FC Porto 2 Sporting CP 1

FC Porto v Sporting CP 
Sunday May 26^th, 2024
Estádio Nacional 
Taça de Portugal final

The Warm Up

We're now just 90 minutes away from the final curtain coming down on the 2023/24 campaign. Just the small matter of a Clássico to contend in the guise of the Taça de Portugal Final. Sporting will look to avenge the 2-0 defeat to Porto in the Taça da Liga final last season, a game in which Paulinho received his marching orders. He’ll certainly be out for revenge in possibly his last game for Sporting as will Marcus Edwards who suffered the same fate in the 2-2 draw at the Dragão a few weeks back and again is another player who could well be off during the summer transfer window. 

Continuing the theme of recent blogs, I now have a complete set of data for the league campaign and I have to admit some of the numbers in front of me I found quite surprising. For example, in the opening 17 games the player with the most attempts on goal wasn't Viktor Gyökeres who totalled 49 attempts, but Pedro Gonçalves with 53. Despite there only being 34 games played in the Portuguese topflight, it has been a long campaign when you factor in all the competitions played; We've had an extended campaign in the Europa League, a run to the semis in the Taça da Liga and of course as already mentioned we're now about to face off against Porto in the final of the other Taça. After a while every game just seems to merge into one and it's very easy to fall into the trap of looking at the season with rose tinted glasses post title win, but in reality, it's the second half of the season where Sporting have really shone and looked like true champions having not lost a single league game compared to 2 in the opening half. Of 51 points available they collected an incredible 47. Using that very same adage of games causing memories to merge into one, we'd probably all claim that Gyökeres has been flying in the league all season, but the numbers paint a different picture in the first half of the season when compared to the second. Maybe he was flying for all of it but previously he was in first class, and he flew back on an upgrade to business. Either way he's still had a decent debut season don't you think? His 49 attempts mentioned previously were made up of 19 shots off target, 22 on target, with 8 blocked. 44.90% of his total attempts were on target and his goal tally for that period was 11. In the second half of the season, Gonçalves total attempts had gone down by 14 to 39 and it's no surprise to see the Swedes rise by almost that same number, up by 15 to 64. Whether that was down to instructions from Amorim, increased confidence in his abilities from his teammates or down to him deciding quite frequently to try fashioning his own chances instead, I'll let you decide. If your answer is a combination of all three then I think I can allow that. Certainly though it paid dividends with 7 more goals taking the total up to 18 and his on target percentage increased to 56.25. For purposes of balance it should be noted that the two halves aren’t exactly like for like. The opening 17 were sandwiched between more games in the Taça da Liga, Taça de Portugal and Europa League and in turn during the opening rounds they’ll be looking for match fitness. The second 17 finished with breaks of 7 days in between games so the players could finally rest both bodies and minds.

I was thinking the other day it must be great playing in Portugal for Gyökeres because he'd clocked up 4,022 minutes in the Championship last season and at most, you'd play 3,060 here in a league season. Then the penny dropped that by the time you factor in the Taça da Liga, Taça de Portugal and Europa League games into his final numbers and you're probably over that total and by God does he cover some ground in each game. He played just the one FA Cup game for Coventry by comparison on top of those minutes in the league.

For both halves of the season Gonçalves % of shots off target was higher than his % on which is a worrying marker for one of your chosen forwards. I'll concede that I thought his overall game improved massively in the second half of the season because I was ready to sell him in January, that unimpressed was I by his early performances and his finishing in front of goal.

One of the really interesting things for me as mentioned in a previous post was the emergence of Trincão in the second half of the season. He had just 18 attempts in the opening half but was level with Gonçalves on 39 attempts overall in the second half and had a higher % of shots on target at 38.46%. In the interest of fairness before I mention total goals and assists between the 2 attacking players, Gonçalves played 2,591 minutes to Trincão’s 1,696 over the course of the season. Gonçalves finished with 11 goals and 12 assists, Trincão with 9 goals and 6 assists. Trincão benefited hugely in the drop off in playing time of Marcus Edward's who played just 27% of the minutes in the second half of the season of what he did in the first. Trincão on the other hand would play 1,024 more minutes than he had done in the opening 17. There's frankly fuck all you can do when your arse is sat watching on from the sidelines or in the case of 2 games post Porto - sat or your arse in an executive box.

