Sporting beat Rio Ave on Friday, by 3-1at the start of the 2024/25 Betclic League, in a match that saw a brace from Butt (6' and 26'), a goal from Gyokeris (63') and another from Clayton near the end (90'). Speaking at the end of the match, Ruben Amorim admitted that the goal scored in the final stage of the match took some of the shine away from the good performance of his players, who managed to put a “very difficult” week behind them after the defeat to Porto in the Super Cup.[Era a resposta que Sporting precisava de dar depois da Supertaça?] “Above all, the win. It was important, with conviction and justice. The result should have been different and we could not have conceded a goal at the end of the match. Yes, we won, but the feeling is that we can do better. The truth is that the defensive cohesion is there because the opponent did not have chances. Rio Ave almost reached the final third. Congratulations to the players, it has been a very difficult week for everyone here,” the Lions coach began to say in his interview on the “Flash” program on Sport TV.

Opponent characteristics
“We already know Rio Ave very well, who put a lot of players between the lines, go into dead spaces and have a lot of people touch the ball. If we don’t signal and we can’t deal with our marking, it will be difficult. Very difficult because today the players don’t have fixed dates, but this is starting to happen with all the teams.”

Fans reaction
“That's the thing that doesn't surprise anyone. They proved it last year. The atmosphere is the same as last season, I'm sure they were very disappointed, it was a difficult week for them as well, a team that wins 3-0 and we lose 4-3, something is wrong and the coach made a mistake as well, but there is continuity.”

First 17 home wins?
“Think about each match individually. The goal is clear: to become champions twice. It's something we can't get out of our heads every day. Now it's about winning the Nacional. If we win the Nacional, no one will surpass us,” he concluded.