AND a Sporting with wounded pride who, at 8:15 pm (Mainland Portugal time) this Friday, will appear, at the José Alvalade Stadium, in the opening match of the second round of the new 2026/27 sports season of the national championship, in which they will face Vitória SC.
The lions have fresh memories of the 2-2 draw last weekend, against Estrela da Amadora, at the José Gomes Stadium, in a game in which they destroyed a two-goal lead, due to two individual errors by Eduardo Quaresma and Rui Silva, in just over ten minutes.
Rui Borges wants to change the course of events, and, to this end, he has a potentially decisive ‘ally’, who goes by the name of Maxi Araújo, who ‘dressed as a biker’, at the beginning of this month of August, to make public the decision to renew the current contract, extending it until June 2030.
The Uruguayan international, remember, was suspended in Reboleira, due to his expulsion in the Portuguese Cup final (which culminated in a 2-1 defeat against Torreense), and is now ready to regain his starting position on the left wing of the defense, which had been provisionally handed over to the young Rodrigo Dias.
Out, the injured Nuno Santos and João Simões will remain, with some expectations remaining as to who the Mirandelenense will hand over the responsibility of leading the attack front, between Fotis Ioannidis (who scored for the Tricolors), Luis Suárez (who came on and was not convincing) and Rafael Nel (who did not leave the bench).
Sporting-Vitória SC will be refereed by David Silva, a 33-year-old judge who is affiliated with the Porto Football Association, who will lead a team made up of assistants Carlos Campos and José Pereira, fourth referee Flávio Duarte, VAR Manuel Oliveira and AVAR Inácio Pereira.
Scroll through the photo gallery and check out Rui Borges’ likely eleven.
