Sporting CP 6 Boavista 1

Sporting CP v Boavista
March 17th, 2024
Estádio José Alvalade
Matchday 25 

The Warm Up

Sporting welcome Boavista FC the quintessential English football club hiding in plain sight in Portugal. When I was growing up, before I had any interest in Sporting or Portuguese football in general, if you’d asked me to name a Portuguese club it would have been either been Boavista or Marítimo which in 2024 seems as highly implausible an answer that anyone outside of Portugal would now give – how times have changed! At one point both were European regulars. The latter now can be found plying their trade in Liga 2, tonight's visitors are labouring along 9th in mid-table and any thoughts of a return to European football remain a distant dream. Boavista for those who don’t know are one of just five clubs to have ever been crowned Portuguese title winners alongside the big three and Belenenses. If you were born after 2000 and follow Boavista if it wasn’t for the record books you’d think older fans were making it up when they’re reminiscing about times gone by.

So back to the present day, Boavista sit 22 points off a European spot, 5 points above the bottom 3. 23 games have yielded 7 wins, less than 1 every 3 and in 12 away games just 3 wins so 1 win in 4. Two clean sheets all season, keeper Gonçalves has conceded 45 in 25 appearances, 7 more than the xG conceded metric. Sporting’s forward line will be rubbing their hands in anticipation of adding to their goal tally. A reminder of Sporting’s current record at home – 12 games, 12 wins, 40 scored and just 9 conceded. A further reminder going into the weekend – Sporting still top, 1 point the advantage with 1 game in hand. The reverse fixture brought with it a 2-0 away win with goals coming from Geny and Gonçalves. Some might have been disappointed with being knocked out of Europe on Thursday (I’m not one of them) but for anyone who was, let’s be fair it could be far worse. No one in Portugal wins the league in March but with ten games to go we’ve got a ticket to the lottery and right now unless the two Lisboa clubs form drops off a cliff between now and the end of the season, they’re the only two sides holding a ticket. It’s a coin toss. Heads or tails?

As a side note Boavista was the club against which Nuno Santos, now monikered Iggy Pop by myself for being the proverbial Passenger out on the left wing this season, scored his Puskas nominated wonder goal. Maybe it’ll inspire him to actually get his head out of his arse and produce something noteworthy this season other than what’s been going on with his hair.

Thursday night brought with it defeat and another injury worry as Gonçalves crocked himself scoring and is set for at least a month lay off. Adán remains sidelined with his thigh injury. Morita should return having not flown to Italy having felt unwell. Marcus Edwards additionally is ruled out through injury. Mattheus Reis celebrated his 150th appearance for the Lions and regular readers will know I’m a huge fan of the Brazilian and let’s hope he continues to add to that tally.

The money markets

Sporting 1/7 = 87.5% probability chance of win
Boavista 16/1 = 5.88% probability chance of win 

Team News

All change again from Thursday night as Coates returns to the back three for St Juste, Reis drops back to replace Inácio. That means Nuno Santos returns on the left wing, Morita for Gonçalves, and Geny for Esgaio on the right. Finally Paulinho comes in for Edwards.

First Half

So as Sporting get set to take on the Axadrezados they find themselves second again in this yo-yo season before they’ve even kicked a ball in anger. It could have been a different story of course had the police not gone on strike before the Famalicão game. You imagine once that game is actually played if Sporting were to lose they’ll be left wishing they’d not gone on strike. To quote the Kaiser Chiefs – I predict a riot. For now can we have three points, no injuries and no suspensions please if it’s not too much trouble to ask. See I can do polite as well.  

2 GOAL Sporting CP 0 Boavista 1. Long ball into the centre punched away by Israel straight to Makouta who acrobatically volleys back into the top right hand corner from the edge of the 18 yard box. Lesson 1 in why to catch a ball and have a decent backup goalkeeper. Fuck me. Me being polite didn’t even last a five full fucking minutes

5 Sporting CP 1 Boavista 1. Appears we’re playing basketball tonight as it’s end to end stuff right now. Trincão volleys into the top left hand corner. Suspicion of offside in the buildup. Trincão shakes his head as the goal is disallowed. Still Sporting CP 0 Boavista 1. Fuck, fuck, fuckety fucking fuck fucks. FUCK!

