Injuries, returns, transfers: Rui Borges on Sporting v Casa Pia | OneFootball

Rui Borges spoke to journalists at a press conference previewing Sporting - Casa Pia this Thursday, January 15th. The match is scheduled for next Friday at 8:15 pm at Estádio José Alvalade. Read here everything the Lions’ coach said, from injuries to returns.

Does Álvaro Pacheco’s arrival at Casa Pia make this game more dangerous?

“It makes it more difficult strategically. No matter how much we look to the past, it’s always hard to say how they’ll present themselves in that aspect. We can focus on small things—a very intense team, with good players on the counterattack. We’ll have to solve it within our dynamics and keep building on our growth. Naturally, the team loses some intensity, we haven’t had much training time, a lot is lost regardless of who plays, some of the intensity from before is lost.”

Is there a possibility of Debast returning? Vitória de Guimarães’ win in the Allianz Cup.

“Congratulations for what they achieved, for what it means to the organization—they deserved it, they worked for it. More than deserved. Debast? He trained today. Physically and athletically, he’s there, though he had a longer break. Mangas as well. They’ll be limited in playing time. They might possibly be available for the game.”

How was this week?

“The week was very good, even though we couldn’t be in a final. Partly because they had some rest, which was really necessary. The intensity and commitment were spectacular. It was a very good week, I was happy with the team’s response, but feeling the training sessions being more normal, the competitiveness in training makes me even happier—I needed to feel that. Not because of the defeat, but because of everything that was happening. For the first time, I was a bit down because we had so many people out. The group makes you smile and keeps you believing. The team gave a fantastic response, and I believe we’ll respond tomorrow.”

Morita and Matheus Reis are at the end of their contracts. Do you close the door on them because you need them as players, and how do you have that conversation with management? Nuno Santos, what’s been missing and the reason for the delay?

“Nothing’s wrong, it’s just the injury process and understanding that he has to go through stages. Everyone knew the recovery would take longer. That’s just how he is, his mentality is extraordinary. He told me, ‘Coach, for Ath. Bilbao [on January 28th] you can count on me.’ It’s not easy—only a warrior could be out for so long and keep this mentality, suffering a lot with his teammates. Everything’s normal, he’s just in a longer process, there’s been progress and he’s getting closer to returning, but I can’t give a timeline. He’s an important player for us and for the group, his demands on his teammates are at the highest level. Morita and Matheus Reis? They’re not leaving in this transfer window.”

Is Luis Guilherme ready to start tomorrow? How are Pote and Ionnidis? Any other injuries?

“Diomande is injured. He’s out of the game. I’ve already told the doctor I’m numb, they can poke me as much as they want. He came back from the national team injured. Pote and Fotis? Both are out for now, Pote is in the final stage of recovery, I can’t say if he’ll be ready for PSG, Fotis is day-to-day to see when he’ll be available. Guilherme? He’s a smart kid, I’ve already said he’s someone who can give us solutions in several areas, he likes to play more on the right, but he gives us options on the left and inside. From that perspective, when we look at him, he gives us several solutions, he has very good technical quality, and a huge growth profile. I think he’ll be an important player for Sporting.”

Situation of Daniel Bragança

“There’s Morita, there’s Dani. Dani is different, he had a long break. He’s in the process of getting minutes to grow, this week was important. He’s at 100%, I’m happy to be able to count on him, he’s important for the team, he adds a lot of quality to our dynamics.”

What is a good season for Sporting, realistically? The objectives.

“If we look at the statistics, we’re having a good season, FC Porto is having an extraordinary season. We’re having a good season, but it’s not enough. It’s not enough to be champions again, what we’ve done in the last two years won’t be enough. We’ve got 42 points, we need to do more in the second half because it wasn’t enough to be in first. We need to be very aware of that, our goal is to do better and we have to do it. We have a tie with AVS to play at home [Portuguese Cup]. We’re going to fight as hard as we can for those two objectives and do our best in the Champions League.”

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