THE Alvalade Stadium will host, at the end of this Sunday night, another I League match, when Sporting welcomes Académico de Viseu, for the ninth round of the championship.
After facing LASK Linz, in the middle of the week, in the Champions League, Sporting turns its attention to the I League, being on alert as the margin for error is nil in the race to win the title of national champion.
On the other side is an Academic from Viseu who comes to Lisbon with wounded pride, after having fallen from the Portuguese Cup at the feet of Fátima. Despite this, the Viseenses continue on a streak of four victories in the championship and even drew with Benfica in the first round of the I League.
Of the four games they have played in Alvalade, Académico de Viseu came out victorious in just one. Furthermore, it is the only triumph for the Beira team in the eight direct clashes against the Alvalade team. The last duel between the two teams dates back to April 1989.
The match between Sporting and Académico de Viseu is scheduled to kick off at 8:30 pm this Sunday, at the Alvalade Stadium, in Lisbon, and will be judged by Miguel Nogueira, a referee from the Braga Football Association.
Coaches in direct speech
Rui Borges
Is it a solution or a problem for Sporting: “Always a solution. Criticism is part of my job, and has been since the first day I arrived at Sporting, I’ve said that several times. I deal well with criticism, I understand it and understand it. As long as it’s respectful, everything’s fine.”
Consecutive ‘slips’: “They were different stories. I have no problem talking about it. The only game in which we clearly weren’t up to our standards was in the second half against Vitória SC. It was bad, OK? Against Estrela da Amadora, yes, we lost energy in the final phase. Against Arouca, the game was completely different after we were down ten. We could have done other things, but after opening the melon we see if it was good or bad.”
“Lack of energy” against LASK Linz: “It doesn’t serve as a justification for what we weren’t capable of. We could have been better. We had an obligation to have done more, another result, even against this opponent and the good ability in defensive organization. Now, in some moments we missed more passes… Sergi, perhaps, missed more passes than normal. There was an accumulation of things that was out of line with normal. If we had had the intensity we had against Lens and Sporting de Braga, we would have been able to overcome the error in the pass or in the tactics”.
Bruno Pinheiro
What do you expect? “What I believe will happen is a strong entry from Sporting, very strong indeed. A team that will try to prevent Académico from getting the ball and I believe we will have some difficulty in the initial phase of the game.”
Opponent quality: “Sporting’s quality is there, at all levels. Very technically talented players, very fast, strong in physical contact, the vast majority of them, therefore, it is an opponent that in individual terms is very strong.”
Solution to earn points in Alvalade: “If we want to have a chance of scoring points, I think that offensive organization, playing with the ball, will be very important and we will have to have that ability. We also know that, no matter how much we play with the ball, we will hardly have any more possession of the ball and we are mentally prepared to suffer, but we are also prepared so that when we are given the opportunity to play with it, we will do everything.”
Latest results
Sporting: EEVVD
Viseu Academic: VVVVD
Last eleven
Sporting: Kaique Pereira, Iván Fresneda, Gonçalo Inácio, Eduardo Quaresma, Maxi Araújo, Sergi Altimira, Issa Doumbia, João Simões, Geny Catamo, Luis Suárez and Nestory Irankunda.
Viseu Academic: Marcos Lavín, Tomás Domingos, Rúben Pereira, Pedro Barcelos, Gustavo Costa, André Ceitil, Nils Mortimer, Alejandro Mestanza, Cristian Ferreira, Álvaro Zamora and Paulinho.
Absences
Sporting: Rodrigo Zalazar, Zeno Debast and Nuno Santos (injured)
Viseu Academic: Nothing to report
