Sporting defence cost six points, Rui Borges demands change | OneFootball

Sporting’s central defense has been at the heart of several of the problems seen in this early stage of the season. Eduardo Quaresma, Gonçalo Inácio and Zeno Debast have made mistakes at key moments, and the Lions have already let six points slip in three league matches in which they had been ahead.

The first warning sign came right in the opening round, against Estrela da Amadora. Sporting were leading 2-0, but allowed the Reboleira side to come back, with Eduardo Quaresma in the spotlight in the move that led to Leandro Antonetti’s goal in the 72nd minute.

“We can’t become complacent. Quaresma had a great game and stained his performance in that moment,” said Rui Borges after the match. Rui Silva also ended up making a costly mistake later on, in the move that allowed Beni Souza to level the score.

Gonçalo Inácio later joined the list of negative protagonists. The center-back first scored an own goal against Galatasaray in the Champions League, when he tried to intercept a ball and ended up wrong-footing Rui Silva. In that case, however, the mistake had no impact on the result, since Sporting came from behind to win 3-1.

The scenario was different away at Famalicão. After Luis Suárez had put the Lions ahead from the penalty spot, and with the opposition already down to ten men, Gonçalo Inácio scored another own goal, this time in stoppage time. The move resulted in the equalizer and cost Sporting two points.

In the following round, against Arouca, it was Zeno Debast who worsened the problems. With the green-and-whites leading 2-0, the Belgian international was sent off in the 54th minute for a hard challenge, leaving Rui Borges’ team a man down for virtually the entire second half.

Eduardo Quaresma came on shortly afterwards to shore up the central defense, but he also ended up being involved in Arouca’s comeback. The center-back conceded the penalty that allowed the visitors to reduce the deficit, before the opposing side later found the equalizer.

Between Estrela da Amadora, Famalicão and Arouca, Sporting therefore threw away six points after having been in front. It is a trend Rui Borges is trying to correct as the team prepares to return to league action with a demanding trip to Braga.

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