Rui Borges on Pedro Gonçalves, Porto row and Sporting v Estrela | OneFootball

Rui Borges was present at the press conference previewing the Sporting – Estrela da Amadora match, part of the 12th round of Liga Portugal Betclic, which will take place on November 30th at Estádio de Alvalade, at 6:00 PM. He spoke about the return of Pedro Gonçalves, the controversy with Porto, and Geovany Quenda’s minutes during the conversation with journalists.

Analysis of Estrela da Amadora

"Above all, it’s a competitive team, with a new coach working on his style of play. Even with the change, they continued with a back five. Now, they’ve opted for a back four, which is probably the idea he wants for his team. They come in motivated, had the break to work on their dynamics. They have many new players, a team effective in crossing. Within their qualities and identity, they’ll try to create danger. We’re playing at home, we want to maintain our quality of play, we want to keep that going and get the 3 points."

Pote’s return to training: will he get minutes tomorrow? You’re about to complete 50 games on Sporting’s bench...

"That milestone makes me happy, it’s a round number. Valuing our journey as a coaching staff, I’m happy with what we’ve done in these 50 games, being two-time champions, winning the Cup. We keep putting our stamp on things. I want to keep being as happy as I have been. Our work always speaks for us. Pote? He’s called up, we’ll see. We won’t expose him to anything he’s not comfortable with. He’s 100%. We’ll make the best decision, he’s an important player, has had a fantastic start. May he come back as he was. He’s a reference for all of us, even for our opponents."

Derby and trip to Munich: did you take care to send a special message to the players?

"The message is ‘E. Amadora’. We haven’t talked about anything else, it’s the next game. As Pote said, our Champions League is the league. We played a good game, but it was just one game. Now, the focus is on Estrela. That’s it. Nothing else is discussed."

Sporting has scored in 90 consecutive matches at Alvalade. Is attacking play the strong point? Is Pote your trump card, did you welcome him with a big smile...

"I welcome everyone with a smile, they deserve it for who they are as people and players. The day at the academy is very happy, he will play, Quenda will play. They’re ready to respond. They have a lot of respect for each other, which makes my job easier when it comes to handling minor frustrations. It’s normal that they all want to play, we have to know how to deal with that. Super calm. Quenda has responded well in every position. I’m happy with Quenda’s growth in that sense. We’re a big team, national champions, so naturally we’ll have a bigger attacking process than usual, like almost all teams. What’s important is to understand that we have to keep going in that direction and improve. It’s also important to know where we are and where we can improve our attacking flow, make it more effective, balanced, so we’re not so exposed to counterattacks. All that’s left is to show and try to make the team grow collectively to be more effective."

Scheduling of matches: are you satisfied with Sporting’s calendar until the end of the year?

"It’s not about being satisfied. It was set, we already played less than 48 hours later for the League Cup and we didn’t complain. FC Porto postponed, they have one more now. It is what it is. Finding solutions is more important than anything else. The players just want to play, they want to play every two days, they just want the ball. I won’t say much more about it."

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