Speaking of sitting on the sidelines, by virtue of not appearing in either the league losses to Benfica and Vitória; Bragança, Quaresma and Israel can all lay claim to having not lost a league match in any game they've featured in this season.

Paulinho lead the way in shot accuracy after 17 games with 56.25% of his 32 attempts on target. Next in that list was Marcus Edwards with 50% of his 24 on target. Flip that to the second half and Gyökeres lead the way with his 36 on target representing 56.25% of his output. Paulinho was second in terms of accuracy at 48.15%.

For the league campaign as a whole, Paulinho tops the accuracy standings with 52.54%, Gyökeres at 51.33% and Marcus Edwards probably benefiting from his lack of playing time finishes with 41.94%. The Englishman had 1 shot on target, 1 off and 5 blocked in his fleeting appearances across the last 17 games. I watched back his goal against Estrela earlier this afternoon and for me it has to go down as the best individual goal of the season in the league for Sporting. If he does embark on a new adventure it will really be a question of what could have been versus what was. Given how Amorim continually rotated every other player other than Gyökeres it really leaves me wondering if something went on behind the scenes especially given his accuracy in front of goal, his ability to unlock a defence like the proverbial Swiss Army knife and the understanding and link up play we saw him demonstrate time and time again with Gyökeres.

Shout out to Esgaio and Neto who both finished with 100% shooting accuracy in the second half of the season. OK so fine they both only had the one shot in that period but they all count right? Actually Esgaio’s shot in the 1-0 away win to Estoril was probably one of the best struck shots of the season by any Sporting player. With schoolboys on Portuguese TV taking the piss someone has to give the lad some credit somewhere and I have given him a man of the match award during the campaign.

Anyway I digress. In the opening 17; goals for – 40, goals against – 17. Final 17 – goals for 56, goals against 12. An increase of 40% in goals scored helped no end by 8 coming against Casa Pia, 6 to Boavista and 5 a piece against Braga and Vizela. Sporting let’s not forget recorded two 8-0 wins this season with the other coming in the Taça de Portugal against Dumiense.

Paulinho ended the league season with a goal or an assist for every 65 minutes played, Gyökeres by the same metric every 75 minutes. On goals alone Paulinho finally is a goal a game man scoring on average one every 86 minutes. Gyökeres, winner of the silver ball as top scorer in Portugal (a trophy that is incredibly underwhelming to look at by the way) scored a goal every 101 minutes and were it not for his disallowed goal Saturday would have finished on 30. I hoped he’d get between 20 and 25 so to score 29 and lead the team to the title is nothing short of sensational in my book.

Nuno Santos whose season for me has been noteworthy only for what was going on, on top of his head with his Barnet, has incredibly had 10 assists. I won’t lie I’m still thinking really? That puts him joint level with Gyökeres, who both fell behind Goncalves who finished top with 12. Funny how so much comes down not to the actual metric but how someone appears to the eye. I’d suggest Nuno Santos had his best season in a Sporting shirt last season and not just because he ended up with a Puskas nomination. I genuinely believe his contribution was that much higher to the team. However according to the numbers last season he scored 8 compared to 4 this season but his assists total has doubled from the 5 last. He’s not employed to score goals, he’s employed to provide them so on that basis that’s me eating my words. I would suggest however that having the Swedish striker on the end of your pass is always going to be more fruitful than that of say a Chermiti, Rochincha, Jovane or last seasons incarnation of Paulinho before he reinvented himself as the free scoring fans favourite. Did we all drop into a parallel universe? All being said going back to Nuno Santos I won’t change my mind based on this season’s performances that Reis deserves to start wide left of the midfield 4. I’d given Nuno the nickname of Iggy Pop midway through the campaign owing to the fact he was very much the passenger. One for the kids with that reference. At the civic ceremony Neto is trying to get the crowd to say they want him as one of the club captains, if I was there I’d be finding someone who spoke English and Portuguese to translate – No sell him!

