Rui Borges rows with journalist before Vitória v Sporting: I'm no liar | OneFootball

Rui Borges previewed the Vitória de Guimarães - Sporting match and was once again questioned about the images he was viewing on the tablet during the game against Santa Clara, when the match was stopped for 12 minutes waiting for João Pinheiro's decision. The coach of the lions ended up responding to the journalists and asked for respect.

"Unfortunately, we live in a society that is sad, at times. There is a lot of disrespect towards Sporting and the coach of Sporting. Fortunately, I had a good upbringing, given by my parents, with many values. Perhaps that's why I am now representing Sporting. It makes me sad because I am anything but a liar. I hadn't seen the play. I saw the play on the plane, to be honest. I explain with all pleasure. At home, we have two tablets, one with the Sport TV broadcast and another with our open channel, our image. In an open angle, it's impossible to see the images. The tablet is more for viewing clips that I request during the game, for us to watch and discuss during halftime or the game, to adjust behaviors, and that's what happened against Santa Clara. The image is there, but it's an open angle, you can't analyze it, that's why you see me looking at the tablet," he began by saying.

"And, as they wasted time looking for an image of the coach looking at the tablet, they could have wasted time seeing that, at no point, did the coach tell the players on the bench... They asked 'Coach, is it a penalty?', and I said 'I don't know, you can't see it'. They could see one of my assistants later, with a phone in hand, trying to open videos sent by the club's communication, and we couldn't even do that because of the Internet. At no point did I look at the phone, nor did he manage to see it. I waited 12 minutes for a decision, just that. When I said I didn't see the image, I didn't see the image. I saw it on the plane. People, when they talk about the Sporting coach looking at the tablet, it's all guesswork. Did anyone see the tablet image? So how are they guessing? 'The coach is looking at the tablet, saw the image'... It makes me sad because we live in a society that often feeds on hate, especially when, in football, there are many people with short and selective memories, at times. It makes me sad. I saw the play, it's a play that has happened several times in other games. It's the referee's criteria. My captain says there's a touch, you can see the touch, and then it's the referee's criteria. They've whistled in some plays, not in others... It's football. I won't talk more about the game with Santa Clara, I won't talk about refereeing, because I've answered everything and more, and sometimes there's a lack of respect towards the Sporting coach, and it's not just today. It's closed. Today, I only talk about Vitória SC," Rui Borges stated.

Currently, the green and whites occupy the second position in the National Championship table, with 35 points. Benfica is in third place, with 32, while Porto leads the competition with 40 points.

Sporting returns to the field next Tuesday, December 23, against Vitória de Guimarães. The match, counting for the 15th round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, against the team led by Luís Pinto, will be played at Estádio D. Afonso Henriques, at 8:45 PM.

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