Sporting CP face FC Vizela this Friday in Alvalade (9:15pm)

This Friday, Sporting Clube de Portugal will host FC Vizela at Estádio José Alvalade, on the 17th Matchday of the season in Liga Portugal.

Before the match, coach Rúben Amorim analysed the opposition, currently eighth in the table and with the joint best attack in the competition outside the 'Big Three' and SC Braga, with 18 goals.

“The players that they have up front are very skillful and have a lot of quality in their finishing. The striker they have is looking for depth and complements the others -Nuno Moreira, Kiko Bondoso and Samu- who have been playing lately. They are very strong and, having a player up front who likes to run and free himself up, they can create a lot of problems for us," he began by saying at the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo.

“In defence, they have two intelligent centre-backs and the full-backs push up well; they are the ones who give depth to the flanks because the rest of the team play inside. We have studied the opposition and it will be a very difficult game against a team that are well rested. They changed coaches, they have implemented their ideas, and the players are responding," he stated, adding: “The pressure is on us: We are playing at home and we have to win. There is this, in addition to not conceding goals again against a team that scores a lot. It will be a good challenge, but we are prepared."

Amorim assured that, despite Sebastián Coates, Pedro Porro and Nuno Santos being at risk of suspension if they see the fifth yellow card of the season, plñus a run of several games in a short period of time until the end of January, “there will be no any holding back."

"We have to beat FC Vizela and get consecutive victories, bearing in mind that before the defeat in Madeira and the draw against SL Benfica, a game that we could have won, we were coming off a good run. It's not worth saving players because if they feel worn out, others come in. Squad management will be done when this sequence of games starts."

“All matches are difficult for us, and sometimes the ones that don't seem so difficult are the hardest. We have to have the team at maximum strength, as it's the only way to win the game."

To close, the coach also confirmed the return of Hidemasa Morita, the 27-year-old midfielder who recently recovered from injury, and young Mateus Fernandes going back to the B team.

"Morita will be called up and Mateus will play for the B team this week. With him not playing in the first team, we manage to give everyone minutes and that's not bad. Players having the feeling of returning to the B team is part of the training process", he explained, admitting that both the Japanese and Jeremiah St. Juste "have a limit to the time they can play and will not play the full 90 minutes."