I might be in a minority but I am gutted that Adán is going. He has been the best keeper I have seen during my time following the club. The only other one that comes close for me is Romain Salin and how he only ever made 9 appearances during is period with the club still baffles me to this day. Renan Ribeiro was hopeless, Max utterly useless, Patricio incredibly overrated, too short and all you have to do is pick one of the corners of his goal and he’d get anywhere near it. So in short – gutted the Spaniard is going. Don’t get me started on Israel, plenty of evidence on my opinion on the Uruguayan Ostrich if you want to look back over the course of this seasons blogs. Neto – let’s be fair apart from being I am reliably informed the nicest man in Portuguese football, he’s not actually brought anything to the party for the last couple of seasons other than a stream of yellow cards. He is the enforcer you bring on with five to go and hope when he crunches someone he doesn’t do it in the penalty area.

Who would I keep in the squad and who would I let go?

Let’s start with the one everyone else would say was easy – Ricardo Esgaio. Unlike the majority of everyone else I’d keep him. Fresneda has yet to prove himself and what little we have seen hardly installed any confidence in is abilities. He had a torrid 45 on his debut. Geny doesn’t have the same defensive mindset. Esgaio has a solid engine, yes he has a mistake in him but we all do and he’s no more mistakes in him than say Inácio. It might only be until the winter window if Fresneda proves himself or only for another year but I get why Amorim trusts him. I’d keep him in the squad and I doubt he's earning silly money.

Nuno Santos – I’d let him go but that means going into the market for a replacement. Definitely keeping Reis as we have already ascertained and he’d be the balance to Geny going forward on the other flank. In the centre I’m keeping both Morita and Hjulmand, they are of course the engine to the side. Koindredi can go as we've seen nothing from him and I would send Braganca out on loan for a season. I don’t buy into the hype with him in the same way I never did with Gelson Martins. I appreciate he had that season out of the game through injury and time will tell as to how good a career he has but I don’t think he’s going to be pulling up trees and knocking on the door of the national squad anytime soon.

Paulinho – sell if he wants a final pay day, Gyökeres – mother always told me not to state the obvious, Goncalves – sell opening half of the season version, keep second half of season version, so that’s me sat on the fence. To be fair if we sold Gyökeres then we keep all day long so off the fence with a caveat. Keep Trincão and I want him in midfield. Sell Edwards because there’s no point in keeping a talent if you’re not going to play him.

Keep Coates. If you’d told me when he first came to the club that I’d be writing that all these years on I’d have laughed my socks off. If I had to keep one of Inácio or Diomande knowing the club want to generate funds then it’s goodbye Gonçalo. I’ve written it before about St Juste that if he could stay fit he’s the natural fit to take over from Coates but given he makes Michail Antonio appear like James Milner in the fitness stakes, if we can get anywhere near what we paid for him then I’d let him leave. I know I’m obsessed with Trincão playing centrally in midfield but I would also go out on a limb and suggest Quaresma could function in a midfield roll. So I'm keeping him and expanding his portfolio with a licence to roam.

Regular readers know my feelings about Israel so a bit like Gyökeres – don’t state the obvious. I am proper gutted that Adán is leaving though I'll have to hold my hands up and say I think he’s living off his reputation in my head from the title winning season because when I looked at his comparative statistics in the league for this campaign they suggested I’m watching different games to everyone else which I have often suspected is the case.

Did we miss anyone? Probably. Oh poor old Rafael. It’s been so many years since I got my leg over last but I’d bet I’d still last for more minutes than he managed for Sporting on the pitch since his purchase in January. He'll have earned a few euros so off with his head. No sorry, off somewhere else this isn't Alice in Wonderland.

