Porto jibes, Varandas and fatigue: Rui Borges before Sporting v Vitória SC | OneFootball

At the preview press conference for Sporting's match against Vitória SC, in the 32nd round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, Rui Borges congratulated Porto, commented on Frederico Varandas' remarks, and spoke about the state of his team. See everything he said.

Congratulations to Porto and what to expect from Vitória SC

"First of all, congratulations to Porto, they were the most consistent team and they deserve that credit. Vitória? I know Gil, he’s a young coach who is steadily getting where he wants to be, taking the steps he wants to take. I admire him a lot. He’s a lad who has fought hard for this. These are different moments; Vitória are stable, very well organized, and have conceded just 1 goal in 4 matches. You can clearly see the coach’s influence. A difficult match awaits us. It’s a team that is motivated. All those factors make this a bold Vitória side, a team that, offensively, delivers the most crosses, has a lot of 1v1 situations, with wing-backs who are very strong in those moments. In attacking terms, they show quite a bit of variety in their patterns. It’s a great team, with maximum demands. We really want to get back to winning"

Is psychological fatigue an excuse?

"I won’t use that as justification, though it does exist. We had to be more competent; the fatigue is there, but it’s not an excuse. I will never hide behind excuses. I don’t believe in luck or bad luck, it’s about competence. There is mental fatigue because of everything this season has been, because of what has happened to us, but that’s part of it. We have to know how to deal with that and respond. The demands are maximum and there are no excuses"

Insults during Porto’s celebrations

"It doesn’t deserve a reaction. I’m focused on the match, I didn’t see anything, and I’m not going to get involved in those wars"

More confidence after Benfica dropped points

"I’m naturally confident, it has nothing to do with Benfica’s match or not. We still do not depend on ourselves. I’m focused on us being a more competitive Sporting and winning our matches. Understanding how we can improve, trying to keep them switched on and motivated for the final stretch of the league. There is a burden; we moved away from those desires and objectives, so naturally that had an impact. We have to know how to turn that around. The last few weeks do not reflect what the season has been. It erases nothing. Enormous pride. We have to stabilize and get back to our true level. We have to focus on our own match"

Response to Varandas’ statements

"I’m not going to single anyone out. I’m not going to comment on the president’s words. The communication is very honest, clear, healthy. We are very much aligned with the ambition, sometimes in these opinions. We had already spoken, we talk about these matters. Would I do everything the same way? Maybe I would. We always try to do our best, to put out the best team we think possible. Given the circumstances, with people out, it’s subjective to say whether I would change things or not. Of course there is frustration because of these two league matches"

Criticism of refereeing and goals conceded

"I’m not going to comment, I don’t do that. Goals conceded? It’s something we have to understand how to improve. It has to do with the matches, with the moments, with the scoreline at the time. That explanation is difficult. Maybe if we’re winning 3-0 it’s normal that we concede. Many of the goals we have conceded have come from individual actions we can’t control, in the two matches against Braga, for example. More than that, I think we have the second-best defense in the league"

What went wrong in the title race

"It depends on the way we look at things, at the words. I don’t think it has to do with downplaying anything. Above all, it has to do with the financial power of Europe’s best clubs. We will never be able to keep up with that. Right there, no matter how big the club is, it will never have the capacity to match that. We were very competent, we did a lot, we made Sporting fans proud. We did our best"

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