João Simões slams Lions’ attitude at Santa Clara: "There was no..." | OneFootball

João Simões was the author of Sporting's first goal against Santa Clara, which the Lions ended up winning, only after extra time, by 3-2. At the end of the match, the midfielder admitted that the team was not at its best, but that "attitude surpassed inspiration."

"Santa Clara defended well and, in the only opportunity they created, scored a goal. Then we tried to come back, we gave everything to win and move on to the next stage. There wasn't much inspiration but the attitude didn't fail," he began by saying, in statements to Sport TV.

"We gave everything we had to give and let the game go to extra time when we could have resolved it earlier, and now we focus on Tuesday's game because the League is our main focus. We won this title last year and we always want more," João Simões added.

Before concluding, the 18-year-old player was asked about the recent praise from Roberto Martínez: "I think I have been evolving. My focus is on Sporting because only by playing well at the club can I reach the national team, but that is not my focus. I have learned a lot from Hjulmand, Morita, Bragança, and Kochorashvili who are older than me."

This season, wearing the Sporting jersey, João Simões - valued at 15 million euros - has played 13 matches. The midfielder trained at the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy has already accumulated 697 minutes:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.