Diomande faces surprise test before official Sporting return | OneFootball

Ousmane Diomande is expected to get some playing time before officially returning to competition for Sporting. The Lions will play a friendly match at the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy before another break, with the aim of taking advantage of the international break to test less-used players.

According to Record newspaper, although the opponent chosen by Rui Borges' team is not yet known, it is expected to be a team from the Lisbon area, or very close to the Portuguese capital. Sporting's coach's main concern is to get the ball to players who are gradually returning, like Diomande, or who have not been in his selections.

The 'number 26' of the Lions is expected to return to competition in the Portuguese Cup, against Paços de Ferreira, but Rui Borges wants the defender to have some action before returning to the field 'for real'. Despite this, the coach knows he has a very reduced group and will have to resort to the academy to compose a starting eleven.

This season, with the Sporting shirt, Ousmane Diomande - valued at 45 million euros - participated in two matches. The international center-back for Ivory Coast was a starter in the Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira, playing 68 minutes against Benfica, and also against Casa Pia, being on the field for 58 minutes, before getting injured.

The green and white emblem will only return to the field on Saturday, October 18th, against Paços de Ferreira. The match, counting for the third round of the Portuguese Cup, against the team led by Filipe Cândido, will be played at the Capital do Móvel Stadium, at 8:15 pm.

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