So maybe I should talk about the game ahead? Sorry! Sporting have won this competition a staggering 17 times in their history and whilst Porto came away Champions in last seasons Liga final, the last win for Sporting in this competition came in the 2018/19 season against Porto on penalties after extra time. Sporting levelled on the stroke of half time with an own goal from Pereira. Level at 1-1 after 90 minutes they went ahead through my favourite Dutch giraffe Bas Dost in the 101st minute only to be sucker punched in the 121st minute to tie the game at 2-2. Despite a Bas Dost penalty miss first up for Sporting they scored the next five to win 5-4 through; Fernandes, Mathieu, Raphinha, Coates and finally with Luiz Phellype. Christ he’s 30 years old now. You look at the first three names and you remember the level of quality we’ve had playing for us in recent years. Then you add Phellype to the likes of Tomás, Martin's and Rochincha and remember we’ve had some absolute dross up front as well.

For those who watched both Clássico’s earlier this season, picking a winner in tonight’s competition will be like trying to accurately call the toss of a coin. At the Dragão, Amorim got it all wrong in the first 45 and had it not been for a patched up Gyökeres coming on at half time and dragging Sporting to win a point it really could have been 4 or 5-0 if Porto had continued to dominate the way they had in the first game. We have managed to get away with two clean sheets in the last two league games owing much to the level of opposition faced. No offence to Diogo Pinto but I don’t think he’s quite ready for this level yet. He looks like he’s carrying an awful lot of nervous energy into the games which is the polite way of saying that frankly he looks like he’s shitting himself and to be fair I’d be in the same situation so I’m not knocking the lad. Weirdly I thought Francisco Silva when he came on as substitute on Saturday had a real air of confidence about him as if he believes that’s where he should be. Ribiero Renan had the same air and he was dog shite but that being said I believe he was the keeper for the last win in this competition so maybe he was OK at penalties. Did I imagine he scored a penalty for us as well? Answers on a postcard to…

Much will depend for me on Gyökeres and how he plays. If he produces like the game in the Dragão and we don't make the same mistakes in how we setup then we have a chance. However there is also the chance that like in the Taça da Liga defeat we get found out for not having a decent back up goalkeeper.

The money markets

Porto 17/10 = 37.04% chance of winning
Draw 12/5 = 29.41% chance of draw
Sporting 13/10 = 43.38% chance of winning
BTS 7/10 = 58.82% chance 

Team News

Matheus Reis misses out having failed to recover from injury. Adán and Israel are both still injured so Diogo Pinto gets the nod in goal. One change on the back three from the win over Chaves as St Juste comes in for Neto. In midfield Esgaio is replaced by Geny otherwise as you were. Edwards and Paulinho are both named amongst the substitutes.

I'm not as bitter and miserable as I might come across in these posts but I'm not going to lie, the perfect outcome of this game for me will be an image of Neto standing over Galeno grinning from ear to ear having just lumped him six feet in the air. He's named amongst the substitutes.

First Half

Pre game and it appears that the Portuguese football association is holding a Teletubbies convention on the pitch, just splodges of colours everywhere. If this is supposed to be an impressive spectacle they're failing miserably. I bet you didn't get this at the DFB Pokal yesterday as we're already five minutes behind the kick off time. Punctuality, timing and organisation - not traits you seem to find in Portugal.

Finally six minutes late and Sporting get us underway shooting right to left in this first half.

