The coach's review of the win over CS Marítimo

Sporting CP coach Rúben Amorim was satisfied with the result for his side against CS Marítimo (1-0) on Friday, considering it to have been a deserved win.

“There was clearly help from supporters. Like the team, the fans understood that the team were giving their all, that it was necessary to be patient and wait for the best moment to attack. We dominated the game from start to finish. At the beginning we could have been more incisive, when we won space, but we dominated and didn't give CS Marítimo a chance. The game had many stops and starts, but the players tried to implement what we had trained."

“Despite the stress of the game, the players went into the spaces where they should have gone, they didn't get carried away by emotion, and it ended up being a fair result”.
The coach admitted that it is necessary to finish off chances better, saying that “We have to score more goals, but we are also conceding less, apart from the game against AFC Ajax. We have to improve our finishing, but I want to emphasise the control that we had.

Sporting CP no longer share possession so much; we control more and are more on top of the opposition. Last year, around this time, we had a harder time setting up. We would have opportunities once or twice,” he continued, insisting that he was not worried about the winning goal only having come from the penalty spot.

“It depends how you look at it. I look at spirit a lot. This victory gave the fans a lot. We can look at it as two 1-0 victories from penalty kicks, but I look at it as complete dominance. There were no shots from the opposition and we had complete control of the game."

Amorim insisted that the victory, achieved in the final minutes of the match, was not down to luck.

“I think it's more a case of luck when we don't dominate the game, don't do much to deserve it, and end up scoring. Today we completely dominated the game. For example, in last season's game against CD Santa Clara, in which we scored more or less at the same time, it was more good fortune than today. What happened today was justice. One team wanted to play, the other didn't. Today, football was fair."