João Simões reacts to being benched for Sporting v Braga | OneFootball

Rui Borges chose to leave João Simões out of the match sheet for Sporting - Braga and the player was confused by the decision, Leonino knows. The midfielder tried to understand the reason for being sidelined after the game against Napoli, in which he was a starter and even one of the highlights for the lions in the match.

Sources close to the process revealed, exclusively to our newspaper, that the attitude taken by the coach of the green and whites in the most recent round of the national championship was a topic of conversation between the player and the rest of the team, as he sought the best response to being left out of the match.

At the end of the game, Rui Borges made it clear that it was purely a technical decision. Given this, it is expected that the midfielder - recently called up for the first time to the under-21 national team - will be a regular option for the coach, with the aim of gradually following his development at Sporting.

For now, João Simões ends up having a place as the 'fourth midfielder' of the green and white team. Morten Hjulmand and Hidemasa Morita are the 'preferred' starters for Rui Borges, while Kochorashvili has been coming off the bench according to the needs of each match. However, the young lion will have his importance during a rotation phase of the squad, especially with a tighter schedule.

This season, wearing the Sporting jersey, João Simões - valued at 6 million euros - has played three matches. At the start of the season, the midfielder trained at the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy has 81 minutes: 78 in the Champions League and two in the League. It is worth remembering that the 'number 52' of the lions recently returned from a long injury layoff.

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