​The coach states his side's desire to win the Taça de Portugal

Sporting Clube de Portugal open up their Taça de Portugal campaign this Sunday, travelling to Barcelos to face Liga 3 side Varzim SC.

“Varzim SC haven't lost in the league yet and the teams that haven't lost, in addition to their ambition, enjoy moments in which everything goes well," warned Sporting CP coach Rúben Amorim in his pre-match press conference.

"They are a team well put together by Tiago, who have already beaten a team from a higher division, and a club with a strong identity and spirit. We have Neto on our team, who knows this spirit that they have well. That's why we expect a battle, a cup game in which we will be responsible and want to win."

"This is a tournament that this coaching team have not yet won at Sporting CP and the club have a lot of history in this competition. Therefore, winning it is one of our goals," he told journalists.

Even though the team have several players missing, Amorim made it clear that he will, as always, field the best starting XI to win the game.

“Franco will play because he gave a great response in midweek. Coates will not play and Inácio will be the captain. Sotiris will also play and Jovane will be in the squad," he informed on Saturday.

The coach also spoke about the defeat against Olympique Marseille, saying: “I won't say it was the defeat that affected me the most, but it was a difficult week. We couldn't compete with Olympique Marseille. We made mistakes, we couldn't compete and that creates frustration, whilst at other times we have tried to fight back and we couldn't because they were simply better sides – I'm talking about our games with Ajax and Manchester City. It wasn't the hardest defeat to digest, as there's not much to take away from these games and we know what happened, but maybe it was the most difficult week and we saw that at the end of the game."

“The only way to turn this around is to win games. Therefore, we have to win against Varzim SC and then against Casa Pia AC. The fans have every reason to be upset, especially with the coach, because we aren't putting together a run of wins in a row and because we lost a favourable situation in the Champions League. That causes everyone frustration. It's about staying focused, and there's a lot to gain," Amorim concluded.