Coach Artur Jorge said today that he expects a team from Sporting de Braga with “ambition and courage” to beat leader Benfica at Estádio da Luz, on Saturday, in the 31st round of the First Football League.
Four rounds before the end of the championship, the two teams are six points apart, with an advantage for the ‘incarnates’, with FC Porto in the middle and also interested in the result of this match.
“What worries me most is that our competitive side can be highlighted. This is the path we’ve taken and it’s gotten us to where we are now, beyond the competition. We saw an eight-game streak with seven wins and a draw, it is this competitiveness that I hope to have tomorrow [sábado]with a determined team, ambition and courage to play a successful game and try to win, as in all others”said at the preview press conference.
In a game featuring the best home and away attacks in the championship, Benfica and Sporting de Braga respectively, Artur Jorge believes that the “biggest responsibility” in Saturday’s game belongs to Benfica, who “invested and committed” to be in the position to be it currently occupies.
The coach also rejected the possibility that this would be the most important match in Sporting de Braga’s history, as it would allow an even closer approach to the leader and in this way a more pronounced candidacy for a never achieved national title.
“I don’t want it to be, this game is not more important than others, this journey was not made of a single game, but of a journey where we won most of the time, and we also had But I don’t want to highlight this game at the time , let alone the story [do Sporting de Braga]because we have a richer story that cannot be reduced to a game”he said.
Artur Jorge did not want to make comparisons with rivals in the fight for the title, FC Porto and Benfica, but “admitted” to having worked so that the team could “reach a high-level final”.
“It’s a fact, we can’t expect less strong Braga” until the end, he said.
Of the six games against the so-called ‘big three’ this season, Sporting de Braga won one (3-0 against Benfica), drew two (3-3 against Sporting and 0-0 against FC Porto, both at home) and added three defeats, all away (two 5-0 against Sporting, for the championship and Taça da Liga, and 4-1 against FC Porto).
Faced with these numbers, Artur Jorge replied that the most important thing is “consistency”, reinforcing the current positive cycle of eight games in a row.
“If we had beaten Desportivo de Chaves and Casa Pia [derrotas]clubs that you don’t call big [jornalista]we would be in first place,” he said.
The coach even stressed the importance of consistency in the growth of the club.
“I use that word and work on it from day one, because we know that only in this way can we reach the end of the championship with the goals achieved. We have four games ahead, with the expectation that we can grow. ” and evolve,” he said.
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Sporting de Braga, in third place, with 71 points, and Benfica, in first place, with 77, face each other on Saturday from 8:30 p.m. at Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, a match that will be refereed by Luís Godinho , from the Association of Évora.
Source: DN
