The coaching staff member previews the next game for Sporting CP

With the international break over, Sporting Clube de Portugal return to action this Friday at home to Amarante FC in the fourth round of the Taça de Portugal.

The game will also be the first of the club's new coaching staff, and Tiago Teixeira gave a press conference on Thursday to preview the new challenge.

“We are very excited and motivated, mainly because the first game for us will be at Alvalade”, he said.

Amarante FC play in Liga 3 and are currently second in Group A.

“We know that in a cup contest these teams try to do different things, but I think we will encounter an Amarante FC very similar to what we have seen in Liga 3. They won’t deviate much from what we've seen from them before”, Texeira said, going on to assess the opposition.

“They have the best attack in the Taça de Portugal, with 12 goals, and the top scorer in Ká Semedo with 5. They have fast players up front, strong dynamics and have played with two different attacking systems, often with direct play and crosses from deeper areas. We will certainly be prepared for this”, guaranteed Teixeira.

“There are no easy games. We respect all of our opponents. The objective is to move on to the next round because our ultimate goal is to win the Taça de Portugal”.

As for his starting lineup, he explained that there will be “some rotation depending on the minutes that the players had for their national teams -especially because only in the afternoon will the last players be back. We also have to give minutes to players who have had fewer minutes so far this season. It will be cautious management of things, because we want to have all players available for all the games”, he added.

For now, the only confirmed absentee is defender Zeno Debast, who it is hoped will be able to return against Arsenal on Tuesday in the Champions League.

Asked about the changes that the introduction of a new technical coaching staff could seek to implement, Teixeira emphasised that the ideas “have some similarities with the previous plans, but little by little you will see some differences. It’s impossible to copy, because the people, the coaching staff and the dynamics themselves are different. This exercise in identifying differences will be done at the end of the game. Of course, the team are in very good form, so it would be a mistake to want to change everything”.

Regarding the attention that Viktor Gyökeres has attracted as the top scorer worldwide in the current calendar year (58 goals in 55 games in 2024), Teixeira praised the striker.

“We are very happy to have him here and he is also happy about the season he is having representing Sporting CP and his national team. We want to have him for as long as possible”, he said.