Jorge Jesus' thoughts on Sunday's win in Arouca

Sporting had to fight hard for the three points on Sunday night, but that was exactly what Jorge Jesus was expecting in what has proven to be a tricky away trip for even the top sides this season.

“We knew it would be difficult. In nine games, Arouca had only lost against FC Porto and they had already taken three points off a team fighting for the title. They are a really well organised team defensively and it isn't easy to score against them. We had to show the mentality of a champion, as well as technical and tactical quality. We had to show heart in the 50-50 balls, which is what we did in the second-half", opened the Alvalade boss in post-match interview, continuing: “We had to show a lot of attitude in the direct confrontations, because Arouca are really aggressive. We didn't have a lot of chances, but we did make some that were easy to finish and we had Arouca under control when they did attack. The most important thing is that we won and that we got the reward for carrying on even with ten men. The lads deserved the win tonight."

Jorge Jesus went on to explain what he asked of his players at half-time and why he introduced Esgaio in place of Jefferson: "At half-time we had to change some things in attack. Arouca are really organised so we couldn't find space for our lads to carry the ball forward. We had to change some positioning and it worked better in the second-half, which was also because Arouca didn't show the same intensity in defence because they were getting tired. Jefferson felt a bit of discomfort at the end of the first-half and I didn't want to aggravate it, so I was forced to being him off. Funnily enough Esgaio was more dynamic down the wing than Jefferson.”