The coach speaks before the match with his former club

Sporting Clube de Portugal visit Vitória SC on Tuesday in Liga Portugal action, and coach Rui Borges spoke ahead of the game to comment on several subjects.

Celebrating a year at Sporting CP
"It's special. Destiny is funny: One year on from the day I finally said goodbye to Vitória SC, I'll be coaching against them at their home. It's special for me. They are a club that mean a lot to me, and it's largely thanks to Vitória SC that I'm here today at Sporting CP.

It's a special game at a very difficult ground. The atmosphere is special, and only those who experience it understand. The crowd clearly make a difference, and that was noticeable last season when we had the game under control and suddenly it completely turned around. That energy and passion galvanises the team.

It's a different Vitória SC than last season; a younger squad. Luís [Pinto] is doing an excellent job as coach, he's getting better and better in terms of his ideas and consistency, and he deserves a lot of credit. Apart from the Taça de Portugal game against AVS, they were on a run of five wins and growing in confidence, with increasing maturity. At home, and with the exception of that game, they have only lost to SL Benfica. They are the only team to have won against FC Porto in domestic competition, and that clearly shows what we'll encounter tomorrow."

The game against CD Santa Clara
"Unfortunately, we live in a society in which there is a great lack of respect for Sporting CP and the club's coach. Fortunately, I had a good upbringing that comes from my parents, with many values. That's perhaps why today I am representing Sporting CP . It makes me sad because I am anything but a liar. I hadn't seen the penalty incident when I commented, I saw it later on the plane. I'm as sincere as possible and I'll gladly explain: at home we have two tablets: One with the Sport TV broadcast and the other on a free-to-air channel, with our image and at a wide angle. It's difficult to see from the images.

The image is there, but you can't see it because it's a wide angle and you can't analyse it. And since they wasted time looking for an image of the coach looking at the tablet, they could also have spent time watching the coach at some point talking to the players on the bench, because they were asking "coach, is it a penalty?" and I said "I don't know, because you can't see it". They could later see one of my assistants with a phone in his hand trying to open it. We couldn't even get videos, sent by the club's communications department, because of the internet connection. At no point did I look at the phone, and I couldn't see the images either.

If you paid attention, you saw that I sat there for 12 minutes waiting for a decision. The image you see of the Sporting CP coach looking at the tablet is all guesswork. They say 'he's looking at the footage,' but nobody saw it on the tablet. So, they say the coach is lying.

I'm sad. Unfortunately, we live in a society that feeds on hatred, and in football there are many people with short and selective memories. That's all I'm going to say about it. It's a move that has happened many times, it's happened in several games, and it's the referee's decision. My captain says there's a touch, you see the contact, and then it's the referee's decision. Regarding the game and the refereeing, I won't say anything more about it. Sometimes there's a lack of respect for the Sporting CP coach, and it's not a recent thing."

Frederico Varandas' Christmas Gift
"The only gift is victory tomorrow, but that's for the players. It's the only gift I want. We'll keep an eye on the transfer market, but we're not in that phase yet and I'm not worried. We'll have time to -within our possibilities and looking at what we deem important- adjust things."

The transfer market
"I believe and strongly hope - because this is what we've been working on and discussing -, that no one will leave. That already makes me happy as a coach, if I maintain the group, its cohesion, joy, energy and quality. It's important not to lose anyone, and I think that won't happen. I'm calm."

Return of Nuno Santos and Zeno Debast
"Regarding Nuno [Santos], I don't know where the information that he will return in January comes from. He is recovering, and I really wanted him to be back already, then I really wanted him to return in January. But I don't know if he will. He is an important player in the group, not only for his quality, but also for his personality and character. I hope to have him back as soon as possible. It's a recovery process that has been difficult, and for a player to be out for so long is mentally difficult. However, he is also a different kind of player and capable of overcoming this time away from the team.

Zeno [Debast] is in the final phase of his recovery. I believe that at the beginning of next month he will be available and at 100 percent."

Options available
"Daniel Bragança is in the process of regaining fitness and confidence, he's not ready to play yet, I believe he will be ready soon. He's another one who can help us, especially in a phase in which we have some absences.

Fotis Ioannidis is already doing better in terms of his injury. He was a true example in his trying to return quickly. It's just my choice. Of course, you can play. They are two strikers for us, and they offer different things. We have to adapt to the players we have available and the strategy in relation to the opposition, without straying from our game plan. Fotis can offer different things and both him and Georgios Vagiannidis can end up on the wing. He's a player who can play there, he's already trained there, and he can do it at any time."

Players at the Africa Cup of Nations
"Regarding Diomande's contract renewal: If it has really happened, it hasn't been announced by the club yet... Hopefully it happens, because Ousmane is a very important player, who has grown in the team and has a promising future ahead of him. I'll be happy about it -also for his future, because he would gain even more importance at Sporting CP. I'm happy about any renewal, of any player.

Regarding the presence of Geny [Catamo] and Diomande at the Africa Cup of Nations, I've already said that I always have alternatives, there's no problem. We always start with eleven. Of course, we have to adapt things, it gets a little difficult, but we have a team with a lot of individual quality and above all the will to help the team win and be better. I focus on that. We always have alternatives. I would never say in a team like Sporting CP that I didn't have alternatives."