Sporting hosts Portimonense, in the 32nd round of the Portuguese Football League, starting at 18:00, at the José Alvalade Stadium, in Lisbon, refereed by Iancu Vasilica (AF Vila Real).
The Sporting coach once again addressed his future in a press conference previewing the meeting with Portimonense, counting for the Portuguese First Football League, relegating this Saturday’s game almost to the background.
The ‘lions’ host the Algarve on Saturday, in a match on the 32nd round, scheduled to start at 6pm, at the José Alvalade Stadium, in Lisbon, and refereed by Iancu Vasilica (AF Vila Real).
The team coached by Rúben Amorim leads the championship, with 81 points, five more than Benfica, and could become national champion in this round, if they beat the Algarve and the ‘reds’ don’t do the same on Sunday, during the visit to Famalicão.
In this sense, he once again stated that “the faster” he secures the title “the better”, demonstrating that he has no preference for doing so at the end of a game or watching a rival match on television, and recalled that “We still need” to win six points and “anything can happen”.
“We don’t think we can be champions this week, because we think [apenas] in what we can control, having two more victories. But we can do one and take a very big step in this aspect”, he assumed.
When welcoming the Algarve team, who are still fighting to remain in the top flight, Sporting’s coach revealed that striker Viktor Gyökeres “is fit and will play”, but did not reveal whether he will do so from the start or from the bench.
But the Algarvians don’t want to make it easy, with the Portimonense coach saying that his team wants to “complicate life” against the “greatly superior” Sporting and should ignore the fact that the ‘lions’ are close to winning the national football title.
“We know the task will be difficult, but our intention, our mentality is always the same. It’s trying to set things up in such a way as to make life difficult for an opponent who, we obviously recognize, is vastly superior. We have to find a strategy, an attitude, a way of competing that allows us to play the game against an opponent of this value”, stated Paulo Sérgio, at the press conference previewing the match of the 32nd round of the I League.
Sporting is five points away from its 20th national title and can become Portuguese football champions at the weekend, if they win at home to Portimonense, on Saturday, and Benfica do not win at Famalicão’s home, on Sunday.
“This is the reality of Sporting, a big club at a time like this. Our reality is different, we have to look at ourselves and we have to continue what we have done competently in the last few rounds. And improve, if possible”, he stressed.
