Sporting CP 1 Sport Lisboa e Benfica 0

The warm up

So farewell John Pear Tree, you didn't stay long enough to have taken root or even time to see if the partridge would nestle in your branches this Christmas, chopped down before the restless natives burned you down. Obrigado João you were always on a hiding to nothing, the man tasked with the seemingly impossible shoes to fill. If nothing else you've made it easier for Rui Borges to fill yours in turn. 

I wrote after the Santa Clara league defeat that I'd be amazed if Pereira was still the mister come the start of next season. I was genuinely shocked to discover he was no longer in charge. I'm still not sure whether he did the gentlemanly thing and walked, whether he was pushed or maybe there was a guiding hand helping him along. Not that it really matters I suppose. 

We assume it will be Rui Borges taking over from Vitoria, a compensation package still to be sorted for him and his backroom team at the time of writing. I imagine he wouldn't be too upset if it wasn't sorted until after the derby. No one wants to be the coach that potentially loses the derby in your first match in charge. You imagine even if he is in place he'd sensibly watch from the stands and let the staff that do remain take charge of proceedings. His parting gift, if indeed he does leave, will be a 93rd minute equaliser from lowly Nacional to draw 2-2. It's hard to imagine his appointment will be met with much more enthusiasm than that of João Pereira’s. I might be wrong, I frequently am as regular readers will know. The fun part for me is leaving the mistakes in so you can all chuckle at my weekly stupidity, for he who cannot laugh at himself cannot truly laugh at all… or words to that effect. 

So two darks clouds loom; the Lisboa derby and the winter transfer window. Which carries the more threat of misery? *Well Varandas started the week by confirming Pereira would remain in charge until the end of the season which is why I wonder if he decided that quite simply being the mister wasn't for him and he walked away despite the English press claiming he'd been sacked. Varandas has also gone on the record and stated once more that any club wishing to purchase anyone in the squad will have to do so by meeting the termination clause in full. So in theory that should be enough to dissuade other clubs but I'd say any Sportinguista’s would do well to stay off the transfer gossip pages until the window shuts and save the anxiety for something that truly matters in life. Despite thousands of column inches written last winter nothing happened. I don't expect any different until the summer. Gyökeres has spoken of his desire to win another league title and as many trophies as he can. It may be good PR on his part but I don't have reason to doubt his sincerity. Inácio is held together with tape as is most of the squad right now. Quenda is 17 and so the Premier League cannot come in and take him until the summer window. Brexit had its benefits for the rest of Europe at least. It's like the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang of politics stopping the child snatchers swooping in annually. 

So that leaves the derby and my expectations of Sporting winning are about as low as an iPhone battery post 10pm. So instead let's do Sporting players past and present as games or pastimes you might partake in at Christmas;

1 Bruno Fernandes as charades although you might just end up guessing types of birds with his arms flapping about petulantly.

2 Jese Rodriguez as a jigsaw because he goes to pieces in the box. 

3 Maxi Araújo as Jenga because he falls down under the slightest of touches at the end. 

4 Jovane Cabral as Guess Who. You think you recognise his face but it was so long since you last saw it you couldn't be sure. 

5 Marcus Acuña as Buckaroo because you never know when things are about to kick off. 

6 Jerry St Juste as Operation. Sorry Jerry. That doesn't need an explanation. 

7 João Palhinha as Hungry Hippos because no one gobbled the ball up from the centre faster. 

8 Gelson Martins as Marble Madness because you're never sure where the ball is going to end up. 

9 Viktor Gyökeres as Twister because he's seemingly left, right and centre all at once and leaves you twisted in knots. 

10 João Pereira as Where’s Wally. Again I'm sorry João that was as cheap a shot as giving Operation to St Juste. 

11 João Mario as Monopoly because nothing causes more arguments and friction when played. 

12 Franco Israel as Risk because that's how I feel every time his name is on the team sheet. 

Well hopefully that cheered you all up. Wait you wanted to know about the derby against the dirty pigeons? Really? What are you masochistic? Fine…

Sporting welcome our nearest and dearest rivals for the first derby of the season and as you can tell my expectations are that they come away with all three points. At the time of writing they sit atop the table although that could change by the time kick off comes with Porto playing against Boavista on Saturday night. Currently the big three are separated by a single point. Benfica despite dropping two points recently away to AVS are very much the in-form team whereas Sporting as we are all too well aware are very much heading in a downward spiral of late. It all started so differently between the two sides, August seems a lifetime ago. Benfica started the season with Roger Shit in charge. I am so sorry I keep doing that… with Roger Schmidt in charge. Freudian slip. After a disastrous start he was fired at the end of August, a decision which cost the club a whopping €8.7 million euros. I'm guessing João Pereira’s departure won't cost Sporting anywhere near the same. He was replaced with their ex-coach Bruno Lage who left the club in June of 2022, went onto coach Wolves, then Botafogo and after 11 months out of work following his departure from Brazil came full circle. The general opinion is the club wanted a yes man and that his appointment is seen as a stop gap. So far as stop gaps go they could have done an awful lot worse. But let's not pretend our neighbours are hard done by here. They have the costliest squad in the league, the biggest budget and by rights they should be champions every season. 

Having lost the opening game away to Famalicão, if you discount losses in the Champions League to Feyenoord and Bayern München they're undefeated domestically ever since. That's a run of 18 games, 16 of which have resulted in wins. Sporting's unbeaten run now stretches to 3 in all competitions. 

