The Sporting CP coach was pleased by the cup performance by his side

Rúben Amorim reviewed the 2-0 win over CD Mafra in the Taça da Liga in his post-match press conference, praising the performance of some of the less frequently used members of his squad.

"I made life difficult for them, but they responded very well. Some did better than the others, but they all gave everything they had", he told the media.

"Everyone had positive points and should be congratulated, and in the future they will do even better," said the coach, emphasising that he was "satisfied with the result and the performance". "We played with some Junior players, and that comes with a price, but it's our idea. That means that the blame for the goalless first half is on the coach."

"The players weren't affected by the pressure; it's just a normal thing that happens when a lot of players who don't usually play together are in the same lineup. They have been training together and I thought they were prepared to play in a cup tie. The others played on Friday, and did very well, so I understood that it was time for them to get into the game and they gave an excellent response."

Amorim made clear that Sporting CP has "every possibility to win both cups". "We are ready to beat any team. In the league, we are taking things game-by-game", he said.

Victory against CD Mafra books the team's place in the January showdown

Sporting Clube de Portugal secured a spot in the Final Four of the Taça da Liga with a 2-0 win against CD Mafra, ousting the lower division side to move on in the competition. 

As expected, coach Rúben Amorim made plenty of rotations to his side, fielding a starting lineup of Luís Maximiano, Eduardo Quaresma, Gonçalo Inácio, Cristián Borja, Gonzalo Plata, Daniel Bragança, Matheus Nunes, Antunes, Tiago Tomás, Andraž Šporar and Pedro Gonçalves for the game at the José Alvalade. 

Up against them were a side fourth in the II Liga, who defended resolutely to keep Sporting CP waiting for the opening goal. In the first half, Šporar was denied by Carlos Henriques and then a defender as his two best efforts were sent away. Meanwhile Maximiano had a very quiet time, and the contest went into half time 0-0.

Nuno Mendes and Tabata would be brought on after the break to change things up, replacing Antunes and Tiago Tomás.

CD Mafra would become more ambitious in the second half, trying to threaten the Sporting CP goal -albeit without success. Gonçalves and Tabata efforts came closer, but both were off target.

Matheus Nunes was then withdrawn to bring on João Mário, and it was in that very minute that the team finally broke the deadlock. Šporar received a ball from Nuno Mendes from the left, after Daniel Bragança's precise pass, and finished past Carlos Henriques on 64 minutes.

The second goal would arrive just six minutes later: CD Mafra lost the ball, Plata took it to the byline and slipped past defender João Miguel, cutting it back to set up Tabata to take the score to 2-0.

The advantage was the signal for Gonçalves, Nuno Mendes to go off, with João Palhinha and Pedro Porro entering for the final quarter-hour.

Sporting CP continued to look for more goals, and Plata and Šporar both came close only to fall foul of the goalkeeper. In the end, a 2-0 win carried the team into the Final Four, which will be played between January 16th and 23rd in Leiria.