On Wednesday, October 22nd, Sporting will host Marseille, an opponent with a bad memory. In the only two official games between the two, in the group stage of the 2022/23 Champions League, the Leonine team suffered two defeats: 4-1 in Marseille and 2-0 in Alvalade. Now, the Leonine team is looking for its second victory in three games in the 2025/26 Champions League.
The opponent is in first place in the French championship and this has to motivate the Lions even more. “If we want to be in this competition we want to face the best at the best stages. We respected the quality of the coach during the draw phase, we are looking at many things to adapt our stance. They are in a good phase of the season, the quality is clear, they like to have the ball, they are a team with a lot of capacity to score goals”, warned Rui Borges, praising De Zerbi’s work at Marseille.
After two games without winning, Sporting was forced to play extra time in the Portuguese Cup, to eliminate Paços de Ferreira (3-2). The lions’ coach suffered some opposition from fans, but he continues to defend that “choices have to do with game strategy” and not with management.
“At the end of the game we passed, we felt affection from our fans, that’s what I care about saying. I don’t understand the bad phase. There are less good moments… we won’t always play well. We broke down in the game against Sp. Braga, I can’t escape that. With Paços it was a Cup game. Those are the games that leave me most stressed”, defended Rui Borges, ensuring that he deals well with criticism and opposing opinions.
“I worked hard to be able to follow this path. I won’t always be the best but I will never be the worst either”, said the national champion coach, hoping that the home factor can help the team in the game against the French: “At home we feel stronger because we have more support. We will play every game to win.”
This Wednesday they are looking for their second victory in three games in the 2025/26 Champions League. And, according to Rui Borges, the supposed bad phase of Sporting and Luis Suárez is a non-issue: “We are in second place in the championship, three points behind first. For me, the bad phase does not exist. Even when we lost to Benfica, even when we lost to FC Porto, the dynamics were very clear. There is no bad phase.”
The striker assured that he was “in the best moment of his career”, after “bad years” and ruled out any crisis: “We have no doubts and we know the work we are doing from the beginning. During the season there are moments of victories, draws and defeats… we have no doubts, as we know what we are doing.”
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