Rui Borges hopes that the new duel with Vitória de Guimarães, now in the semi-finals of the League Cup, in Leiria, will be “different” from the League game, which the lions ended up winning, at the Dom Afonso Henriques Stadium, with some tranquility (4-1). Change of competition, now to be eliminated «The players are focused, they realize that it could be a title fight. We always want to win, the team always has the ambition of being in the finals, competing for trophies and that's what we really want. Now we need to focus on the League Cup and, later on, focus on the championship. The players want to compete, despite Barcelos' result, the players want to compete, play and demonstrate what they are as a team and as a group too». It's going to be a month of January with lots of games «It’s going to be a very intense month of January and the beginning of February. Many games, we don't have all the solutions, let's hope they come back as soon as possible, because, in addition to giving us more options, they also take the burden off the games from the players we have now. An overload that can become dangerous, we enter a space that we do not control so well, which is muscle injuries. We enter this red light due to the overload of games on the same players. Let's wait for more solutions to appear, from the people who have been on the outside to help us in this regard». Will it be a different game than the championship game? «This game is totally different from what the championship is, it's eliminating, Vitória will definitely want to play in the League Cup final to also win a trophy. Even because of its associative mass, because of the greatness of the club itself, so it will be a very competitive, very different game. I think that, at times, it will be more calculated because both teams want to be in the final. A victory that, despite everything, is making for an excellent championship, I think it has one point less than last season, which dictates what the first round they are doing despite all the changes they have made in terms of players. A team that beat FC Porto was the only team that beat FC Porto this season. Eliminated FC Porto from this competition. It will be a competitive game, different from the championship, but it will demand a lot from us. We will play a good, competent game, not deviating from what we like, in terms of quality of play and being in control of the game in terms of having the ball and producing a lot». Did Sporting lose last season's final? Wounded pride? «It's not about pride, it's about the team's ambition. Last year we lost on penalties, it's something that is very specific, we weren't as competent in taking penalties, but, besides, we have the ambition to be there, to compete in competitions, in the finals. We were in them last season, we didn't manage to win them all, but that's football. It's about continuing and getting up and fighting again to be in the finals again. That's what we really want, tomorrow to discuss the game so we can be in the final and then, within the final, we can win the competition itself. They want to win, they don't get tired of winning. They want to add to history, they want to continue in Sporting's history and it is a trophy that puts them in that history».
