The coach of Sporting, Rubén Amorim, refused to reveal this Saturday if Ricardo Esgaio will play against Varzim, on the third day of the Portuguese Football Cup, but assured that he will not manage the squad.
Asked at the Alcochete Academy if what is the best way to protect the winger who is in the ‘eye of the hurricane’ among the fans, after being sent off in the Champions League match against Marseille, the coach sent the revelation of his decision this Sunday , when the starting eleven is announced.
“It’s easy. Just wait for Varzim to play and you’ll see what I thought was the best way to handle the [Ricardo] evasion. There is one day left and you will have that answer”, said Amorim, in a press conference prior to the game.
Asked on several occasions about the situation of the player, whom the coach assured on Wednesday that “he will always protect” and will be one of his “favourites”, Amorim was almost always evasive in his answers, but assumed that “there will be no management”. of the squad, because he also has to “manage the moment”.
“And the moment tells us that we have to win, that we are playing with a team that has not yet lost, that the division [competitiva] It doesn’t matter in the Portuguese Cup and that three years ago Sporting was eliminated by Alverca, in the same division. We know the problems that this brings and we have only one objective, which is to win, and we will present the best eleven for this match”, he reiterated.
Even so, the “best eleven” should be quite conditioned, since several players in the squad were affected by “a virus” that will limit or prevent the use of some.
“EITHER [Pedro] Porro is more or less, we don’t know if he will play, but he is different from Arthur [Gomes], which in principle cannot be played. Nazinho recovered, but he also has the virus. EITHER [Diego] Callai can’t play either,” Amorim said.
Victims to add to St. Juste, who “cannot”, and Coates, who “did not recover” from the injury suffered against Marseille, which will not prevent goalkeeper Franco Israel from taking over and reinforcing the role of other elements Of the template.
“Regarding frank [Israel] and Adam, we really thought that at this point we needed a reference, and not having Seba [Coates]that Adan could play, but Franco will play because he gave a great answer, he is very adult and because [Gonçalo] Inácio will be the ‘captain’ and he needs these moments, to be the leader of the team,” he added.
In addition, Sotiris Alexandropoulos “will play because Ugarte is all destroyed and needs time”, continued the coach, while Jovane Cabral “has a very small time limit” to be used, but “you have to be already equipped to see if he does it” .
Sporting visits Varzim on Sunday, for the third day of the Portuguese Cup, scheduled for 7:00 p.m., at the Estádio Cidade de Barcelos, a house loaned by the Poveiros who have their field under construction.
Rubén Amorim’s team seeks to react to a season of ‘ups and downs’, after two defeats against Marseille (4-1 in France and 2-0 in Alvalade), for the Champions League, with a victory in the I League by half , over Santa Clara (2-1), in a match in which the coach confessed his dissatisfaction with the team’s performance.
The ‘lions’ remain in sixth place in the I League, after nine games in which they have already conceded a draw and three defeats, while Varzim, second in League 3, have not yet suffered defeats and have already eliminated Feirense ( 1-0), from the II League, in the second round of the Portuguese Cup, in addition to Vila Meã (2-1 in extra time) in the first round.
Source: TSF
