Jorge Jesus and João Pereira ahead of Thursday's encounter in the Russian capital

Jorge Jesus was with the press in the Russian capital this Wednesday afternoon, sharing his thoughts ahead of Thursday's visit to Lokomotiv Moscow.

Squad rotation has certainly been one of the predominant themes so far this season in the Sporting manager's Europa League starting line-ups. Asked if is likely to again make wholesale changes to his side on Thursday, Jesus proved relaxed: "The eleven that I put out tomorrow will be the one that I think is the best for this match and for the future. I have various objectives to meet and it is me who decides. If I think that the young lad Daniel [Podence] should play, then he will even if it is for the first time. That doesn't mean we that Sporting won't be going for the win."

“The match tomorrow will be important, just like they all are in the Europa League and especially in this case because we need a win to qualify. We will be taking on a tough team, who are normally underestimated. The top four teams in the Russian league are really strong and are at the same level as the top teams in Portugal, including Sporting", added Jesus, going on to again speak about his likely teamsheet: "If you look at how I have taken decisions with the team, you see that I will pick the best possible team for this game and for future games. The choice is mine and I am not going to hide from that."

In relation to Thursday's opponent, Jorge Jesus brushed off any comparison between Lokomotiv and CSKA, before thanking Manuel Fernandes for his praise of his side: "I won't analyse Lokomotiv with CSKA, because they are two different teams. What I will say to Manuel Fernandes is that he obviously knows his team and Sporting team really well. He was being nice and I thank him for that. We are trying to get Sporting back onto the right level in Portugal and abroad, but we have our priorities and they are the national competitions. That doesn't mean we won't do our best in the Europa League, although it isn't our main focus."

João Pereira was also on hand to speak with the press and the Alvalade wing-back followed the same logic as his coach speaking before him: "It will be an important match and the only result worth anything to us is the win. We know what we are playing for and we are focused. It will be a hard match against a quality side, but we also know what we are capable of."