Rui Borges still hopeful key starter will feature in Sporting v Porto | OneFootball

Rui Borges still hopes that Ousmane Diomande will recover in time to start in the Sporting - Porto match. Lions and dragons will face each other next Saturday, August 30, in the first classic of the season, counting for the fourth round of the Liga Portugal Betclic.

The Sporting team returned to training this Tuesday, aiming for this home match against Porto, but without any good news for Rui Borges: Ousmane Diomande, Nuno Santos, Maxi Araújo, Daniel Bragança, and Hidemasa Morita are still under the care of the Performance Unit, recovering from their respective injuries.

However, there is a standout case among the five: the Sporting structure remains hopeful that the Ivorian central defender can recover in time for the game against Porto, as he started the season as an undisputed starter for Rui Borges, paired with Gonçalo Inácio.

In this regard, the Performance Unit is working against the clock to try to recover Ousmane Diomande in time for this game, important to maintain the tremendous start the lions have had in the 2025/26 season. It should be remembered that the defender was injured on the back of his right thigh, right in the first round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, which ended with a green and white victory against Casa Pia.

Ousmane Diomande has been replaced by Zeno Debast in the lions' defensive axis. The Belgian has been performing well, but there is a factor that worries Rui Borges: defensive set-pieces, where the Ivorian is usually a crucial element. It should be noted that, in Sporting's last game against Nacional, the green and white team conceded a goal from a corner kick and was close to conceding in similar situations.

Check out this video of Ousmane Diomande's recovery:

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