Sporting out to assert authority
Wednesday, 16 February 2005
Sporting Clube de Portugal face Feyenoord in the UEFA Cup Round of 32 tonight
and the Portuguese club's captain, Pedro Barbosa, is calling on his
team-mates to dominate from the off at the Estádio José Alvalade.

  

Pedro Barbosa wants Sporting to make home advantage count


Sporting control
"We must impose our football from the first minute of the game," said
Barbosa. "We will try to score and do our best to avoid conceding. Our team
has all the qualities to go through the next stage. Home or away, Sporting
must control the game. We have done so recently and this match we will do the
same thing. We must play in a determined way and it is very important to
start very well.

'Constant attacks'
"We want to win the match and we will adopt our usual style of play, keeping
possession and attacking constantly. However, I know Feyenoord are a good
team, with good results lately, so we will have to play patiently in the
Netherlands. I don't know them very well but I am sure they're an excellent
team."

Local knowledge
Feyenoord's Portuguese defender Bruno Basto predicted "a very difficult match
for us" on his return to his home city. He spent two and a half years with SL
Benfica before arriving at Feyenoord via FC Girondins de Bordeaux

Sporting are one of the best Portuguese teams and we will have to be at our
very best to get a good result

Bruno Basto


Bittersweet return
The 26-year-old warned: "Sporting are one of the best Portuguese teams and we
will have to be at our very best to get a good result." He added: "However,
we have our own football and our 'weapons'. It will be an excellent tie. I
have mixed emotions about facing Sporting because it is always good coming to
Portugal but bad to play against Sporting because they have a lot of good
players."

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