Rui Borges on the penalty and team attitude after Santa Clara v Sporting | OneFootball

Rui Borges spoke about all the topics of the Santa Clara - Sporting match, which the Lions won 3-2 in extra time, advancing to the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup. The coach of the green and whites analyzed the match played by his team and also the controversial incident that marked the encounter

Match Analysis

"It was a very competitive game, as we expected. A difficult game against a very competitive opponent, well-organized, and hard to face at home. We started well, scored a goal, but then we let Santa Clara grow in some transition moments, exposed, with many players in the offensive process and some ball losses on our part, sometimes with passes we didn't need to make, we should have been a bit more patient. They ended up scoring the equalizer in a transition play, a 1vs1, they are aggressive in that verticality process and attacking the opponent's goal. The first half then became very competitive and evenly matched after the equalizer. We started better in the second half with the ball, adjusted one or two details in the first stage of construction, controlled the game more with the ball, and created two or three chances near Santa Clara's goal. And I think that in the only real dangerous moment Santa Clara had near our goal, in the 85th minute, they ended up making it 2-1. Then there was the incident in the area, we equalized, and then in extra time, our physical side came through a bit as well. We controlled the game, scored the 3-2, and Santa Clara didn't create any dangerous moments for us at that time."

Team Difficulties

"Difficulties will happen, as is logical. There are some changes, but I won't cling to that. It was noticeable that we didn't have the same overall energy. It wasn't very individual nor the connections, because we even started well in a difficult game against a low block and, as I said, a very aggressive and intense team in duels. The spaces are tight with a team that is so cohesive and so low. They don't give us that space. We knew how we had to have the ball, which is why I say we even started well. Then we ended up getting into that excess of unnecessary ball losses and letting the opponent gain some transitions. But I think in the future it has nothing to do with that. We have to juggle adapting players, placing them in areas where they haven't played. We don't have training time for that adaptation. We have to adapt within the players we have. There are people who are not at 100% because many people are sick, with colds and viruses. It was noticeable that, in general, we weren't with that energy at the top. But above all, we remained calm, focused. In the second half, we clearly showed that concentration, we didn't let Santa Clara enter as many transitions as we did in the first half, and we controlled the game better. Within our options, we will have to adapt, and that cannot be an excuse."

Refereeing

"Incidents happen in all games, so it's not just in this one. In all games, there are incidents. I didn't see the incident, so if it was judged, I'm not going to discuss the refereeing. It took so long to award a penalty. On our part, we converted, equalized, and then we were better in extra time."

Controversial Penalty

"I didn't see any image. I'm not going to talk about game incidents. I want to value both teams on the field, that's all."

"We really want to fight for a trophy that is ours, but we know we have to overcome these stages. We have to think about the next league game, which is another difficult away match."

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