Reason revealed for Pote missing training ahead of Sporting v Kairat | OneFootball

Pedro Gonçalves has been called up for the Sporting - Kairat match and it is possible that, as usual, he will be one of the choices for the green and whites’ starting eleven. Although he did not train with his teammates in the last session before the Champions League debut, the player is fit to play.

According to information revealed by the newspaper Record, the ‘number 8’ of the Lions was only managed as a precaution, which is why he stayed in the gym while the rest of the team was on the pitch at the Cristiano Ronaldo Academy and, as the coach admitted in the pre-match press conference, he is part of the squad list.

However, also in case of need, Rui Borges ended up testing Ricardo Mangas as a left winger, even though he has been used as a full-back since arriving at Sporting in the last transfer window. With Pote absent from training, the Lions’ coach had to adapt the player.

During the first 15 minutes of open training, Pote’s absence was noticeable, as he is doing restricted work in the gym just one day before the Lions’ debut in the millionaires’ competition. Besides the ‘number 8’, Rui Silva, Ousmane Diomande, Geny Catamo, Nuno Santos, and Daniel Bragança are also absent.

Sporting will be back on the pitch on Thursday, September 18, against Kairat Almaty. The match against the team led by Rafael Urazbakhtin, valid for the first round of the Champions League, will be played at Estádio José Alvalade and is scheduled to kick off at 8:00 p.m.

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