The coach looks at the game against Vitória SC

Sporting CP coach Rui Borges chatted to the media in a pre-match press conference, ahead of the game against Vitória SC this Monday at 8:15pm.

The match against Vitória SC
"First of all, congratulations to FC Porto for winning the Liga Portugal title. It’s well deserved, because they ended up being the most consistent team throughout the season. Regarding Vitória SC and the game, Gil [Lameiras] is a young coach who is in a very good upward phase and above all, is progressing in a very sustained way. He is taking the steps he wants, with all his quality. I admire him very much.

We expect a difficult game, against a team who are motivated. They won their last game away in Barcelos, against a good side that are having an excellent season. All these motivational factors lead to Vitória SC, I believe, being audacious in their attack, within their usual style of play. They are a team that, offensively, rely heavily on wingers -they are the team that crosses the most in the league. They have a lot of one-on-one situations, very strong wingers in that regard. They set themselves up, depending on the area of the pitch, in a low block, which ends up organising itself in a 5-4-1 formation in a more medium-high block. That moves into a 4-4-2 defensively. Vitória SC are a great team, always demanding the maximum from you in any game, so we expect a difficult match, but at home, we really want to get back to winning ways."

Physical and psychological fatigue
"I'm not justifying the results, but it exists. Now, it's not a justification. We always have to want to do better, we always have to find ways to be better and to be competitive, and never make excuses for anything. We should have been more competent. Mental fatigue exists, but it's not an excuse. I'm not lucky or unlucky, and we could have been more competent in the latter stages, especially [against CD Tondela]. There is mental fatigue because of everything that has happened in the season, because of all the games, because of all the demands, because of everything that has happened to us, it's part of football. We have to deal with it. It's up to us coaches and players to react to it.."

Confidence in the fight for second place
"I'm confident by nature, it has nothing to do with the SL Benfica game [on Saturday], or not. Regardless of the SL Benfica result, we still don't have our fate in our hands, so I'm much more focused on us becoming a more competitive Sporting CP again, with more quality of play, and winning, which is what we really want. Winning our games, doing everything to win them, understanding how we can improve in these last games, in these last rounds, trying to keep them focused, because there's a trophy to play for [the Taça de Portugal]. We’re focused and above all motivated for this final stretch of the season.

There's a mental weight on everyone’s shoulders, and suddenly we've fallen short of those objectives we had. It's natural that it has affected us in some way. We have to bounce back, so I say that the last few weeks don't reflect what the whole season has been like for this group -the excellent season they're having. It doesn't erase anything that we did. I'm incredibly proud of what they've achieved; now we have to stabilise things. Regardless of the other teams, we have to focus on our game at home."

Goals conceded in the last 15 minutes of games
"It's something we have to try to understand how we can improve. It has a lot to do with the games, a lot to do with the moments, a lot to do with the current results. It's difficult to explain sometimes, even when we're looking at the whole picture. If we're winning 3-0, it's natural that we concede. If the team are more switched off because we're winning 3-0, then there are things we can't control. There are goals conceded due to our own actions, even individual ones, that we don't control. They are momentary, they are instincts where we were punished: In the two games against SC Braga, for example. It’s natural that at some point we might concede a goal, but more than that, we should realise that we have the second-best defence in the league, with the same number of goals conceded as SL Benfica.”

This season's squad composition for so many competitions
"It depends on how we look at things and the interpretation we make. It's not about minimising things. It has a lot to do with the financial capacity of Portuguese teams to have squads at the level of the best clubs in Europe and the world, who fight for these competitions. Arsenal have five times our budget. We will never be able to match even a quarter or a third of that financial capacity, so our squad – or that of any Portuguese team, however big they may be – will never have the capacity to match the best teams in the world. Now, in our own way, we were very competent, we did a lot, we made all Sporting CP fans and the club we represent proud.”

Players with injuries
"Geny is fine, Gonçalo Inácio is doing much better, and he could still play this season. [Morten] Hjulmand’s situation is difficult."