Luís Neto gave an extensive interview to Sporting TV this Wednesday. Among the topics that were addressed, the central defender, who is leaving the Alvalade club, took stock of last season, which culminated in winning the league title.

"This was an all-or-nothing season. We had many conversations in 2022/2023. Apparently not, but we had a good group. We also had a very healthy group. Everyone had a good relationship, but something was missing. And I believe we had very significant conversations among everyone. We had messages from the coach that he repeated several times, that if we didn't win anything, something would end. There could be a closing of the cycle. But everyone gave a great response", Neto began by saying.

"We managed, in discomfort, to recreate all the conditions to win. Mainly, the resilience of the group. The consistency and the fact that we managed to get the message across that all three points were important. In other words, I remember playing in Faro, there on the seventh or eighth round and we were practically already saying that 'We win today and we are champions'. Going to Bessa and saying 'we win today and we are champions'. In other words, it was no longer game by game. That was almost... 'If we win today, we are champions'. And that was created in all foreign players, all the guys who came this year, imbued with that spirit. We spoke in English to get all the messages across, no one was left out. There was a huge belief, a huge hunger", he continued, before talking about the Lions' performances last season.

"And then even at the exhibition level, everyone with pleasure playing with each other, our system, our positions... Moving from one game to another, the level of demand, that is, realizing that during... We can win ten victories in a row, but we had our rivals winning ten games in a row. We had to win the eleventh, there are no draws, there is nothing. There are no days off. And this is demanding on a physical level, it is demanding on a mental level, because then there is the Europa League, the Portuguese Cup, the League Cup. Fight for everything. After three in three days, often playing on the third day, with little recovery time, with little training time, a lot of video. And even so, the guys managed to hold on for a long time without complaining, managed to hold on for a long time without asking for time off, managed to hold on for a long time even though we spent every day at the academy. 'Guys, it's one more, it's one more'. The guys who didn't play, training as if there was no tomorrow. And I think a lot of this was the key to this year", he stressed.

Neto also spoke about the serious injury that kept him off the pitch for several weeks.

"Then I have a really strange injury and I have this bad luck of realizing that something was wrong and at the time I was even afraid that it was an even more serious knee injury. But against everything that is clinical, against everything that is medical, I end up in the final phase of my knee recovery, with just over two weeks to go, I end up having the misfortune of the pneumothorax, which robbed me of a lot of time. It robbed me a lot on a mental level, on an emotional level, on a physical level. I lost my shape completely, I lost weight. I came to weigh 64 kg. I'm already a robust person. And I had to readapt to everything, go to the Academy practically only to do physiotherapy, where I couldn't have any other type of exercise", he concluded.

Read also: Neto in tears at farewell: "I loved Sporting from day one" (Portuguese version)