: “There's a couple of things: in the UK, the weather can be a little bit unstable, let's put it that way!

"So there can be days in July where it's still pretty cold but, here, we have more time, it’s no problem, we can stand, we can train hard, break, talk about things - all that I think is very good.  

“And, also, the heat has not been too bad because the humidity is quite good, so you then also have that change of scenery, we’re close to the sea - personally, I like that and I go every morning for a swim!” 

Looking ahead to the 2024/25 Premier League campaign - which he was initially reluctant to do, with there being other pre-season fixtures, countless training sessions and 20 days until the opening game against Crystal Palace - Frank detailed how he aims to keep things fresh for his squad, with some players in their sixth pre-season under the Dane's tutelage.

He stated: “Everyone should be very motivated to go into the Premier League season because you can take nothing for granted and you have to really, really look forward to it. 

“That said, like with everything, even when it is the best thing in the world, when you've done it a few times, you get more used to it - this is good, in a way, so you can trust yourself - but it's still important to freshen it up a little bit. 

“That can be players, that can be drills we're changing, that can be meetings, so we have tried to do that."