Diomande absence stuns expert, urgent return for Sporting needed | OneFootball

The absence of Ousmane Diomande against Napoli - Sporting surprised Tomás da Cunha. Already recovered from injury, the center-back was not chosen by Rui Borges and the Lions ended up losing 2-1, showing significant problems in physically containing the Italian side.

"Diomande must be completely unprepared to play. Rasmus Højlund looked like Lukaku against Sporting's center-backs and Rui Silva still compromised. Besides that, the introductions of Pedro Gonçalves and Luis Suárez completely changed the decision-making in the connections. They raise the collective level," he wrote on his social media.

The expert also assured that "Sporting fell into Napoli's trap": "The first time they settled in the opposition's half, clearly invited to do so, they allowed exploitation of the space behind. KDB is a specialist and Højlund, with space, has the advantage. Before that, they were rigorous in the plan (Quaresma-McTominay) and solid in the duels."

"The penalty comes from an excellent combination in the central corridor between Pedro Gonçalves and Hjulmand. Maxi Araújo continues in great form. Rui Borges did not hesitate and reinforced Sporting's ability to play in tight spaces. It was already known that there was no direct substitute for Pote in the squad," he explained.

To conclude, Tomás da Cunha summed up the match and again highlighted the importance of the Ivorian: "The way Sporting conceded the two goals and the two missed chances in the second half made the difference in the Champions context. The urgency of Diomande's return remains. João Simões was trained as a right midfielder, but ended up becoming a box-to-box player."

Check out the post and some highlights of Diomande:

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