Second Chance Saloon (Ana Borges interview)

A single page with the Sporting captain, back at a major tournament by an unhappy accident of history: Portugal were beaten play-off participants and took Russia’s place at EURO 2022 only after Russia’s removal from UEFA competitions. Ana Borges is unbothered by how they got there. She was one of the early international signings at Emma Hayes’s Chelsea, won the WSL and the FA Cup, played in the first two Wembley finals, and left in 2017 having, in Hayes’s words, left a stamp on the hearts and minds of everybody there – so returning to a country she called home for three years is a pleasure. On Portugal she is clear-eyed: the first EURO was a novelty, this time they know the demands and know they belong among Europe’s best.