10 Free kick on the left by Nuno Santos headed down by a defender onto the head of Diomande and out for a goal kick.

12 If my nerves weren’t frayed enough prior to kick off that early goal has not done the old ticker any good at all. Can we find an equaliser sooner rather than later please? I’ll cling onto the years old adage that you can score too early in a game

17 Sporting are rattled, you can see it by the reaction of the players’ faces. Petulant reaction by Nuno Santos as he gives away a foul. The crowd are whistling loudly every time Boavista attack. Shakes of the head from Trincão, grimace from Geny. We’re all feeling this me included

21 Better from Sporting. Good play in and around the box presents Gyökeres with the space and chance to shoot but he blasts over from 19 yards

24 Cheeky back heel inside the area from Paulinho hits a defender, hits Morita and trundles towards goal. Nice football but again there’s just no end product

25 Trincão must have twisted his way between four or five defenders there before finally being dispossessed. Phenomenal skill

27 Whichever team scores the next goal this stadium is ready to erupt like an Icelandic volcano

28 Paulinho a yard offside as he blasts an effort from just inside the box over the bar. Sporting keep finding the gaps in defence, they just can’t time their runs by which I clearly mean to say Paulinho can’t time his runs

30 Nice turn and shot from Gyökeres on the edge of the 18 yard box but straight at the keeper

32 Handbags in the centre as Agra wrestles with Hjulmand. Both players are booked. It’s all going off in the technical area. Whistles ringing from all four corners. Maybe Agra is short for aggravation. Yes I know one has a double g so don’t get pedantic

34 By the reaction of those in attendance you’d be forgiven for thinking it’s a Dérbi. You could charge the entire Lisboa grid from the electricity being produced

35 Gyökeres fires a ball into the six yard area for Paulinho who throws himself at it but it carries through to safety. I dread to think what my heart rate is right now. This is the game you start praying to a god you don’t believe in and promise the earth if you just let us have three points

37 Rabona into the box from Nuno Santos sees Gyökeres throw himself at it. He thinks he should have had a penalty. Not sure what for looking at the replays. Let’s hope whatever he said to the referee was in Swedish because chances are it wasn’t polite looking at his reaction

40 Malheiro shown yellow for a foul on Paulinho

42 Trincão whips a shot with venom and curl from 20 yards saved by the keeper and out for a corner

44 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Boavista 1. I’d have been taken off air if I was commentating on this game with my reaction I’ve just shouted out loud. Sweeping ball in from the left into the corridor of uncertainty and Gyökeres was there to slam it home. Paulinho with the assist. No that doesn’t change my mind that those two can play together. One swallow does not a summer make

Plus three shown

+2 free kick awarded for foul on Hjulmand two yards outside box on the right hand corner

+3 Geny has the ball… Can’t get his effort on target and it flies over into the crowd

Half time

Sporting CP 1 Boavista 1

You wouldn’t want to be the officiating team trying to get out of the stadium later if Sporting don’t come away with all three points. They trudge off to a cacophony of boos from all four corners. I think Israel has touched the ball twice this half; Once to punch it away and once to pick the ball out of the net. There’s some real fucking irony for you there Alanis. All credit to Makouta he took Boavista’s solitary chance of the half incredibly well and I’m sure many players would have missed the target striking it first time and from 18 yards. For all Sporting’s pressure it didn’t look like the goal was ever going to come and personally for me it really needed to before the half time whistle. It wasn't pretty but it ’oesn't need to be. Gyökeres isn’t quite the Postman that Bas Dost once was but whilst he doesn’t always deliver, he almost does and there’s no one you’d rather have who are currently plyin’ their trade in Portuguese football playing up front for you now other than Banza at Sporting Braga.

Second half

Coates shows he’s a coach in the making as he gives instructions to Geny. Morita will be his assistant as he passes on similar to Trincão. Gyökeres giggles with the referee all friends and smiles again. Boavista taking their time to come back out. Bragança comes on for Hjulmand who picked up the yellow in the first half. I’m guessing that’s to try ensure we don’t finish with ten men on the pitch.

Sporting kick off attacking left to right this half.

