The coach Artur Jorge said this Friday that he expected a Sporting de Braga team with “ambition and courage” to beat the leader Benfica at the Estádio da Luz, on Saturday, in the 31st round of the First Football League.
Four rounds from the end of the championship, the two teams are separated by six points, with an advantage for the ‘incarnated’, with FC Porto in the middle and also interested in the result of this match.
“What worries me the most is that our competitive side can be highlighted, this has been the path we have taken and it has led us to where we are today, beyond the competition. We saw a sequence of eight games with seven wins and a draw, it is this competitiveness that I hope to have tomorrow [sábado]with a determined team, with ambition and courage to play a successful game and try to win, like everyone else”, he said at the previous press conference.
In a game in which there are the best round-trip attacks in the championship, Benfica and Sporting de Braga, respectively, Artur Jorge considers that the “greatest responsibility” in Saturday’s game is Benfica, “who invested and bet” to be in the position you currently hold.
The coach also ruled out the possibility that this is the most important game in the history of Sporting de Braga, since it could allow an even closer approach to the leader and, in this way, a more declared candidacy for a national title never achieved.
“I don’t want it to be like this, this game is not more important than others, this journey was not made of a single game, but of a journey in which, most of the time, we won, and we also had mishaps 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 history that cannot be reduced to a single party”, he said.
Artur Jorge did not want to make comparisons with rivals in the fight for the title, FC Porto and Benfica, but “admitted” having worked so that the team could “make a high-level final”.
“It has been a fact, we should not expect a less strong Braga” until the end, he said.
Of the six games against the so-called ‘big three’ this season, Sporting 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 from home (two 5-0 against Sporting, for the championship and the Taça da Liga, and 4-1 against FC Porto).
Faced with these numbers, Artur Jorge responded that the most important thing “is perseverance”, reinforcing the current positive cycle of eight games in a row.
“If we had beaten Desportivo de Chaves and Casa Pia [derrotas]clubs that aren’t called big by you [jornalista]we would be in first place,” he said.
The coach even highlighted the importance of consistency in the growth of the club.
“I use that word and I’ve worked on it since day one, because we know that this is the only way we can reach the end of the championship with the objectives achieved. We have four games ahead, with the expectation of being able to grow. and evolve,” he said.
Tormena returns after serving a sanction. Sporting de Braga, in third place, with 71 points, and Benfica, first, with 77, will face each other starting at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday, at the Estádio da Luz, in Lisbon, a match that will be refereed by Luís Godinho, of the Évora association.
Source: TSF
