Sporting’s coach admits that Ivan Fresneda is likely to miss the game against FC Porto.
Sporting coach Rui Borges discusses Luis Suarez’s current form and explains how he has managed the squad’s physical condition in recent months, marked by a high volume of games:
Does Suarez still have confidence in his penalty kicks? And should the one from the Benfica game have been retaken?
The penalty takers are already decided. Regarding the Benfica game, that’s in the past. We’re focused on the game against FC Porto.
Current form of Luis Suárez
We need to take a cold, hard look at things and understand the demands of the games we’ve had. He’s given everything for the team and is one of those who’s been overloaded. Everything he’s done has been surreal. He’s missed some opportunities, we feel that, but he’s still an important player. He needs to focus on the fact that he might have fewer chances in the next few games, but he has to make the most of them. He’s calm, he knows the confidence we all have in him. He earned that recognition through merit.
Less rotation in the team in recent games.
I’m not going to compare it to the others. Logically, I would have liked to have the entire squad available; that would have given us other solutions. It would have allowed us to manage some of the workload during these two months, which were surreal in terms of games. But that’s part of it. We have to hold on to the fact that we are in the competitions we want to compete in. With greater or lesser difficulty, we have to give our best. That’s what we’ve been doing.
Fresneda and Joao Simoes
Joao Simoes has already shared that, unfortunately, he’s out until the end of the season. Ivan (Fresneda) is still doubtful and may miss the game. Nuno (Santos) is also out.