João Simões slams Lions’ attitude at Santa Clara: No sign of... | OneFootball

João Simões was the author of Sporting’s first goal against Santa Clara, whom the Lions ended up defeating, but only after extra time, by 3-2. At the end of the match, the midfielder admitted that the team was not at its best, but that “attitude overcame inspiration.”

“Santa Clara defended well and, in the only chance they created, they scored. Then we tried to come back, we gave everything to win and move on to the next round. There wasn’t much inspiration but our attitude never failed,” he began, speaking to Sport TV.

“We gave everything we had to give and let the game go to extra time when we could have settled it earlier, and now we have to focus on Tuesday’s match because the League is our main priority. We won this title last year and we always want more,” João Simões added.

Before finishing, the 18-year-old player was asked about the recent praise from Roberto Martínez: “I think I’ve been evolving. My focus is on Sporting because only by playing well for the club can I reach the national team, but that’s not my main focus. I’ve learned a lot from Hjulmand, Morita, Bragança, and Kochorashvili, who are older than me.”

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