Sporting Sea: Lion wounded without time to heal and soon to eliminate

O Sporting is back this Tuesday to the action for a debut in the League Cup competition, in a duel at the Alvalade Stadium facing the Maritime, for the final rooms of the race.

When one thinks that by playing at home and in front of its supporters it is a point in favor, at the moment when there is clear tension in the Lion emblem, this may be harmful to the team of Rui Borges, who will see an almost hostile audience in the face of recent events, if the game does not start to run like lions.

However, it is not only Sporting having the pride wounded, since the Maritime wants to take this opportunity to clear the image left at Stadium D. Afonso Henriques, in front of Vitória SC, where it was scored by 5-0 in a heavy result last Friday.

In the face of the short distance between the two meetings on the calendar, Rui Borges did not make any preview of the League Cup, although he is under increased pressure for this match, after white handkerchiefs were shown by the fans on the benches of the game before the Academic of Viseu, which ended in a new defeat in Alvalade for Sporting.

With regard to the history of confrontations, in the 108 duels between the two teams, the lions won 74 matches, while the Seaman came out victorious in 18 of the clashes.

The most recent one happened in January 2023, when the islanders beat Sporting, for 1-0, in Barreiros, for the I League. Still, the story at the Alvalade Stadium is quite different, since the percentage of green and white triumphs rises from 69% in the general context to 79%, with 44 wins in 56 games, with only five defeats against this opponent, and the Maritime has no outcome other than defeat there are nine consecutive games.

The match between Sporting and the Maritime has initial whistle scheduled for 8:15 on Tuesday, at the Stadium of Alvalade, in Lisbon, and will be judged by Iancu Vasilica, an referee of the Football Association of Vila Real, which will have as assistants André Dias and José Pereira, Gonçalo Neves as fourth referee, and in the VAR will be Cláudia Ribeiro and Pedro Felisberto as AVAR.

Coaches in direct speech

Rui Borges

Play 48 hours after losing with Academic: “It is a challenge that has already happened in the past period and that we have managed to overcome with quality, merit and a victory. Tomorrow we expect the same. Within what is total trust in the whole group, the whole team and all players. It's more of a demonstration that we believe in everyone. I have no doubt that whoever plays tomorrow will give a good answer.”

Seaman of wounded pride: “It’s going to be a little bit inside of what we’ve been catching, especially in our league games. It's going to be a middle block/low block, it's the second team that has the most counterattack actions in the I League. It dictates well the moment of play they like most and in which they feel more comfortable. We have to wait and be careful to do so so that we are not being caught in these constant ball losses. Above all, not to be constantly reacting to our goal. It is important to have these attacks longer and to end these attacks so as not to let the Maritime enter this moment of play where they feel more comfortable. I believe we'll give a different and better answer than we've given. We want to be in the final four.”

Goals in the League Cup: “Sporting is Sporting and the goal is to win this competition as always. We know it's always hard, that we have these challenges in this game, like playing 48 hours from the previous one. On the one hand, there is a positive side that is what everyone is available to play and has the coach's confidence to play. We have come from a less positive result and they all want to give a different answer. We want to be in the four finals and, if we succeed, we are in the competition final.”

Mitchell van der Gaag

He did not hold the usual press conference forecasting the meeting

Last results

SportingD-D-V-V-E

MaritimeD-V-D-E-D

Last elevens

Sporting: Kaique Pereira; Ivan Fresneda, Gonçalo Inácio, Ibrahima Ba, Maxi Araújo; Sergi Altimira, Issa Doumbia; Luís Guilherme, Flávio Gonçalves, Nestory Irankunda; Luis Suárez.

Maritime: Fran Vieites, Igor Julião, Gábor Szalai, Romain Correia, Paulo Henrique, Rodrigo Andrade, Raphael Guzzo, Maxime Domínguez, Tomás Tavares, Adrián Butzke and Martín Tejón.

Absence

Sporting: Rodrigo Zalazar and Nuno Santos (injured) and Zeno Debast (in doubt).

Maritime: Vladan Danilović (in doubt) and Yellu Santiago (injured).