Viktor Gyökeres marked an era in Alvalade with 97 goals in two seasons. Therefore, on the eve of returning to the José Alvalade Stadium, to face Sporting, in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, wearing the Arsenal shirt, the Swede’s name was the most talked about in the pre-game press conference with the English.
Rui Borges started by saying that the objective is to “make the dream come true”. Which is like saying eliminate the gunners and reaching the Champions League semi-finals, a place never reached by the Lions: “That’s what drives us, marking the history of a great club like Sporting. We believe we can continue to do something different and extraordinary. May our fans continue to make Alvalade a magical place, as they have done this season.”
The Leonine coach also refused to give favoritism to Arsenal and explained why: “At this stage of the Champions League, you cannot give favoritism to anyone. There will be two great teams competing in an advanced round of the competition, two teams that have marked their journey in a positive way. Sporting only has victories at home in this Champions League and when no one expected it, they ended up in the top-8. I don’t believe there is clear favoritism. I do believe that our fans will be able to make a small difference against a team that is clearly one of the top 3 in Europe.”
Afterwards he was bombarded with questions about the Swede and whether he had a special plan to stop the top scorer, who despite being a danger on the loose, will have the right to a special plan: “Within the collective, we have to be able to stop it. Great players, no matter how well we know them, can make a difference. It will certainly be well received by all of us because it marked the history of Sporting and Portuguese football and deserves this recognition.”
A return that will be faced “without resentment”, according to Rui Borges. Even though the exit was turbulent and with an exchange of unfriendly words between the Swede’s manager and the president of Sporting, Frederico Varandas. “They reached a good agreement for both parties and everything ended as it should have ended, both for Sporting and for the player. I wanted to take this step in my career and we respected it. Sporting will continue to win and be a great club, even with a change of coaches and players. In relation to Viktor, I wish him the best of luck in the world, I’m sure he will be well received by everyone because the admiration is great“, highlighted the Leonine coach.
After an ineffective start to the season in terms of finishing, which led to some distrust, the Swedish striker scored 17 goals for Arsenal. “I believe that at an early stage of the championship he had an adaptation, mainly due to the idea of Arsenal’s game and also because of the way they play in England. But he is still a great striker and now he is back to what he does well: scoring goals. It is normal for fans to be suspicious at the beginning, even due to the monetary value [da transferência]but then the truth came out. He’s a great player”, defended Rui Borges.
And is Diomande the ideal defender to mark Gyökeres? “There are two players, super competitive and it’s normal for them to spark, but spark in the good sense of the word. To stop Viktor we have four great central defenders. Anyone, in their own way, is capable of responding”, he replied without giving any clue about the scheme or tactics he will use against the English.
“I’m not going to stay here talking about the strategy, otherwise Arsenal will know everything we’re going to do. It’s a team full of individual quality. We have to be more focused collectively than even individually. The focus and rigor have to be even greater in these games. This team, in a thousandth of a second of our distraction, makes a dent. Within their collective, there is some variability, not just in the midfielders, it has a lot to do with the wingers, with the full-backs, but we will be very prepared for that”, warned the mirandelenense.
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