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Back in Alvalade, after four years abroad (with spells at Inter Milan, West Ham and Lokomotiv Moscow), João Mário spoke about the atmosphere he found at the Alvalade club.
“These are different times, one feels a very pleasant atmosphere, a breath of fresh air, from the president, the coach, the locker room. I am very happy to have found this environment, “said the player, in statements made before training this Thursday of the Leonese squad.
A starter in the last two games, João Mário has already contributed to Sporting being at the top of the league by now, four points ahead of the competition. The midfielder, however, is cautious: «It is a very young team, very humble. We work hard, we are doing very well, but we always think match by match, because we are at a very early stage of the championship ».
For this reason, he called for calm from the fans: “We started. We saw in the last championship that having a few points of advantage does not mean anything, in a game or two it changes everything. We promise a lot of work and commitment to the club, nothing more. We really want to honor the club.
João Mário does not want to hear about any kind of pressure on the title of champion, pointing to the main objective: to guarantee himself a place in the Champions League. “We have the same sense of responsibility, but we don’t put that pressure, because the group is very young. They cannot be compared because they are different realities. I see a lot of quality in the group and a lot of desire to do things well. There are three places in the Champions League and Sporting wants to be in one of them. For that we are going to work.
The impression of these first days working with Rúben Amorim also remained: «It was very good. I didn’t know him, we had never met in his playing career. He is a coach who puts a lot of respect in the team, a lot of competitiveness. He has young ideas, I identify a lot because he has a modern mentality ».