49 How was that not 2-1? Coates header brought out a diving save. I think Diomande then hit it goal wards and it cannoned off Morita for a goal kick

50 Sporting are throwing everything at Boavista right now. Pressure makes diamonds ... but also cracks. Let’s fucking hope it’s the latter in the Boavista defence. Three corners all wasted in those opening minutes. If we do employ a coach for set pieces they need firing, if we don’t then one needs hiring

52 Inácio being readied to come on by Amorim on the touchline

53 GOAL Sporting CP 2 Boavista 1. The teeth are smiling which can only mean one thing as Paulinho points to his head in celebration. Geny whipped a ball in from the right and from 4 yards he stuck his leg out to poke it past the keeper

54 Inácio for Reis

55 I imagine all you can hear in Lisboa right now is the Sportinguista’s singing. Imagine if this side were top what they’d be like. Oh no wait they are and this is what they’re like

58 I’m going to antenatal classes. Not because I’m having a baby but I need to learn to breathe properly in stressful situations. Bollocks to mindfulness this shit is seriously painful. Apologies to all female readers. I’m clearly not comparing it to the pain of actually giving birth – I’d like my testicles to remain attached to my body

65 The pace of this game has finally settled down. Sporting have played at a frenetic pace for the opening hour like the proverbial pride hunting its prey

68 GOAL Well it’s just gone 10pm here and if the neighbours had gone to bed I’ve probably just woken them all up. Gyökeres picks it up on the left hand side of the 18 yard box, checks back to make space and rattles the ball into he bottom right hand corner of the net. Sporting CP 3 Boavista 1. Franco Israel owes his forwards a drink or two for getting him off the hook

70 St Juste booked. Is that the third player this season not on the pitch to be booked for Sporting? Can’t say they’re not committed whether playing or not. I’m going off the top of my head Nuno Santos and Gonçalves and actually maybe Neto too? So could be four

72 Quaresma replaces Diomande

72 Finally a corner at least finds a Sporting player as Paulinho heads towards the bottom left but it’s pushed away to safety

73 Inácio penalised for a foul in the box as Sporting had the ball in the net for a fourth time from a header. Referee is going to his monitor. From the replay it’s more suggestive that Inácio was fouled rather than the player making the foul. I was under the impression fans would now be told in the stadium what’s happening but there’s nothing on the Tannoy. Not that I can understand Portuguese. Oh here we are. Referee is saying something on the microphone. I think he’s said penalty to Sporting. Coates it was with the header into the net btw

77 Gyökeres stands with the chance of completing his hat-trick

78 GOAL Sporting CP 4 Boavista 1. Good job the keeper went the wrong way because he’d have gone into the net with the ball. That was struck with real venom and malice

80 Wow seven minutes that’s taken to clear up. There will be a lot of little Sportinguista’s asleep at their school desks tomorrow by the time this game actually finishes and they get home

82 Trincão sits down on the edge of the 18 yard box as the physio runs on. He’s looked imperious tonight let’s hope it’s nothing serious. Huge round of applause as he departs to be replaced by Esgaio. Koindredi comes on for Morita

83 Last three corners have at least found a Sporting player as Paulinho heads over

85 Geny does his best starfish impression as he lands a flying header. Good technique in a pool for a belly flop, however the chance goes well wide

87 GOAL It wasn’t worth it a Puskas nomination but it is a goal. Gyökeres turns provider as he cuts the ball back to Nuno Santos to tap in from five yards. Sporting CP 5 Boavista 1. Well I don’t know what I was so worried about

Plus six indicated

+4 GOAL Well bugger me having moaned about set pieces all season long Paulinho only goes and scores from a corner to make it Sporting CP 6 Boavista 1. Who had that particular result on their bingo cards after two minutes?

Full time

Sporting CP 6 Boavista 1

The Final Word

West Ham fans like to talk about the West Ham way. If there’s a Sporting Way it strikes me as being – doing it the fucking hard way. My god this team has got some resilience to it though. In years gone by this result would have not gone our way. It certainly wouldn’t have ever ended up 6-1. Whatever this side has – bottle it. Gyökeres will rightly take the plaudits but Trincão is my man of the match. When he’s on his game and in full flow it really is a thing of beauty to watch. If he was a foot shorter he’d be the darling of Portuguese football and compared to a certain darling of Argentinian football. Gyökeres by comparison is just a battering ram. If you had him in mediaeval times you’d just invade countries for the shits and giggles – Yeah we took Romania, Bulgaria and Hungary all before dinner time.

I don’t know whether this side will get us over the line. It’s too tight, it’s bum clenchingly tight! Yet whatever they achieve I hope that we all – me included, rightfully lay all the plaudits at their door because whatever the outcome they’re having the most incredible season and on effort and spirit alone they deserve something they really do. It’s getting harder with every week. You can see their bodies are breaking down. It’s rotation, it’s nursing niggles, it’s an hour here, half hour there. You fully believe though that if they have to take the field crawling they will do it to achieve success.