The coach speaks before the meeting with Club Brugge KV

Ahead of the match against Club Brugge KV in the UEFA Champions League, coach Rui Borges stressed that Sporting CP are prepared to prevail at home and continue accumulating points in the competition.

Pressure to win
"The pressure is something that is there on a daily basis. We are at a big club and the players are accustomed to this pressure. They all have enormous ambition and a great desire to win, regardless of the opposition. In this specific case, and in this competition, any game is difficult for both sides. As Iván [Fresneda] said, we just have to focus on tomorrow's game, because everything else will be a consequence of what we do against Club Brugge KV, of our ability to overcome a great team and earn the three points."

The presence of Francisco Trincão
"Francisco Trincão knows very well the confidence he has from the coaching staff and his coach. He has grown a lot, he's having a great season -perhaps his best yet-, and I'm happy about that. We believe we deserve some credit in that regard, but I feel he's focused every day, regardless of any contract renewal, which I believe will come to fruition. In the coming years, he will continue to provide magic at Portuguese and foreign grounds, thankfully."

The game
"Taking victory is important. It would get us to ten points, but I don't know if it will be enough or not: last season we reached the playoffs with 11. It's subjective. We'll focus on what we control and then we'll see: we have three more games to play, in which the team will be motivated to face great sides. We will play beautiful games, I have no doubt about that, and we will collect even more points. At the end of the league phase, we will see what we have been able to do to pursue our objective."

A key game for the European campaign
"It's not a decisive game. There are four fixtures left. It's an important game because it's at home, but Club Brugge KV are a great team -no less great than Paris Saint-Germain or FC Bayern Munich- and last year Sporting CP couldn't beat them.

They have a sporting image similar to Sporting CP, always looking for young players to develop, so they're a team with a lot of individual and collective value. They have very good attacking players who can create havoc at any moment with an individual burst of speed, like Christos Tzolis, [Carlos] Forbs, or [Hans] Vanaken. They are very dynamic in the offensive process. We might tend to identify them as a fast-attacking team, but in their league, they have more than 60% possession, and that speaks volumes about the team's quality.

Them facing FC Barcelona playing on the counterattack further demonstrates their collective ability to be engaged in all phases of the game. They are not only good at possession, at more organised play, but also at transitions. They are a team with quality in both phases. The midfielders are also very technically gifted, and in their process, they are a very dynamic team, with a lot of variability, and they make life difficult for the opposition in their attempts to neutralise their strengths. They are a great team, national champions six times in the last ten years, and they are in the UEFA Champions League on merit."

Trying to keep a clean sheet in the UEFA Champions League
"It's something we have to analyse. We have to look at how we concede goals, how we score them, and try to be the Sporting CP we always are: dominant, balanced, with possession and quality. We have demonstrated this in the UEFA Champions League, even away from home, but we are in a competition where we have to make fewer mistakes, where we have to be more focused for longer, and the team have shown this growth and awareness. These small errors are part of our growth and adaptation to the demands of the Champions League. Above all, we must value what the team have been able to demonstrate in these four Champions League games."

Hidemasa Morita's current form
"From what we can see, he's happy, he's grown a lot, he's realised what he needs to improve on physically and he's increasingly prepared to respond. He's a player I admire a lot. He's the player who surprised me the most when I coached teams against him, and I've always said that since I arrived here. He's someone I admire a lot as a player and as a person, he has his own culture, great personality and character. I have no doubt that he will be very important throughout the season."