While there's life, Suárez and cruelty: Rui Borges on Sporting - Benfica | OneFootball

After Sporting’s defeat to Benfica (2-1), Rui Borges spoke to journalists in a press conference, where he analyzed the performance. The coach was asked about the European hangover, the fact that they keep dropping points in big games, and the possibility of having ‘handed’ the title to Porto. Read everything he said.

What positives do you take from it?

"The positive I take is the team’s ambition from the beginning to the end of the game. Maybe we paid a little for that ambition, for wanting so badly to win the match. We started very well. The penalty situation affected the team a little and we started missing a lot of passes. We gave them a lot of what they wanted. Benfica always played on the counterattack and created two chances that way. We paid for our boldness in continuing to go for the goal after it became 1-1. We tried to press, we went heavily for man-to-man marking and without dropping our lines. Individually and collectively, I couldn’t have asked for more"

Belief in the title

"It becomes harder, but we have to keep doing our job. We have to keep fighting to be happy, because mathematically it is still possible. Even with all the wear and tear the team has gone through, they have given a great response. Nothing erases our journey. This defeat does not erase the path we have taken, which has been fantastic, and on Wednesday we have another match to play for another trophy that is ours"

Do you fear a negative impact?

"I said right away that the Champions League would not create any impact, only pride in what we did and in the way we competed against Arsenal. Now we have to immediately turn our focus to another difficult match on Wednesday. We have to focus on being able to play another final and keep the team switched on, but I have no doubt that we will give a good response"

Dropping points again in a big game

"You deal with it, that’s football. It’s about understanding why we lost or drew (because we didn’t lose all the games). In one year we beat the big teams more often and this year we haven’t... That’s all"

Luis Suárez’s missed penalty

"Honestly, I didn’t have any particular word of encouragement. He knows very well the confidence we have in him, and the team has in him. It’s not one moment that defines Luis. The ball that hit the bar could also have gone in, or the one that hit the post. It was one moment and of course the team became more anxious. But this moment does not take away in any way the confidence we have in him"

Refereeing, Pote and Porto

"As for Pote, I’m not going to answer because those are choices. You would pick a team and take out and put in whoever you wanted. As for the referee, there were three great teams on the pitch and what I said yesterday happened: the referee did very well. As for Porto, they can’t order it in, and we will fight as long as it is possible. It becomes harder, but while there is life, we will fight for it"

The cruelty of football

"If we had won the two matches against Braga, we would be fighting for the championship and Benfica would be behind us, because they don’t beat mid-table teams. Football is very subjective. Today we paid heavily for our boldness, because we only wanted to win the game. That is the cruelty of football. I don’t even think it was about freshness, because Benfica had two dangerous moments. From the starting eleven, we understood what Benfica wanted. To play on the counterattack and with quick attacks. I said the fatigue would not be an excuse, and it isn’t. I am very proud of what the lads did, and that’s football"

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