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Photo by José Lorvão

Amorim: "O Clássico will be a very competitive game"

By Sporting CP
12 Feb, 2023

The coach anticipates what will happen against FC Porto

Sporting Clube de Portugal play FC Porto at home on Matchday 20 of the Liga Portugal season, and coach Rúben Amorim spoke in a press conference on the eve of 'O Clássico.'

After confirming that Paulinho will be available for the game, the coach gave his thoughts on the opposition.

"We know FC Porto and they know us. We can make both changes, but the way the two teams play is very present in the minds of the coaches, who will have prepared this game in the same way we prepared the Taça da Liga final. It will be a very competitive game, as always, and we hope to win this time around," he began by telling journalists.

Regarding Otávio's likely absence for FC Porto, Rúben Amorim guaranteed that "this will be a strong FC Porto in the same way that Sporting CP are always strong, with whichever players feature. FC Porto are a team as a whole."

"I've not enjoyed the results, but I've enjoyed the way Sporting CP face the big teams," continued Amorim.

"We have evolved year after year and that is what I look at. We haven't won our last few games against FC Porto, but we've played well in them. Now we have to add results to the performances."

"The two teams will want to win, but they will respect each other. A draw is no use to either side and we both need to win. We are going to field an 11 to be the better side and to take three more points," he stressed.

"Both Héctor Bellerín and Ousmane Diomande will be fit. The only doubt is Jeremiah St. Juste, who had a bad night last night," he said of the players available to him.

"Everyone knows the importance of this match, but we only go game-by-game. The players only have to think that they have to win and that if they don't, it's the end of the world. It's a way of thinking that the game is everything for us. It's the same way that we will approach the next game, and the same way it was against Rio Ave FC."