Coach Rui Borges pointed out this Monday, March 16, that Sporting lives on belief and ambition to reverse the round of 16 of the Champions League with Bodo/Glimt, seeking to make an “almost perfect” duel.
“I know the difficulties are great, but I really believe in the resilience and individual and collective capacity that this team has demonstrated throughout the season. The team really wants to give another image and show that it is capable of continuing to mark Sporting’s history in a positive way. We know that we will have to play an almost perfect game and we will strive for that. The ambition is enormous”, he expressed.
In a pre-game press conference, Rui Borges considered that the The second leg match will be “necessarily different”, due to the very favorable result for the Norwegian team, who won 3-0.
“[Na primeira mão] We were not able to give the right intensity to the task to be able to nullify Bodo/Glimt. We are going to have to be even more ambitious, courageous and daring. We know we have to score goals, but we can’t score to avoid making the result even worse. We will be aware of the dangers we will face at times, but we have to be prepared for anything”, he highlighted.
The coach praised Bodo/Glimt’s “very unusual” physical capacity, a crucial factor in the way they have managed to overcome several candidates for victory in the Champions League, but recalled Sporting’s trajectory throughout the competition.
“If there is a team that is capable, due to its resilience and ability to respond, it is ours. And if there is a stadium capable of extraordinary things, it is ours. The fans will be an extraordinary force so that, together, we can make a positive story and continue to grow”, he highlighted.
Rui Borges, 44 years old, had doubts about the physical availability of Brazilian winger Luís Guilherme, who suffered a sprain in training on Sunday and was undergoing assessments today, and spoke of the postponement of the reception to Tondela for the championship.
“We took advantage of something that the regulations allowed. We had highly demanding games and it was good to be able to rest a little for the two round of 16 games. We have the right to have more days to recover as much as possible, so the team is increasingly capable of responding”, highlighted the coach, born in Mirandela.
Sporting and Bodo/Glimt face each other on Tuesday, starting at 5:45 pm, at the José Alvalade Stadium, in Lisbon, in a match valid for the second leg of the round of 16 of the Champions League, refereed by the Swiss Sandro Schärer.
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