Sporting wins, but Ricardo Costa does not like his opponent's attitude

The Leões claimed their ninth win in as many rounds, but the national champions' coach criticized the Madeirans' slowness and tactics.

Sporting defeated Maritimo (31-23) in the match that ended the ninth round of Nacional Handball, and maintained its unbeaten record at the top of the standings, which it shares with Porto, the other team that has not lost any points internally yet.

But the Lions coach, Ricardo Costa, expressed his regret to the Sporting media for the behavior of the opponent in Funchal, criticizing the slowness and the 7 x 6 tactic. “The match was characterized by the speed that Marítimo wanted to impose. I wanted to play very slowly, with very long attacks, so it was difficult for us to score more than 30 goals. I have a feeling Marítimo wanted to lose by a small margin. “By attacking seven against six in 60 minutes, they made the game dull, dull and slow,” the national champions coach said.

“We came prepared and wanted to play faster, but the most important thing is the three points and no one gets injured. “For me, it was not necessary that we played well, after the number of minutes we had accumulated in our legs and the many trips,” Ricardo Costa said. “In the first half we could have taken advantage of one situation or another to end the game with an empty goal, as we missed some shots. Each game has its own story and each opponent has its own weapons. This is Marítimo's weapon and we know that we have to suffer to win.”