The coach looks back on the Europa League loss to Atalanta BC

After the defeat against Atalanta BC in Group D of the UEFA Europa League, Sporting CP coach Rúben Amorim gave a press conference to provide his analysis of the match.

"The word 'if' doesn't count in football. A draw was the fairest option, but it didn't happen. In the first half we had a lot of difficulties; we didn't have the quality with the ball that we should have and when we didn't have it we had more problems," he acknowledged, before talking about a second half that he considered "completely different".

"It was mainly because we had the ball, because tactically we did the same things. We tried our best, Geny [Catamo] and Marcus [Edwards] did well in attacking the opposition and that changed the game a little. It was enough to have more time in control of the game and we were better then".

"There were two distinct halves and we didn't manage to score two goals in 'our' half, which for me made the difference in the game. We demonstrated, from the first minute of the second half, that we wanted to chase the win. In the first half we also wanted to, but we didn't achieve it because Atalanta BC were the better side. The urgency was always there, but sometimes we didn't get what we wanted. It's part of football", he summarised.

Once again, Amorim underlined that "in case of doubt, the domestic league is the priority," recalling the club's European experience last season.  “In Europe we were very good and in the league we made it easier for the opposition. We also have to learn from our mistakes".

"No one is more upset about losing tonight than the coach and the players, as we haven't lost in I don't know how long. We have to face it head on. I know that after last season we have to win and play well, I know that and there will be zero tolerance, but we do the maths only at the end. We are top of the league and nothing is lost in the Europa League. I wouldn't say that first place in the group was at risk. We have to win our games and whoever gets more points will go through. We're going to do our best to achieve that".

When asked about replacing Morten Hjulmand at halftime, Amorim explained that the Danish international midfielder "comes from a different team and a different league" and highlighted that now, at Sporting CP, he is "making the transformation to go and look for opponents further away than he's used to doing".

He also talked about Paulinho's starting in place of Marcus Edwards: "We thought they were going to be a very physical team, and we weren't going to have Sebastián Coates on set pieces and Paulinho was in great form. We made the decision looking at the characteristics of the opposition, but now it's easy to say that. Marcus is in great form because the coach insisted on him even after he had some poor games".