The coach wants a positive start to the Taça de Portugal

Sporting Clube de Portugal kick off their Taça de Portugal campaign this Friday. They travel to Portimonense SC, who currently play in the Segunda Liga, as they join the competition in the third round.

Before the game, coach Rúben Amorim said that his side are aware of the difficulties faced, and stressed that they have their sights on the trophy.

“Portimonense SC are not in their best form, but they have built a team with the idea of promotion. They can play in different ways, but we have worked on everything, prepared and we are not going to take it easy because we have not yet won the Taça de Portugal since we took over. We really want to win it and return to Jamor, the scene of a very important moment for us. That is why we have to win this game."

For this match, Amorim will still be without Pedro Gonçalves, Matheus Reis, Ousmane Diomande and Eduardo Quaresma, and will also have to take into account the players' fatigue due to national team duty. He did, however, say that there will be returns.

“Marcus Edwards is fit, Jeremiah St Juste could play a few minutes and Gonçalo Inácio could too, as we have some limitations."

He also revealed that Vladan Kovačević will be in goal for Sporting CP and that he will call up two players from the academy: Lucas Taibo and Bruno Ramos.

“They will both be called up, they trained with us in the last two weeks, I was very happy with their performance and they will be able to play."

The coach was inevitably asked about Hugo Viana's scheduled departure at the end of 2024/2025 announced this past Saturday.

“Nothing has changed at Sporting CP, everything is the same until the end of the season. There is no one who wants to win more than Hugo. We are at a stage at the club where anyone can leave and everything will continue naturally."

Amorim spoke about being the top Portuguese on a recently published list of the 50 best coaches, but downplayed the achievement.

"We always like to hear it. I'm happy, but I don't get distracted by it in the slightest. In two weeks' time everything could be different; that's just how football is."