The coach analyses the 5-0 win over SC Braga

After his side made it through to the Final Four of the Taça da Liga with a 5-0 win over SC Braga (5-0), Sporting Clube de Portugal coach Rúben Amorim praised his players by saying that the first half “was close to perfection."

“There are days when everything goes well, and this time it happened due to the intensity we imposed at the start of the game. We started well, we scored from a set piece and from then on we played differently, as we went from an organised attack to a lot of transitions. This is a good sign, because it means that we know how to adapt to games, and then we resolve the situation early with the talent of the players,” he began by saying in his post-match press conference.

“The only criticism I have to say is that we lowered the pace in the second half, but I can't be upset with the players because I think it was really an inability to keep up the intensity. That concerns me because we are going to have very difficult games and when we are in a game like that, more or less solved, and the players are no longer able to maintain their speed going backwards and forwards, it is something that we have to work on. I congratulate them on the excellent game they played. We killed it off early, but also deserve a lot of merit."

Amorim then commented on the performance of Francisco Trincão, who played on the left and scored one of the goals.

“Trincão improved a lot when he went onto the left. He moved there because Marcus Edwards doesn't have as much speed to play on that side, besides he likes to come inside and he's very good between the lines. He adapted well and we discovered that we have a player who can play on both flanks, and he is better on the left."

He also addressed the improvements seen from Paulinho, who scored his sixth goal in four matches.

“Paulinho is doing very well physically and his head rules everything. He's scoring goals and we look at his game in a different way because of that. He's had games where he played well like today, but he didn't score,” he underlined.

The coach was then asked about the team's 100% winning record in the League Cup, which has seen four wins and 18 goals, with none conceded.

“Above all, we have to be aware that everything can change. We are in good form, we have had more time to train and the players are growing. The players have the potential for more, but I know that we will suffer in many games because when the pace drops as it did in the second half...

"It was a good result, we are doing better because we had more time to train and we are defending with more rigour, but we still have a lot to improve," he stressed.

“About two months ago I said that the team lacked some hunger, but the truth is that many of them are the same players as two years ago, and they have that hunger. What they have to do is have consistency, and then talent appears, but hunger is essential."