The coach reflects on the cup exit

After Sporting CP's elimination in the semi-final of the Taça da Liga, Rui Borges gave a press conference to analyse the match against Vitória SC.

Reaction to the game and the setbacks
"It's difficult. It's something that seems like a study in adversity. Today, for the first time, I feel like that, and I believe the team feel it too: However optimistic we are, it hurts to see so many people out injured. It's not an excuse, however, as in a game where we could have made it 2-0, the opposition ended up believing in themselves in stoppage time and were lucky. That's all."

More pressure
"The pressure is a daily thing at Sporting CP, regardless of whether or not we achieve our objectives and results. The pressure is there to be a better team and to win. More than the results, I believe that everything that has happened affects the players. We, as the coaching staff, have to find a way to lift them up. We have to move on and focus on what's left to play for this season: the entire second half of the campaign is still to come, and we have to do better than in the first, because only then can we achieve our objectives."

The wave of injuries
"It's not the muscle injuries that have been keeping players out. As optimistic as I am and as much as I don't dwell on it, my greatest sadness is leaving here today without having two players available for the next game. It gets to a point where it's impossible not to feel it. But we don't have that many muscle injuries. They are mostly trauma injuries, which are things that happen and we have to push through."

Going into the transfer market
"There's accumulated fatigue, and today you noticed it in the collective energy we had. So many injuries should be a case study. It's unbelievable; I don't know what else can happen to us. We had to make another two substitutions due to injuries. I repeat that it's not an excuse, but it's really difficult not to have a moment when we feel hindered by it. Today I leave here really sad, and even more so because Edu [Quaresma]'s injury seems a bit more serious.

Sporting CP live off our academy, and if we have to rely on those players, we will. We can't go into the transfer market as a knee-jerk reaction, otherwise in two months we'll have forty players in the squad. We have to be cautious and assess if there's any specific need, but we'll always rely on the youngsters."

The late turnaround
"We're going to try to fight for everything we still can: The Taça de Portugal and the league. There's still a long way to go, many points to play for, and we have to have an even better second half of the season than the first. Whoever is in the lead is having an extraordinary season. We are focused on what we want. We really want to compete in the Taça de Portugal final, just as we wanted to compete in this one, but we have to give credit to the opponents, who always believed.

We lost some rebounds, some loose balls, and it's noticeable that collectively we don't have that much energy. Here and there, we weren't as competent in some moves. It's natural that the fans aren't happy, because this club always wants to be in with the chance of a trophy and today we didn't manage it. Both they and we are sad."

No lack of attitude
"There's no lack of attitude at all. We could have made it 2-0 and we didn't, just like against Gil Vicente FC. We just have to understand how to better control the final phase of the games, even with this accumulated fatigue."

Tactical changes after Fotis Ioannidis' injury
"Each player's individual ability is different. We put Francisco Trincão inside, as a left-footer and we put a right-footer playing wide, which isn't something we usually do, but Alisson gives us one-on-one opportunities in the channel. Perhaps we lacked the attacking depth that Fotis [Ioannidis] gives us, because Trincão is a supporting player, but in tactical terms nothing changed, only what each one brings to the team."