1 Sporting break with Gyökeres down the left, he switched it centrally to Gonçalves whose pass just evaded Trincão and into the arms of Costa

2. Evanilson goes 1 on 1 with Pinto. The keeper saves with his left hand whilst the forward takes a tumble over his outstretched leg and would have you believe his leg is about to fall off. We saw this in the last game. Any contact results in play acting. Pinto had that moment of hesitation but did enough in the end

9 First shot on target comes from St Juste who found himself unmarked and tried a low drive from 20 yards but straight at Costa 

9 Nuno Santos free kick wide left finds the head of Inácio but he's having to stretch and lean back as he makes contact and could only guide it wide left of the goal

17 This ground really is an appalling choice of venue for a final. The view from the curva behind each goal is even further from that of the London Stadium. All the sound just dissipates with no roof on the stands and for TV viewers it's like watching ants

19 GOAL Porto 0 Sporting CP 1 St Juste heads home a corner from the left into the narrowest gap into the bottom right hand of the net. Two shots on target both from the big Dutchman - did not see that one coming considering he had off the top of my head 4 shots total all season in the league

24 GOAL Porto 1 Sporting CP 1. Defensive howler at the back capitalised upon by Evanilson. Geny tried to cut out a cross with his leg outstretched but only succeeded in diverting it straight to the Porto player who tapped it home for the equaliser

29 Red card shown. What a fucking surprise. Hjulmand is remonstrating with the referee. St Juste the player who brings down Galeno in the box. Nuno Santos booked. Galeno handles it in the area as the challenge is made like a volleyball player spiking a ball but they'll ignore that. Like the Edwards sending off he's barely touched. For now Sporting down to ten. VAR is checking. Referee is going to the monitor. Or is he. This is a complete shit show. I looked on 3 betting sites prior to kick off for odds on a sending off and couldn't find anywhere to lay it off. Usually you say you can't write it but it's fucking suspect how we keep finding ourselves down to ten against Porto

33 OK so no penalty, foul just outside the box. St Juste has been sent off. Sporting's evening just got a hole lot harder. Conceição fires the free kick two yards wide of the left post

36 Mario shown yellow for pull back on Gonçalves

36 Quaresma replaces Morita

37 Coates header from free kick straight into arms of Costa from 6 yards

38 Gyökeres shown yellow for an elbow trying to hold off his marker

45 Flicked Inácio header brings a diving save from Costa

Plus six shown

+1 Woeful miss from Evanilson who sky's it from eight yards out. His colleagues on the bench knew how good a chance that was as they collectively buried theirs faces into their hands

Half time

Porto 1 Sporting CP 1

I don't know if it's naïvety on the part of Sporting's players or bad refereeing or a combination of both but another player has seen red for the most minimal of touches on a Porto player. You'd think the pre game match talk would be centred around not making any contact with their players because they're fucking always going down like their highlights reel should be shown on Pornhub. Despite being down to ten men it's still an even game even if Porto lead the possession stakes 60% to 40%. Sporting have had the better chances and Porto's single shot on target only came from Geny's unfortunate error. It was always going to be a massive ask starting with Pinto in goal to secure the double but it doesn't help when you're constantly playing 12 men in the Clássico. For now the game is anyone's. I'm not sure if this game goes to additional time or to penalties. If it's the latter you'd think the game plan would be to take the game to full time at 1-1 but it will take one hell of a defensive display even then over the coming 45 to pull it off. Can we find one more moment of Gyökeres magic before full time?

Second half

Taremi comes on for Mario in his last appearance for Porto. I'll not be sorry to see the back of the Iranian in Portugal. As good a forward as there has been from any side in Portugal over the past few seasons.

46 First chance to Porto shanked wide from 20 yards by Wendell with the sort of finish you'd expect from a left back

47 Point blank save from Costa keeps his side in it as Inácio got the faintest of touches to head it goalwards from four yards. Incredible reflexes and awareness from the keeper there. Sporting won't get many chances this half and need one to hit the net

50 Pinto gets a hand on an Evanilson cross as he tries to find Conceição at the far post. Conceição collects the ball and tries a shot from a tight angle but the youngster saves. He's growing in confidence with every minute that passes

52 Sporting are losing possession far too easily this half. They need to switch on in the middle third

54 Defensively Sporting look organised and so far are keeping Porto at bay but they can't afford to just keep losing possession and inviting trouble into the final third

