Rui Borges picks Sporting’s left-footer as man of the match against Estoril | OneFootball

After Sporting's triumph at Estoril Praia's home by 1-0, Rui Borges reviewed the match and was not satisfied with his team's performance at the Estádio António Coimbra da Mota. Nevertheless, the coach praised Maxi Araújo's performance, considering him the best on the field.

“Maxi Araújo? For me, he was the best player of Sporting. He is competitive, with a very unique, contagious energy. He played a great game, at the level he has been showing. He is a great player. He has accustomed us to a high level of demand and he reached it again,” he said at the press conference, after acknowledging that the result was better than the performance.

“The first 25 minutes were good on our part, being intense, competitive and settling in the offensive midfield, with long variations and more width. Then, we fell into some complacency, with too much interior play and many ball losses, leaving Estoril Praia with quick attacks. It's true that over the 90 minutes they had one dangerous move, which was our ball loss and a great save by Rui Silva. At halftime, we called attention to it because the last 15 minutes of the first half did not please me at all.”

The coach said that the drop in performance in the second half was too evident: “In the second half, we were very apathetic and lacked intensity. We let the game fall asleep and were not able to create finishing situations. It was noticeable that some energy was missing. Let this serve as an example for the future. It was the game I liked the least from our team, the only one that left me displeased until today. We needed to have an above-average competitive attitude to leave here with the victory and we were not capable, not only to achieve a different result but also a different performance, above all.”

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