Rui Borges plans a surgical change to Sporting’s starting eleven | OneFootball

Rui Borges is expected to make just one change in Sporting's starting eleven for the reception of Kairat, compared to his choices for the last game against Famalicão. Ricardo Mangas is expected to return to the bench and Maxi Araújo returns to the starting lineup.

Even though he only added a few minutes in the fifth round of the Liga Portugal Betclic, the Uruguayan international has already been authorized to add more playing time, something that should happen in the lions' debut in the Champions League, given the coach's goal of managing the squad in a tight schedule phase.

Despite the return of Hidemasa Morita to training and the call-up list, Rui Borges is expected to opt to keep Morten Hjulmand and Giorgi Kochorashvili starting, as the Japanese will have to gradually enter Sporting's team, so that no more unnecessary risks with injuries are taken.

Sporting will return to the field 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 José Alvalade Stadium and is scheduled to kick off at 20:00.

In the league phase of the millionaire competition, remember, Sporting will face not only Kairat, but also Napoli (on October 1, at the Diego Armando Maradona Stadium), Marseille (on October 22, at Alvalade), Juventus (on November 4, at the Juventus Stadium), Club Brugge (on November 26, at Alvalade), Bayern Munich (on December 9, at the Allianz Arena), PSG (on January 20, at Alvalade) and, finally, Athletic Bilbao (on January 28, at San Mamés).

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