Fernando Mendes: Sporting deserve neither the title nor 2nd | OneFootball

Fernando Mendes downplays Sporting’s current situation, but he does not hide the harshness of his assessment of Rui Borges’ team’s performances, after the draw with Tondela (2-2) and the loss of crucial points at this stage of the Liga Portugal Betclic.

“Sporting do not deserve to be champions and do not deserve to be in 2nd place and qualify for the Champions League. That is the reality”, he said, pointing to the high number of injuries and the physical drop-off of key players as the main causes: “A lot of injured players, players in poor physical condition, some of them important to the team structure. It’s one injury after another, some of which I can’t understand why. Therefore, Sporting are in the place they deserve".

The former full-back spreads the responsibility across the entire structure, including the coach, the players and, above all, the scouting department, which he believes failed in the winter market: “There should have been greater care in the winter market. Porto knew how to make the most of the window and strengthened well. Benfica, for better or worse, secured Rafa and Lopes Cabral. As for Sporting, they signed Luís Guilherme, who was even in a good spell, but got injured, and Souleymane Faye, for me, a real disappointment".

Even so, Fernando Mendes does not question the coach’s renewal: “He is also to blame for the current moment. As they all are — the players and, especially, the scout. But I agree with the continuity of Rui Borges”, adding that a likely third place “is no drama at all”, recalling that “the others also have merit”.

Finally, he was critical of the team’s reaction after their Champions League elimination against Arsenal: “The two matches with Arsenal should have been motivating for the games that came next. The thinking should have been: ‘We had a great Champions League campaign.’ So it should have been motivating, and the reality is that they lost seven points in the league after being knocked out of the Champions League, four of them against one team that had already been relegated and another that is at risk of the same,” he concluded.

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