Rui Barreiro rues Sporting star's absence: it'd be him and 10 more | OneFootball

Rui Barreiro, a former member of the Conselho Leonino, analysed the Lions’ start to the league season and did not hold back in his criticism of Rui Borges, especially over the decisions made in the 2-2 draw against Estrela da Amadora, arguing thatRafael Nel should have been in the starting XI.

"Starting the Primeira Liga on the wrong foot is never good, of course. I wouldn’t say it’s worrying, because it’s the first match, there’s a long way to go in the league to recover, and certainly other teams fighting for the title will also drop points, but it’s never good to start by dropping points", he told 'Notícias ao Minuto'.

Even so, Rui Barreiro believes the draw in Reboleira extended a problem already identified last season: "There is starting to be a pattern with Rui Borges in this matter, and this pattern needs to change, because we lost the 2025/26 championship largely because we dropped points after dominating matches. In fact, the blame always lies with Rui Borges, who is the coach, and therefore the main person responsible".

Among the most contested decisions was taking off Fotis Ioannidis after the striker had scored, in order to bring on Luis Suárez: "Taking off Ioannidis made no sense at all. He had just scored a goal. Suárez? If he needed another month to rest, and if he had even behaved badly, according to the reports that came out during the week, then it would probably have done him good to stay on the bench and let another player come on", he said.

In that regard, he regretted Rafael Nel not being used: "Nel should have been in the starting XI. If it were up to me, based only on what I saw in pre-season, in this match against Estrela da Amadora it had to be him plus 10 others. Intensity, dedication and commitment to the game have to be rewarded, and Nel responded well to the opportunities he was given":

The criticism, however, was not focused exclusively on Rui Borges, and he also pointed the finger at Frederico Varandas, the players and even the refereeing: "The blame always lies with everyone involved, and the first of all is Federico Varandas, who is the main person responsible. Rui Silva was called upon and was not good, not on the first goal, and even less on the second... There needs to be some calm, and there needs to be a response from the coach and the players in the next match":

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