Sporting CP kick off the league season with a visit to Casa Pia AC on Friday (8:15 p.m.)

The start of the 2025/26 league season has arrived, with the match between Sporting CP and Casa Pia AC at the Estádio Municipal Rio Maior kicking off proceedings. On the eve of the opening match, coach Rui Borges spoke in a press conference on Thursday to preview the encounter.

The atmosphere ahead of Matchday 1
"The team are doing well; this was a week of good work and hard training. There was a very good commitment and response after we failed to win the Supertaça. We have good energy and a good feeling ahead of the game."

The recent signings of Georgios Vagiannidis and Ricardo Mangas
"They are two solutions for the fullback positions. Both were players we had already identified -the coaching staff and the club. They add value to the squad, enabling us to compete in the competitions we're taking part in. We want to have more and more solutions."

Analysis of Casa Pia AC
"This Casa Pia AC side have maintained a very strong backbone to the team and have well-defined principles. They only lost five home games last season and took points from SL Benfica and SC Braga, for example. They're coming off their best season ever, so they're a highly motivated team. They're also quite well balanced, because whilst they don't score many goals, they also don't concede many. They're competitive and well-organised, which reflects their coach. They're playing at home against the league champions at the start of the season, and they're motivated, so we have to be aware that it's going to be a tough game. We can't go into the game thinking that, because we're champions, sooner or later we'll score and come away with the three points."

The chance of reinforcements getting a start
"Luís Suárez has worked hard to play, as has Harder. They dedicated themselves to training and to the strategic demands of the club. They are two good solutions, with different characteristics, and depending on what we think is best, we'll see who plays. Suárez came into the SL Benfica game having not played any training matches. He came in very well and has performed very well, as did Giorgi [Kochorashvili]. He came off a very demanding season and we had to be careful with him due to the long and difficult season he had at UD Levante. Both have performed very well on a daily basis, and now they just have to wait for the coach to give them opportunities. Mangas has already played official games in Russia, and Vagiannidis has played in European competitions."

Renewed ambition for 2025/2026
"I don't think there's any risk of complacency. All the coaches in the league want players with that hunger. Regarding the second title and the double: We deserved it, but the players must be aware that it's in the past. Although we didn't emerge victorious from the Supertaça, I think we demonstrated what we want for this season. They showed their desire to win, their enormous ambition, so I'm calm. I believe in the group's ability and, above all, in the response they've given."

The importance of starting the season with a win
"It's extremely important to instill confidence in the group and start things positively. We are all aware of that, but also that we'll face a team motivated by the fact they are playing against Sporting CP, at home, and what they were able to do last season. We're well aware that it will be increasingly difficult to win, given everything this group was able to overcome, but we have to find ways to ensure that hunger we talked about remains constant. What matters now is the present, and now we're on a level playing field with everyone else. We have to do a lot to win, maybe double what we did last season.”

The options in central defence
“Solutions exist, and we have to respond. It's going to be a long season, with many different games and competitions, fortunately, and we have to be prepared and come up with increasingly better solutions. It's with this in mind that we've been bringing in players, and we have a squad with five centre backs and Matheus Reis, who's also been playing at fullback. There are players who offer a variety of solutions, and Edu [Quaresma] is one of them. Last year, at times, he was a centre back with the ball and a fullback without it. He's a kid with a lot of potential and offers us different solutions than what we have on the wings and also at center back. Above all, I'm happy with the squad and the solutions we have."

Confidence in Geovany Quenda
"He's been responding fantastically, and in this early stage of the season, he's doing very well -unlike at the end of last season, when he dropped off a bit. Now he's doing very well and is also waiting for an opportunity. In the last game, he came in at left back because Maxi [Araújo] had to come off. We didn't have clear options there, we were losing, and we tried to take a risk with Quenda. I believe he'll have a great season at Sporting CP."

New ideas
"Criticism is part of the game. It's very subjective to talk about the formation, because if you look at the game, some things change and others don't. The formation is just a start; after that, it's a matter of giving the team mobility. The intention here is to improve. We lost a standout player from these last two years [Viktor Gyökeres], and we have to reinvent ourselves with each passing year. We want to add something different, to get better, but without giving up on who we were before."

Nuno Santos and Daniel Bragança's recovery
"They are progressing within their allotted timeframes and the severity of their injuries. It's a difficult battle, but they are natural fighters and show enormous joy every day. It makes me very happy to see their ambition and desire to return as soon as possible."