57 I'd be looking to bring Edwards on for Trincão as soon as possible. I want the script to be him finding the winner after what happened at the Dragão. Sadly it's probably written for Taremi

58 Quaresma is defending well this half. Good sign of how he's grown this season since the first Clássico and of course he renewed his contract earlier this week. His future looks so much brighter than it did twelve months ago

60 This game is turning into Estoril 2.0 with Gyökeres constantly being targeted and fouled but very little given

62 Pinto out sharply off his line to grab the ball off the toes of Conceição. With a shade over an hour gone he's my man of the match for Sporting. In fact overall it's probably a toss up between the two goalkeeper’s

64 Nuno Santos lifts a ball into the area and finds Coates but his header goes over the bar. Amazing how many times Sporting have found the head of a player in this game but other than the St Juste goal and the Inácio chance this half they've all been a couple of inches too high on the delivery

65 Varela body checks Gonçalves and is shown the yellow

69 Bragança getting his final instructions on the touchline from Amorim

70 Trincão and Geny withdrawn for Diomande and Bragança. Do the maths with those substitutions positionally. Gyökeres currently playing the Andy Carroll role last seen at West Ham under Big Sam left alone up front with no support

73 Pinto deflects a cross again which ends up with Conceição who blasts over. He's claiming a corner but the assistant referee says otherwise

75 Varela with the long range effort from 23 yards goes wide of the right post. Pinto had it covered every inch of the way. He's gone from looking terrified at points in the last couple of league games to suddenly looking the most self assured player in a Sporting shirt. Absolutely incredible turn around from the teenager

78 Evanilson goes down under the slightest bits of contact from Hjulmand but he was given offside. It's only taken the three sending’s off for Sporting seemingly to have finally worked it out to keep any physical contact to a bare minimum

80 Quaresma with the nimble footwork is away and then felled. Neto gets booked on the sidelines presumably for questioning why a yellow wasn't shown for the foul that checked the youngsters run. That's his fifth yellow of the season and third when having not been on the pitch

82 Nuno Santos is replaced by Esgaio whose run to the far side of the pitch to take up position on the left flank. That didn't go well last time they tried him out there. I'm guessing this does go to penalties at full time. Having no commentary is great but occasionally it would be handy. Who said that I can't speak Portuguese at the back so what difference would it make anyway? Yes point well made. Obrigado

85 Gonçalves concedes a free kick as he catches the toe of Conceição with the underside of his foot. Dangerous position two yards outside the box far right

86 Free kick beats the wall and is saved by Pinto low to his left and out for a corner

88 It's the Sportinguista's on their feet making all the noise with two minutes remaining of normal time

89 Bragança with the bicycle kick in the six yard box to clear

Plus three shown

+1 Yellow shown to Ze Pedro for a pull back on Gyökeres as he tries to run free

Whistle blows for the end of regulation time.

Full time normal time

Porto 1 Sporting CP 1

As the TV camera focuses in on the trophy it's hard to believe that despite being down to ten men Sporting are in with a chance still of glory. The defending this half has been as good a performance as you'll see from any side in Europe this season. The forwards may have had zero impact but you cannot fault the defensive masterclass and to a man Sporting players can stand proud and tall whatever the result finishes tonight and that includes St Juste. His goal got us this far and like with the Edwards sending off last time out Galeno made a fucking meal of it. He should work at McDonalds he's the full meal deal; burger, fries and a coke.

Well after a five minute interlude that answers my question over whether it's penalties or 30 minutes of extra time. The latter it is.

Koindredi replaces Gonçalves and we've another half hour to play

First Half extra time

Porto you imagine will throw everything at Sporting in the next half an hour. Sporting committed virtually zero in attacking sense in the second half. There's been no one putting the classic into this Clássico so far.

