Bryan Ruiz reflects on Wednesday's encounter with Monaco and the use of the captain's armband

Their are plenty of new faces in Alvalade this season, but the pre-season also saw another debut which has been a long time in the making, with Bryan Ruiz given the captain's armband for Sporting's encounter with Monaco on Wednesday night.

"It is a pleasure for me", opened the Costa Rican, before going on to speak about the match itself and the fans: "We did well in the first-half. Of course we were a bit tired after the break and our opponent made the most of that. We will get better as we play more matches, but I would say we deserved more. I want to say thank you to the fans. It is really nice see the fans travel around Europe with us and I hope that carries on."

Jorge Jesus on Sporting's pre-season opener against Monaco

Despite Sporting's 4-1 loss to Monaco this week, Jorge Jesus saw plenty of positives in his squad's performance.

"The result always means something of course, but the most important thing is that the players had to do more than they are ready to at this stage of the pre-season. We did some positive things and the younger lads confirmed the hope we have in them, especially in the first 45 minutes", opened Jesus, referring to the performances of Gelson Martins, Matheus Pereira and Daniel Podence

Jesus finished with a word on the squad as a whole and the choice of the Juan Antonio Samaranch Stadium in Lausanne: "All of the lads did well going forward I thought. In defence we didn't so well, because we couldn't control Monaco's forwards. The location was really well thought out. A lot of Portuguese immigrants live in Switzerland and it is important for the players to be exposed to the fans."

Sporting CP miss out in fiirst pre-season friendly in Switzerland

It was always going to be difficult to keep up with the pace of a Monaco side who are well advanced in their pre-season preparations and it was the pace of the action that made the difference on Wednesday evening, despite a well balanced first-half.

Jorge Jesus opted to maintain the same defensive quartet who closed out last season – Sebastian Coates, Rúben Semedo, Schelotto and Zeegelaar –, while Azbe Jug was handed a start in goal. Sporting's attack was trusted to the young trio of Matheus Pereira, Gelson Martins and Daniel Podence, in support of Hernán Barcos. In the midfield, Petrovic made his debut, while Bryan Ruiz was handed the captain's armband.

Sporting got the game off to an exciting start, with the young trio up front and down the wings combining well. That was precisely how the first chance materialised, when Matheus Pereira carried play down the left flank in the 10th minute and linked up with Daniel Podence down the middle. The ball ended up at Gelson's feet, but the youngster was unable to find the target with hsi shot across the face of goal. Despite the early Alvalade dominance, it was Monaco who took the lead, when Gemain converted on a cross from Mandy in the 12th minute.

The goal did little to shake Sporting's confidence, as Podence led another wave of attacks before finally getting a deserved goal. Hernán Barcos did well to pick out the young forward, who kept his cool in front of Badiashile to level the scoreboard. However, Monaco took just seconds to reply, when Falcão restored the lead following an attack down the left.

Matheus Pereira had a chance before the break with a free-kick that was just inches off the mark, before pulling an instinctive save out of Badiashile in the 36th minute following a corner whipped in by Bryan Ruiz.

Jesus sent his squad out unchanged after the break and they could have equalised after just a minute of action, but Bryan Ruiz's cheeky chipped effort finished just wide after a superb pass from Matheus.

The Sporting coach rang the changes as the half progressed, bringing on Palhinha, Teo, Iuri Medeiros, Bruno César and Slimani for Petrovic, Podence, Matheus Pereira, Gelson Martins and Hernán Barcos, but the alteration had barely bedded in when Monaco extended their lead from a quick break and a lethal pass of Dirar, rounded off by the movement of Falcão (66’).

Monaco pushed the pace in the closing stages and Guido Carrillo made it 4-1 with eight minutes left to play.

Aquilani and Jefferson were also given a run out in place of Bryan Ruiz and Zeegelaar.