Buoyant Sporting go in search of consecutive win number eleven on Thursday evening, as they take on FC Vaslui in Romania.
The Lisbon club have never won a competitive match in Romania, but Domingos Paciência and his charges must feel they have a great opportunity of righting that unwanted record.
Despite clocking up another victory on Sunday night against Feirense, Sporting looked to be running out of gas somewhat. However, coach Domingos insists his players’ motivation remains sky high despite having practically guaranteed progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League.
“This team has shown that it has great ambition and a desire to keep playing at the same rhythm. We want a 5th straight win in Europe and an 11th in all competitions, as well as wanting to guarantee first place in the group. So we have plenty of reasons not to switch off and to continue strong,” he said
American centre-back Oguchi Onyewu is injured and Brazilian midfielder Elias ineligible for the Lions. Alberto Rodriguez and André Santos are the likely replacements. Domingos may also choose to rotate his team significantly, given that Sporting are back in action just three days later on Sunday evening in the Liga ZON Sagres.
Vaslui will be without Brazilian striker Wesley, who was slapped with a four-match ban after head-butting Sporting right-back João Pereira in the first encounter between the sides. The Romanians are still very much in contention for a place in the next round, and coach Viorel Hizo says he would be happy with a draw to stay in the hunt for a second-place finish in the group.
“I’d be happy with a draw,” he said. “We’d continue in the race to qualify and we would fight to get through with Lazio, on the next matchday. We have already exceeded all expectations. We started off with 1% chances and we are in second place in a very strong group, which is a great performance.”
The match kicks off at 7.00pm CET.
Despite clocking up another victory on Sunday night against Feirense, Sporting looked to be running out of gas somewhat. However, coach Domingos insists his players’ motivation remains sky high despite having practically guaranteed progress to the knockout stages of the Europa League.
“This team has shown that it has great ambition and a desire to keep playing at the same rhythm. We want a 5th straight win in Europe and an 11th in all competitions, as well as wanting to guarantee first place in the group. So we have plenty of reasons not to switch off and to continue strong,” he said
American centre-back Oguchi Onyewu is injured and Brazilian midfielder Elias ineligible for the Lions. Alberto Rodriguez and André Santos are the likely replacements. Domingos may also choose to rotate his team significantly, given that Sporting are back in action just three days later on Sunday evening in the Liga ZON Sagres.
Vaslui will be without Brazilian striker Wesley, who was slapped with a four-match ban after head-butting Sporting right-back João Pereira in the first encounter between the sides. The Romanians are still very much in contention for a place in the next round, and coach Viorel Hizo says he would be happy with a draw to stay in the hunt for a second-place finish in the group.
“I’d be happy with a draw,” he said. “We’d continue in the race to qualify and we would fight to get through with Lazio, on the next matchday. We have already exceeded all expectations. We started off with 1% chances and we are in second place in a very strong group, which is a great performance.”
The match kicks off at 7.00pm CET.
