Boavista “is prepared to give a good response” when it receives Sporting, on Monday, on the ninth day of the I Football League, coach Petit stressed this Sunday, downplaying the possible fatigue of the lions due to the hangover European.
“These athletes are already used to playing every three days and the clubs fighting for these European places are already used to playing 60 games per season. I wish we were in that situation, since we work for it, but I don’t think so. “I think so in a different Sporting,” said the coach at a press conference.
The Alvalade team tries to regain its isolated leadership in the competition, four days after drawing at the home of the Polish champion Raków (1-1), on the third day of Group D of the Europa League, in a duel in which they played Inferiority numerical starting in the eighth minute, due to the expulsion with a direct red card of the Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres.
“Taking into account the respect they have for Boavista and what we have done at the beginning of the season, I think Sporting will give their best. We just hope for an exchange. [no ‘onze’ inicial], Nuno Santos enters, replacing Matheus Reis. We study the opponent well and we will be prepared to play a good game and fight for those three points.”he reiterated.
Boavista has not won for three days in the I League, but resumed its path of triumph in the field of Oliveirense (3-1), in the II League, to overcome the third round of the Portuguese Cup, a level in which it already had been eliminated. in three of the last four editions.
“Move to fifth place? We have that possibility, knowing that the demands are quite high against a candidate for the title. Our ambition and what is part of the culture of this club is to seek [para o opositor] always face to face. This goal is in our mind. Nothing is impossible. We have to make it possible in the field,” Petit warned.
In addition to having imposed the only defeat at home on national champion Benfica in 2023/24, when they beat Bessa 3-2 on the first day of the championship, the ‘panthers’ have a favorable record when they received Sporting, whom they defeated in home that previous season.
“[Esse jogo] It may be present, but it will be a different story. The coaches are the same, but there are different players in different positions. The sport hasn’t changed much. They play in the same structure, but their two midfielders vary a little, who this year play several times in parallel. It is a high-quality team, with well-defined processes, that creates many situations, scores goals and has gone 22 games without losing in the I League. We expect a strong Sporting, but on this side we are also having a good season and we are a team with quality, which seeks the opponent’s goal a lot,” he stated.
César, Pedro Malheiro and Júlio Dabó are still in the clinical part and are left out of Petit’s plans, committed to preserving Boavista’s unbeaten status as host in the competition.
“Last season, when we beat Sporting, we used a line of three centre-backs, with the two wingers dropping down to form a ‘5-4-1’, and we had a different offensive process. We saw it when the teams changed [de sistema] Against Sporting none had positive results. I think there were three or four teams that played ‘4-3-3’ or ‘4-4-2’, but when they adopted that line of three centre-backs they had difficulties and ended up losing. We have this plan B and many of our athletes were already here last season and worked with this alternative system,” he concluded.
Boavista, sixth classified, with 15 points, receives the ‘vice’ Sporting, with the same 22 as Benfica, on Monday, at 8:15 p.m., at the Estadio do Bessa, in Porto, in a duel on the ninth day of the championship. which will be refereed by Nuno Almeida, from the Algarve association. the game has TSF report and up-to-the-minute online monitoring.
Source: TSF
