The coach his side not putting away chances against FC Arouca

After the 1-1 draw against FC Arouca in Liga Portugal, coach Rúben Amorim reflected that Sporting CP created many opportunities and always had control of the game, but lacked the inspiration to finish off chances.

“At the start we lacked some speed, but we created opportunities with FC Arouca always playing very deep. We delivered a lot of low crosses in the first half, but nobody was able to convert them. In the second half, FC Arouca had a line of seven, sometimes eight, and the crosses, even when we put Sebastián Coates in there, didn't end up well. Even so, we had several opportunities and a missed penalty,” the coach began by explaining.
“FC Arouca didn't create opportunities and we gifted them the goal. They covered the spaces in the first half, but when fatigue set in we managed to put more pressure on them. We always had control of the game, but we lacked some inspiration and also lacked speed at the beginning."

Amorim later explained the decision to replace Nuno Santos with Rochinha in the 59th minute.

“The reason was simple. We weren't able to reach the line and cross, and we had to come inside and then cross. As Nuno doesn't have the right foot for that, he was having difficulties. Nevertheless, he is one of the most used players on our team. Using our options is the coach's responsibility. It's part of our job to do what we think is best for the team, because the objective is obviously to win every game,” he underlined.

He also admitted that the preparation for the game against Juventus FC "will be more difficult" after the result, but guaranteed that the team will "overcome this moment."

“If we had won today, tomorrow's training session would be happier and the players' spirit would be better, but that's part of our profession. The preparation will be the same. We have one day to get over this result, which for us is not a draw but a defeat. The spirit will not be the same, but we have to gain more strength to prepare for the Europa League game here," concluded the coach.