Getting going on already ticked off?
BVB opponent protects top strikers-trainer justifies himself
February 19, 2025 – 6:02 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
Without his top scorer, Sporting Lisbon will play at BVB today. This is not injured, but is spared. The trainer denies to serve the game in advance.
Sporting Lisbon has to do without two of his most important offensive players in the play-off second leg of the Champions League near Borussia Dortmund. Neither Viktor Gyökeres nor Trincão started the trip to Germany, although they would have been ready for use. A decision that coach Rui Borges defended at the press conference.
After the 0: 3 in the first leg, the chances of the Portuguese on the round of 16 seem low. The absence of Gyökeres and Trincão therefore caused speculation as to whether Sporting had already written off the duel.
Borges, however, rejected this allegation: “Champions League or championship? Priority has everything.” He justified the decision with the upcoming league game on Sunday in Aves, in which one had to do without Morten Hjulmand and the closed Ousmane Diomande: “The lack of the two is a decision by the coaching team.”
Gyökeres, who has already scored 22 goals in 21 league games and contributed six more goals in the Champions League, is particularly painfully missed. In the first leg, the Swede was only used as a joker, now it is completely missing.
His representative, 19-year-old Dane Conrad Harder, emphasized at the press conference that Gyöker’s left gap: “Viktor is a great striker. I try to do my best when I am on the pitch-with or without him. But without him it will definitely be difficult. “
However, Borges made it clear that Sporting is by no means giving up without a fight: “It had to be done – and it is now being done.” In addition to the failures, several U-23 players will take a seat on the bench. Nevertheless, the coach does not want to accept excuses: “It is not the time to look for excuses.”