Rui Borges reveals Sporting star’s fitness struggles: he was shattered | OneFootball

Rui Borges revealed that Luís Suárez was struggling physically before the Paços de Ferreira - Sporting match. The green and white coach spoke to Sporttv’s microphones in the usual flash interview at the end of the match that sealed the Lions’ qualification for the fourth round of the Portuguese Cup.

"We have to improve, we tried to do so with the substitutions, and I think today we managed it, with Ivan, Matheus, Geny," Rui Borges began, mentioning some of the players who came off the bench and ended up being important in Sporting’s victory.

The green and white coach continued, also taking the opportunity to praise the opponent: "We kept adding, trying to put more people in to finish. We managed it, we had to go to extra time, but that’s how it is, that’s football, congratulations to Paços."

Asked whether he was forced to play the team’s biggest stars, Rui Borges explained: "It wasn’t a heavy workload... you could see that Luís was worn out, we tried to spare him. We knew the international break had taken a huge toll, the same with Geny, we knew they didn’t have much time."

"Apart from that, the guys did well, with a lot of commitment and a lot of energy. The team fought hard, against an opponent who also fought hard and deserved to go to extra time," concluded the Sporting coach, refusing to criticize the team after the hard-fought victory against Paços de Ferreira.

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