João Pereira's assistant highlights “excellent debut”, Daniel Bragança talks about “positive days” with the new coach – Taça de Portugal

Statements by Tiago Teixeira, registered as Sporting's head coach, and Daniel Bragança, after the 6-0 at Amarante

Tiago Teixeira

Game analysis: “A well-done performance, with a lot of commitment and seriousness. The players saw the game as a final, as if it were a game against Arsenal. We did some management, but everyone who played gave an excellent response.”

Were the changes made with Arsenal in mind? “The only management was really thinking about Amarante. We knew that we had players who were used a lot in the national teams, others who needed minutes, others with long journeys, others who arrived missing from the national teams.”

How did you feel about João Pereira’s debut? “We were all calm, the debut was excellent, not only because of the result, because it was another victory, but because of everything the players managed to do. We had little time to train but they already assimilated some ideas”.

Debuts of João Simões and Henrique Arreiol: “They are players who have value, they have merit in training with us and they are international. They don't just appear here to debut, they have a lot of quality. Today it was them, in the future we hope that more players can be with us” .

PHOTOS: The best images of Sporting-Amarante

Daniel Bragança

Display: “It was positive, we managed to assimilate the coach's new nuances well. We scored six goals, we could have scored more. Amarante is a good team. We scored six goals, it was a good game.”

First days with João Pereira: “They were positive days. We had a lot of kids last week, there wasn't much time to train with the whole team, only yesterday and we always do it just before the game. We'll have more time to train and learn these nuances as quickly as possible to we can do what the manager wants.”

Is it possible to repeat City's performance and result against Arsenal? “Let's take it easy. It's a great team, we'll try to do our best to win. We've already made the Sporting fans happy, they believe in us a lot, we'll try to give them more joy.”

Sporting qualified today for the round of 16 of the Portuguese Cup in football, by beating Amarante 6-0 at home, in a game that marked João Pereira's debut as coach of the team.

At the José Alvalade Stadium, in Lisbon, against the second placed team in Serie A of League 3, Sporting reached half-time leading 4-0, with a 'double' from Edwards, who scored in the 10th and 45th minutes, and goals from Esgaio (15) and Harder (28).

The leader of the I League, who on Tuesday hosts Arsenal in the Champions League, increased the result in the second half with goals from Trincão, at 57, and Gyökeres, at 90, in a penalty conversion.

In the round of 16, the 'lions, defeated finalists in the last edition of the Portuguese Cup, will face, at home, the winner of the meeting between Famalicão and Santa Clara, two teams that compete in the I League.