"I enjoy that, I think it works better for the way we work, but we need to give ourselves a chance for next Thursday. At St James' Park we can beat anybody. This is the decider in terms of how difficult that's going to be. We need to put on a performance where we can take something back to give us a chance."
Newcastle travelled to Portugal following successive league defeats, which have dragged them back into the relegation danger zone.
With a home game against Fulham sandwiched between the Europa League quarter-final games, which is followed by a potentially crucial derby game against Sunderland, Newcastle have to be careful domestic form does not suffer, regardless of the outcome here.
"It's not easy to forget about the Premier League," said Pardew. "Wigan and Southampton winning their home games has put pressure on us. That is something we have to address in Premier League games.
"We've had criticism for not taking the Europa League seriously, and a couple of journalists even suggested that we now take the Europa League too seriously and that is a subject because of our Premier League position.
"We are not taking anything over one competition. We try to enter every game to win it. We've not been at full strength for a lot of games this year and, again, I don't think I'm at full strength. But we've tried and been honest in all our performances.
"Our form has been quite good up until the last two games. One where we had a terrible decision at Wigan in terms of how that result went against us. And we got beat by a fabulous team in Manchester City.
"That hasn't really changed my opinion of our team. I think our team is a strong team. It's got the confidence to progress in this competition, and I think we have got the confidence and the quality to ensure our safety in the Premier League regardless of injuries."
Benfica manager Jorge Jesus said: "It's not important where Newcastle are in the league. It doesn't matter we are top of the league in Portugal, every league is different and has no bearing on Europe. They are a strong team who have only lost one game in 12 in the Europa League, so it's going to be a good game. We're more or less at the same level.
"They play a little bit differently to other English teams. They are quite direct and move very quickly from defence to attack so we have to be prepared for that."
Newcastle (4-2-3-1, probable): Krul; Simpson, S Taylor, Yanga-Mbiwa, Santon; Perch, Cabaye; Jonas, Sissoko, Marveaux; Cissé.
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