91 Conceição tries to backheel the ball goalwards but Pinto is once more equal to the danger. He's just got the last of the sun in his eyes as the rest of the pitch falls into shade

92 Pinto stops again at the near post. The defending isn't pretty from Sporting but the ball is cleared for a corner

94 Last ditch Hjulmand tackle in the box gets the ball clear. Sporting have made it over the halfway line once so far. Look up onslaught in the dictionary and you'll see this opening five minutes as the literal definition

96 Penalty Porto. Pinto came racing out to the edge of the 18 yards box and clatters into Evanilson. I think Ze Pedro has been sent off for a second yellow. Pinto tried the superman punch, missed the ball, collected the player with the follow through. Gutted for the youngster. Conceição senior was shown the red. No idea who the yellow was shown to then it was just Ze Pedro who happened to be in shot.

99 GOAL Taremi drives it down the centre. I said the script writer busy on his behalf as he makes is Porto 2 Sporting CP 1. Pinto just went a fraction too early with his dive to his left which made it all too easy for the vastly experienced Iranian. I said I won't miss him and that just confirms it 

102 Paulinho is on for Coates as Sporting roll the dice

102 Yellow to Evanilson

103 Sporting shout for handball in the penalty area. Replays show they were right but it was the arm of Diomande that the ball struck. How very sporting of Sporting

Plus two shown

+1 Hjulmand drills a low shot from 20 yards straight at Costa. I'd almost forgotten we've another 15 to go after this

Half time in extra time

Porto 2 Sporting CP 1

Well it's going to take a miracle for Porto not to lift the trophy. Gutted for the lad Pinto. All the Porto players have gone to the stand to take directions from Conceição. I'm sorry but how the fuck is that allowed if he's been sent off? Un-fucking-believable. One rule for Porto one rule for Sporting as always

Second half extra time

Chants of campeões presumably from the Sporting fans as a reminder of who has won something this season

106 Yellow to Hjulmand for a foul on Wendell

107 Typically now Costa has changed ends the shade is fully across the Porto goal so no sun in his eyes

108 Paulinho shown the yellow presumably for his reaction to the referee which was shall we say theatrical

109 Seems incredible to think we could lose this final on the strength of two mistakes

110 Diomande tries from the edge of the 18 yards box drilled low but again straight at Costa. Sporting were appealing for handball and they're right but Otavio had his arm by his side so by the letter or the law correct call as it struck his hand in the box

112 If there's a smoking ban in stadiums you wouldn't know it as they zoom in on a Sporting fan smoking in the stand cigarette on the go, the woman behind with her face buried in her jumper. The strain is clearly all too much

113 Free kick to Sporting for a foul on Koindredi. It's central some 30 yards out. Bragança chips it forward but Porto clear

114 Grujic goes through the back of Diomande in the area but if course no foul given as Sporting appeal for a penalty.

117 Gyökeres fouled by the left touchline. Sporting need a good cross into the box right now. They're not going to have a better platform to find an equaliser with three minutes remaining

118 Inácio outjumps his marker but again just too high to make a decent connection on the ball. That's surely game over

119 Gyökeres flicks on an Esgaio cross eight yards out but straight into the arms of Costa. That was now or never and the answer was never

Plus one shown

Full time extra time

Porto 2 Sporting CP 1

The Final Word

Well there's two plus hours of my life I'll never get back. Gutted. Not at the result but for the players. Super gutted for Diogo Pinto. I don't care if he gave away the penalty I'll forgive him that. He was phenomenal tonight and well deserved for my man of the match nomination. In fairness it could have gone to Coates, or Quaresma, or Inácio, Hjulmand… it just wasn't meant to be. Funny thing is I expected us to lose. Not because I think Porto are the better team but because it always ends up ten men against twelve and how do you beat that in a Clássico?

So the season ends on a sour note but I'll hold my hands up that I said I'd concede any success in the cups if it meant we won the title and that's the way it proved so I'll take the blame. Had we won the Taça de Portugal and not the league I'd have been so much more disappointed. So the final words for the final game of a long campaign have to be simply this. Sporting Clube de Portugal are the Champions of Portugal.