Coached Rui Borges before Sporting, says retaining title is tough | OneFootball

Portuguese coach mentored Rui Borges, Sporting’s manager, and recently gave an interview where he spoke about the goals for 25/26

André David gave an interview to the newspaper A Bola, where he spoke about Rui Borges, who was his protégé in 2014/15 at Bragança, when they competed in the Campeonato de Portugal. The Portuguese coach is currently the technical coordinator of Al-Ula FC in Saudi Arabia, and took the opportunity to comment on the current state of the green and white team, and to praise its manager – who recently gave a reward to the players.

"It is in adversity that Rui Borges is strong. He brings everyone together, involving everything and everyone around him to focus on what is important. He is an optimist and has an emotional stability in the face of adversity that is fundamental to his success. The work that mister Rui Borges has done in adversity can give optimism and belief to the fans that they can become three-time champions," André David began by explaining to A Bola.

The Portuguese coach continued his analysis, explaining Rui Borges’ biggest challenges: "Retaining the title. It is very difficult to retain it because the attention will be doubled and it is an arduous task; playing on four fronts, something that requires a level of demand and squad depth that I think Sporting does not have, and replacing Gyokeres, whose numbers during his time at Sporting are hard to match and unique in the history of Sporting and the Portuguese league, not only for the numbers, but for what he represented in the team."

"I still believe that Sporting has the best starting eleven, but does not have the squad depth needed to compete on several fronts. In that respect, Benfica and FC Porto have more depth in their squads. Besides Sporting not being able to sign a left winger, I also see a lot of difficulty in replacing Pedro Gonçalves, Trincão, and Hjulmand, who play a very important role in what they bring to the team," André David added, regarding the quality of the squad under Rui Borges’ command.

He concluded with a positive prediction for the Lions: "I think Sporting has the conditions to retain the title this season. Championships are not won or lost in direct clashes with rivals. I believe the season will be difficult, long, with many competitions, and during the critical periods, whoever gets through those moments best will be champion."

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