Rui Borges plans surprise changes for Sporting’s Champions League debut | OneFootball

Sporting is preparing for its debut in this edition of the Champions League, which is scheduled for next Thursday, September 18, against Kairat Almaty. Rui Borges is ready to make some changes to the Lions’ starting eleven for the first round of the millionaires’ competition.

According to information provided by the newspaper Record, the coach of the green and whites may end up using this match for squad ‘management’, at a time when several names are in line to make their debut in the competition of everyone’s dreams: Ricardo Mangas, Georgios Vagiannidis, Fotis Ioannidis, Giorgi Kochorashvili, and even Alisson Santos.

According to the sports daily, the Mangas - Vagiannidis duo could even start the match against the Kazakhs, something that would not be surprising for Sporting fans and has generated some anticipation among the players. Even so, the return of Maxi Araújo could send the Portuguese to the bench.

However, it is possible that the green and white coach will end up making other changes. Rui Borges is aware that Ioannidis is focused on making his Champions League debut, which could open up a spot in the starting eleven. In addition, Rayan Lucas and Bruno Ramos could also be included in Sporting’s squad list for this match.

Sporting will return to the pitch on Thursday, September 18, against Kairat Almaty. The match against the team led by Rafael Urazbakhtin, valid for the first round of the Champions League, will be played at the Estádio José Alvalade and is scheduled to kick off at 8:00 p.m.

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