THE Sporting’s defeat against LASK Linz, for the third round of the single league phase of the Champions League this Wednesday, still echoes in the fans’ memories and the indignation around Rui Borges rises again after a precarious performance at the Alvalade Stadium.
THE Sport at the Minute spoke with Rui Barreiro, former advisor to the Alvalade club, who admits that the Leonine team seems to be lost on the field, as well as the coach on the bench, also evaluating the players who performed poorly in the match against the Austrians.
“There were many individual errors, starting in defense, neither the full-backs nor the central players performed up to par. I don’t understand why Ibrahima Ba doesn’t play. Because there was a need, considering the physical power of the Austrians, there was a need to have central defenders, at least one of them, more physical, that’s why I missed Diomande a lot. There was no central defender holding back the LASK Linz forwards”, the former green and white advisor began by saying.
“In midfield, João Simões and Doumbia had some of the worst games I’ve seen them play in recent times. Geny Catamo also had a bad game and has been playing games far below what he was before, and Luís Guilherme already deserved an opportunity to play from the start, for having given some dynamics on the right side, when he came on, something that Catamo wasn’t able to do”, he continued.
Sporting’s major market failure was also addressed, with the ‘not betting’ on a substitute for times when Maxi Araújo is not in the best shape being an insistent theme at this stage.
“Maxi Araújo had one of the worst games I’ve seen him play and I don’t understand how Sporting doesn’t have an alternative for the left side of the defense. Rodrigo Dias, well, played once and never played again, Vagiannidis already played when Maxi was suspended…”, reported Rui Barreiro.
“Why doesn’t Maxi Araújo have a substitute? I mean, things were so thought out, but there is no alternative for the left-back position. Sporting signed left-back Moncef Zekri, who didn’t even play with the main team”, he pointed out.
Rui Barreiro looked into the ‘mystery’ of Pedro Lima at Sporting, which cost the Lions’ coffers around four million euros to play… just 11 minutes this season.
“There is a player that I really don’t understand why he doesn’t play, that is Pedro Lima. He is an intelligent player, perhaps one of the best players at AVS last season, he has very few minutes, plays between 4 and 5 minutes, comes on at the end of games and is a player who could give the midfield things that the midfield doesn’t have. Rui Borges, unfortunately, bets very little, he is the one who watches the training sessions, but from what I know of Pedro Lima, I think there should be others opportunities”, he assessed.
Accounts in the Champions League can get complicated
After Sporting’s defeat against LASK – which was a team that had given the Lions a victory before the match – it put the future of the Alvalade club in the million-dollar competition at risk. This is because, although there are still five games left and they have already scored six points, the remaining games are against Shakhtar Donetsk, AS Roma, Manchester United, Barcelona and Manchester City, so the points may be short to dream of a trip to the playoffs.
“In the Champions League, nothing is lost, regardless of the added value of the clubs that will still play against Sporting. Sporting can perfectly qualify for the next stage of the competition, now it is necessary not to produce performances like the one they did against LASK Linz again”, he said, calming down what is yet to come.
Rui Borges’ future at risk?
The start of Rui Borges’ season at Sporting ends up being a whirlwind of emotions and results, placing the Lions already six points behind the lead in the national championship and with an almost painful defensive record.
“Sporting has conceded 13 goals in 11 games. In the I League we have already lost 6 points. We have no margin for error. In fact, I had the opportunity to say about a month ago to Sport at the Minute that Frederico Varandas had said, implicitly, that Rui Borges was a coach for the long term, and that either victories would come, or else some change would happen”, recalled Rui Barreiro.
“I think Rui Borges has already understood this. What is needed is for him to be able to react accordingly. And, next Sunday, against Académico de Viseu, to show that, in fact, we can be able to react to the negative outcome against LASK, in an Alvalade Stadium that had a lot of public, but that left a lot of people unhappy”, he added.
Despite Rui Barreiro’s hopes, the truth is that in addition to the Champions League, there is still a duel against FC Porto and Benfica until the end of the 2026 calendar year, which could complicate the continuity of Mirandela’s coach at the Alvalade club.
“Would a defeat against their rivals be Rui Borges’ final blow? It could be. The president of Sporting is closely linked to this season, because whether we wanted it or not, this renewal of the squad, in addition to missing Diomande, I also missed Trincão. All the changes, which were many, if we look at Sporting’s football and the players who left, in short, there were a lot of people with weight and a lot of quality”, he shot.
“Abel Ferreira could be a solution, but…”
In recent weeks there was a name that began to be considered by the national and Brazilian press for a possible succession of Rui Borges at Sporting, as Abel Ferreira is finishing the season in Brazil, playing for Palmeiras, something that the former Lions advisor considers to be a possibility to take into account.
“I think it makes sense. Good coaches all make sense for Sporting. Whether this is already in Frederico Varandas’ considerations or not, only he can answer. But it is already known that Frederico Varandas is fond of Abel Ferreira. If we think about it a little, apart from Ruben Amorim and Rui Borges, who were already champions for Sporting, let’s say that there has not been much success in Frederico Varandas’ coaching choices”, he indicated.
“Personally, I think that Abel Ferreira, for what he has done, is a quality coach. And, therefore, being a quality coach is always a potential coach for Sporting. I think that, if these names come up, for some reason it will be. I don’t know what Abel Ferreira intends to do with his life, but I would certainly feel honored if Sporting could, eventually, contact him”, he confessed.
Even so, Rui Barreiro clarifies that the priority is to look at the present and not the future of Sporting, as the situation could deteriorate in the near future towards this season’s objectives.
“The most important thing at this moment is that Rui Borges is given conditions so that he can not have excuses for his failures and, at this moment, I think he still has some capital for excuses, considering the squad that Sporting has and what was provided to him. If we look at the Sporting team we cannot say that this team is better than the Sporting team from last year which, by chance, did not win anything. So, the job was poorly done”, he concluded.
