Porto jibes, Varandas and fatigue: Rui Borges before Sporting v Vitória | OneFootball

At the press conference ahead of Sporting's match against Vitória SC, in the 32nd round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, Rui Borges congratulated Porto, commented on Frederico Varandas's remarks, and addressed the state of his team. Read everything he said.

"First of all, congratulations to Porto, they were the most consistent team and deserve that credit. Vitória? I know Gil, he is a young man who is steadily getting to where he wants to be, taking the steps he wants to take. I admire him a lot. He is a lad who has fought hard for this. These are different moments, Vitória are stable, very well organised, and have conceded just 1 goal in 4 matches. The coach has clearly had an influence. We are expecting a difficult match. It is a team that is motivated. All those factors make this a bold Vitória side, a team that offensively puts in the most crosses, has a lot of 1v1 situations, and very strong wide players in those moments. Going forward, they have some variety in their dynamics. It is a great team, one with the highest demands. We really want to get back to winning"

Is psychological fatigue an excuse?

"I am not using that as justification, though it does exist. We had to be more efficient, the fatigue is there, but it is not an excuse. I will never cling to excuses. I do not believe in luck or bad luck, it is about competence. There is mental fatigue because of everything this season has been, because of what has happened to us, but that is part of it. We have to know how to deal with that and react. The demands are at the highest level and there are no excuses"

Insults at Porto's celebrations

"It does not deserve a reaction. I am focused on the match, I did not see anything, I am not going to get involved in those wars"

More confidence after Benfica dropped points

"I am naturally confident, it has nothing to do with Benfica's match or not. We still do not depend on ourselves. I am focused on making Sporting more competitive and winning our matches. Understanding how we can improve, trying to keep them switched on and motivated for the final stretch of the league. There is a burden, we moved away from those hopes and objectives, and naturally that had an impact. We have to know how to turn that around. The last few weeks do not reflect what the season has been. It does not erase anything. An enormous source of pride. We need to stabilise and get back to our true level. We have to focus on our own game"

Response to Varandas's statements

"I am not going to single anyone out. I am not going to comment on the president's words. Communication is very honest, clear, healthy. We are well aligned with the ambition, sometimes in these opinions. We had already spoken, we talk about these matters. Would I do everything the same way? Maybe I would. We always try to do our best, to put out the best team we think we can. Given the circumstances, with people unavailable, it is subjective to say whether I would change anything or not. Of course there is frustration because of these two league matches"

Criticism of refereeing and goals conceded

"I am not going to comment, I do not do that. Goals conceded? It is something we have to understand how to improve. It has to do with the matches, with the moments, with the scoreline at the time. That explanation is difficult. Maybe if we are winning 3-0 it is normal that we concede. There are many goals we have conceded from individual actions that we cannot control, in the two matches against Braga, for example. More than that, I think we have the second-best defence in the league"

What was missing for the title

"It depends on how we look at things, at the words. I do not think it has to do with playing it down. It has to do, above all, with the financial power of the best teams in Europe. We will never be able to keep up with that. Right there, no matter how big it is, it will never have that ability to match it. We were very competent, we did a lot, we made Sporting fans proud. We did our best"

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