The coach talks before Liga Portugal Matchday 27

Rui Borges spoke to the media ahead of Sporting Clube de Portugal's return to action, which takes place on Saturday away to CF Estrela da Amadora.

CF Estrela Amadora's league position
"There are no easy games. Football is increasingly more difficult and demanding. We will face a team that need points, that will give their all for points, at a smaller stadium, with fervent fans. I believe that our travelling fans will also make us feel as if we were playing at home, as has been the case the season, but it will be a difficult game against a team that are playing at home and at a difficult ground for all teams -especially the big ones. Estrela are a very athletic team, strong on their quick attacks and on transitions, and they look for set pieces a lot. They are also dangerous from long balls, and on a defensive level I believe that they will want to be pressing at times and at others play in a lower block."

Sporting CP's fitness after international commitments
"It's difficult to say. We had 15 days off, but we didn't train the same because, unfortunately or fortunately, Sporting CP have a lot of players in the national teams -both senior and Under-21s, who play a lot of minutes. It was very difficult to work; we only had the whole team together today, but I believe the team will give a good response."

Reduced options in midfield
"It's nothing new. Since we arrived, there have been a lot of setbacks and we have to be able to fight against them and find ways to be competitive and honour the club we represent. Morten Hjulmand won't be available and Hidemasa Morita won't be either. We have the players who have already played: Zeno Debast and Ricardo Esgaio. It won't stray too far from there, as that's what has happened in the past. Whoever plays will give a good response and will be able to help the team in the best way."

Pedro Gonçalves' possible return
"I really wanted to have Pote, Dani Bragança and everyone else back, but it's not possible. Pote is already in the final part of his recovery, and he's working on the pitch and with the ball, but he's not training with the team yet. All I can do is wait and get the ok from the medical team. He has to go through all the processes, and he's going through them well. Let's see if it's the next game or not that he's back: it's very much day-to-day and a question of passing all the medical tests. I believe his return is coming soon, because he's already in that final stretch."

Jeremiah St. Juste's fitness
"He's 100 percent fit and available to play, but him not doing so has been down to the coach's choices. He's doing well, training well and he's another solution that we have. Since I arrived, he's had a lot of games and that shows the confidence we have in him. He just didn't play when he was injured, but he was almost always a solution."

Eduardo Quaresma's starting role
"Debast must play as a midfielder because we have no other solutions. He has played very well as a midfielder, but he is adapting to the position. For Zeno to step up, someone will have to play as a midfielder, like Esgaio, St. Juste or Quaresma. Fortunately, for that position I have more options than normal, but whoever plays, I will be comfortable."

Managing Gonçalo Inácio's fitness
"We have to be careful with him. He played a lot of minutes for the national team, as did others, but in this final stretch the most important thing is to understand what is best for the team and not expose the team to problems -and be as competitive as possible. It is what it is. Everyone wants to help. If we have to make an extra effort, we will have to do so, because the most important thing is to reach the end of the season and get what we want."

No room for error
"The final stretch will be difficult for everyone. The difficulty will be great and all the teams will have difficult games, whether at home or away. Whoever is the most competent will be champion and, therefore, I always say that we have to be competent, but I'm not thinking further ahead than tomorrow's game, trying to be competent, winning, getting three more points and remaining in first place. It will always be like this, until the end."

Francisco Trincão attracting interest from other clubs
"Trincão was already attractive to the market and, before he went away with the national team, I made a point of talking about him. He has done a spectacular job and was one of the players I was most surprised by. His quality is recognised by everyone, but what he works for, what he gives to the team and his commitment have been phenomenal. Maybe his work in the last few games at Sporting CP was not valued much because he didn't score a goal, and now he scored two for the national team, but Trincão was the same for the national team as he is at Sporting CP. He has been very important for us, I'm happy with the two goals for Portugal, and he deserves it."

The coach looks forward to the Friday fixture against CF Estrela da Amadora

After the international break, Sporting Clube de Portugal are back in action on Friday, to face Estrela da Amadora on Liga Portugal Matchday 27.

Coach Rúben Amorim held a press conference on Thursday and assured journalists that the break “enabled us to recover some players, to rest up, whilst others went away with their national teams.”

“[Gonçalo] Inácio played 90 minutes in the last game and, due to the recovery period and the injury to his hamstring he had recently, we may have to take precautions there. The rest of the squad are ready for the game. We had a mishap with Sebastián Coates, but he has recovered, Marcus Edwards has already done more or less two days of training, and at the last minute we have Francisco Trincão back from injury. At this moment we have to take everyone, because we know it will be a difficult game."

He also confirmed that Pedro Gonçalves will miss out due to injury, saying that "We are going to do our best so that he can be with us next week."

Regarding coach Sérgio Vieira's CF Estrela da Amadora, currently 13th in the table with 26 points, Amorim highlighted that they are a team with “very fast players up front” and recalled the “problems” experienced in the first meeting this season, in Alvalade.

“I think we will improve. We have to be cautious and as strong as we were, for example, against Moreirense FC with stopping the transitions. We need to be very focused. On set pieces there is a specific player from CF Estrela da Amadora who, when he is playing, makes this aspect even more important."

“We have to get back to the mentality of knowing that we can't drop points, we have to win, we know that the season is coming to an end. We are ready for the game," he stressed.

With a game in hand, Sporting CP are the outright leaders with 65 points, one ahead of SL Benfica. They play their local rivals in consecutive derbies, beginning in the Taca de Portugal semifinals on Tuesday.

Before next weekend's league derby, the squad have a total of six players one yellow card away from serving a suspension: Morten Hjulmand, Ousmane Diomande, Nuno Santos, Marcus Edwards, Luís Neto and Ricardo Esgaio. Despite this, Amorim highlighted that the “only squad management that will be done is tactical and physical, as always."

“It's not because there are two derbies coming up, but because there are many players who could be left out of the next game and we don't know which will be the most important game of the season. We have to play every game at 100%," he highlighted, before reinforcing that transfer rumours are not affecting his players.

“Right now, everything is focused on the league. We really want to win trophies and we know the importance of these upcoming games. Anything can happen until the end of the season. We experienced this with our last title, and when we least expected it we dropped six points in four games. I think this game with CF Estrela da Amadora is even more important. It’s about preparing for a different kind of game."

“It was harder to get the message across last year when we were in fourth place. In those stages of the season it is more difficult to make the players believe in the idea and the project, and they always have done. That's not the case this time. We are nine games away from being champions at a club that doesn't win that many titles in a row, so the message is always there."