The coach is clear about the way through against FC Midtjylland

Sporting Clube de Portugal play this Thursday in Denmark against FC Midtjylland, in the second leg of their playoff to go through to the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League.

The first leg ended in a 1-1 draw at Estádio José Alvalade, and coach Rúben Amorim highlighted the importance of his side putting on a good performance, in addition to achieving a victory and progressing to the next stage of the competition.

“We can't think that it's just a matter of winning, we have to do more than that: We have to play better. We didn't look at FC Midtjylland's last game that much because they are in a different league and the team they played against, Viborg FF, have a different setup. We did look at the first leg and the positions they had, how they marked us and blocked our players on the channels," he said in his pre-match press conference.

“What we took away from their last game was that they had a victory against the league runners-up that gives FC Midtiylland a morale boost. Isakson is clearly a player who makes a difference and they are very strong on transitions, as they scored three of the four goals from them. That was a lot of what caused us problems and some anxiety in Alvalade when we lost the ball, especially when building from the back. From then on, that game snowballed."

“What we have to do is have the ball without anxiety or doubts about what we do and play better, because then we will be closer to winning. We have to pay a lot of attention to set pieces, both defensive and offensive, which will be decisive in this game. Basically, we have to play better to win the game", underlined Amorim.
In closing, he highlighted the importance of continuing to play in European competitions.

“We have to stay in Europe because we need that experience. In addition to that, we want to win games because the season has not gone how we wanted and we have to play better. We have an obligation to do better than we did last weekend. We cannot show the same anxiety that we had in the first leg of the tie. We have to be ambitious and feel the importance of the result, but when we get onto the pitch we have to play our game."