The rope… broke. In the space of a month, Islam Slimani went from starting at Sporting, as happened on March 19, with Vitória de Guimarães, to being passed over from the squad, as happened on Thursday, with FC Porto, at Estádio do Dragão, as had already happened in the immediately previous trip, with Tondela, on the 29th round of the championship. The main reason, this, unites both decisions of Rúben Amorim.
“It was a technical option. I say it again: those who train better play and are called up. I can risk my job or a tie, I don’t care. It will be like that until I stop being a coach», justified the coach at the end of the game at Dragão.
The departure of Slimani from the game with FC Porto, however, contains much stronger reasons, and much more serious from the point of view of Rúben Amorim, than what happened before the game with Tondela.
That week, remember, the Algerian did not apply himself in training, after knowing that he would not be a starter, and ended up not even finishing the session the day before, having left early on the recommendation of Rúben Amorim. The same happened in the pre-classic, as A BOLA reported: on Tuesday Slimani was tested in the initial team, the next day he was not. And the attitude of the Algerian, once again, displeased the Sporting coach, who did not even take the forward to the training camp. This time, however, there are also off-field behaviors from Slimani, our newspaper found out, which lead Rúben Amorim, at this moment, to discard the striker, as far as the competition is concerned, in the near future.
Yesterday, a day of recovery training for the holders, and a normal session for the rest, Slimani was present at the Academy, we were confirmed, but he will not have been training with the group.
THE BALL knows that the current scenario will only change if and when Islam Slimani makes an apology to the coach and the group.
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