Rui Borges explains Sporting's winter window and makes big reveal | OneFootball

In the preview of Sporting - Tondela, held this Tuesday, April 28, Rui Borges was asked about the Lions’ winter transfer window and how it may have influenced the final stretch of the green-and-whites’ season.

"We already had a balanced squad in every position. We knew we could lose Alisson, we lost one and added two, but more with the future in mind. Matheus Reis had the right to choose his future," the coach stressed.

"I couldn’t have predicted there would be so many injuries among 29 players. We brought in Luís Guilherme and he got injured straight away. Faye took a little while to adapt. Meanwhile, Quenda also came back... Only if you want us to have a squad of 50 players — and maybe that will be necessary because there are more and more injuries and the workload players are subjected to is surreal," Rui Borges said, before making a revelation about Daniel Bragança.

"Then we were unlucky with so many traumatic injuries. They know they are at a demanding club and I talk to them a lot, but they know there is always the risk of injury. The team needs them. I’ll even give Dani’s example: at the Dragão, he shouldn’t even have come on. But it deserves praise because he said he wanted to be with the team. He won me over in five seconds because of what that showed about his feelings toward the team. Now he knows that if he gets injured again, he won’t play anymore this season. There has to be honesty and the ability to say when you can or can’t do it. The best doctor is the players themselves. They have to say whether they can be with the team, and I expect that respect from them," he added.

The green-and-white side return to action next Wednesday, April 29, against Tondela. The match, counting for matchday 26 (rescheduled) of the Liga Portugal Betclic, against the side coached by Gonçalo Feio, will be played at 8:15 pm at the José Alvalade Stadium.

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