Scoring goals certainly doesn't seem to have been an issue; they've put 4 past Santa Clara, Porto and Atletico Madrid; 5 past Gil Vicente and Rio Ave and 7 past Estrela. In the league they've scored 37 times, second only to Sporting on 43 and have the best defensive record conceding just 8 times in 15 games. The fact that their top scorer Kerem Akturkoglu only has 6 goals is a demonstration of how much their goals have been shared around their squad. Fifteen players in total have 1 or more goals for the Eagles. Benfica have an XG of just 28.5 so to have scored 37 times already is one of those horrible statistics where you know they're scoring goals they shouldn't be. If we're to lose this game I'd rather it just be over early rather than in the same manner as the opening derby last season with the penultimate kick of the game. 

I am being incredibly sincere when I write that I expect us to lose this game. I'd try to say it was down to karma for the way in which João Pereira has left his position which for me has left a bad taste in the mouth. Results haven't been great but I thought defensively at least in the last couple of games they'd looked better. The departure of Amorim was one blow, to have the entire coaching team also depart was even more detrimental and Pereira is the fall guy which is incredibly unfair. At some point when you only have one system you're going to get found out. That's not to suggest we hadn't already been found out, we saw that in Europe on a regular basis. I'm not trying to act as a Pereira apologist either but Sporting have been ravaged by injuries and anxiety that has plagued the side in recent weeks. That regulations have hampered him not having the relevant qualifications to coach in Portugal won't have helped his cause either. I'm not naïve enough to think that Borges is the magic wand that's going to make all Sporting's problems disappear. Vitoria have hardly been pulling up trees this season though I'll caveat that by saying they've had the loss of Jota Silva to Nottingham Forest in the summer. I'd still like to know whether Sporting were in for him at any stage given he was sold for a reported £6m compared to the £12m Sporting paid for Araújo. They've also had European competition to deal with in the form of the Conference League though to their credit they're flying in that, second in the table to the billions Chelsea have had at their disposal. Interestingly, Sporting's next game after the derby comes away to Vitoria. Anyways I digress back to my original point which is if we are to lose this game it's going to be for footballing reasons and not karma. Mind you could be a little karmic if he was pushed. It'll all come out in the wash I'm sure. Surprisingly Sporting are slight favourites with the bookmakers in the early markets. 

* Thursday update - Rui Borges has been officially confirmed as Sporting's new mister on a contract through 2026. It would appear that João Pereira was indeed given a push out of the door but as a sign of the man he refused a compensation package. At least fans cannot question the man's integrity. The question will always be what he could have done with a fully fit squad at his disposal and whether he could have gone on to be a success had he come in as originally planned next summer. Maybe one day he'll be remembered as the mister that launched the careers of Simões, Arreíol and Couto. Personally I think he's handled the situation with great dignity in the face of huge adversity. I hold no animosity towards the man and wish him well for his future endeavours whatever they may be. 

In the markets 

Sporting 6/4

Draw 13/5

Benfica 8/5

Team News 

Starting XI 

Israel, St Juste, Diomande, Quaresma, Geny, Hjulmand, Morita, Reis, Trincão, Gyökeres and Quenda

Substitutes 

Kovačević, Debast, Fresneda, Simões, Arreíol,.Edwards, Harder,.Araujo and Couto 

St Juste returns from suspension and takes the place of Debast. It's presumed he'll start right of the back three with Quaresma swapping out to the left. Three changes in the midfield four with Geny coming in wide right for Quenda, Reis in for Araujo amd the return of Morita from injury for Simões. In the front three Quenda swaps in for Harder. 

It's safe to suggest the new mister talks a good game. I mean I say talk, I've only read translations of his press conferences, he could be saying any old shit and I'd be none the wiser. Given his lack of preparation time with the squad since his appointment, for now they're due to stay with the 3-4-3 favoured by Amorim and latterly João Pereira but long term it appears he'll be looking to transition into a system which includes a flat back four. Unlike Amorim at United, Borges has confirmed that any changes to the system will only come once the squad have had the time to adapt in training. 

Fábio Veríssimo takes charge of tonight's game. Last seen at the Alvalade in the 3-2 win over Boavista. The previous season he took charge of four Sporting games all of which finished with wins to the Lions including the 2-1 home win in the semi-final against tonight's opponents. During the 2022/23 season Sporting were also unbeaten when he was in charge. The last loss when he officiated 

came on match day 30 of the 2021/22 season, a 2-0 home loss to… well nevermind, we don't need to dwell on that. 

I'm amazed the bookmakers still have us favourite for this game. Last year I wrote this flamboyant, really over the top piece about what winning the derby means, bragging rights, yadda yadda, baddabum, baddabing. This season you'll see I learned that lesson. I'll take a draw without a ball being kicked if offered with half hour still to kick off. 

First Half 

Well we've been sold a dummy. Sporting line up in a 4-4-2. Benfica get us underway, Sporting will attack right to left in their horizontal green, black and white kit. 

1 Early free kick as Quaresma is chopped down midway inside the Benfica half. Geny puts the ball across the six yard boxes and evades everyone until it reaches Diomande unmarked at the back post. He can only drive his shot into the side netting. 

2 So it's Quaresma wide right of the four, Reis wide left and Diomande and St Juste central. Quenda left of the midfield four. 

4 Geny loves the big games. He's off to the races already wide right. His shot deflects for a corner. 

6 St Juste looks like he's been given licence as a ball carrier as he takes it from the box and over the halfway line. Sporting definitely having the better of the opening moments 

8 Raucous atmosphere inside the Alvalade. Both sets of fans certainly making their presence felt 

9 Corner Benfica. First attacking threat from the visitors. Diomande blocks the cross from the left. Sporting clear their lines. No clever passing just an old fashioned hoof to clear the danger

10 Benfica with their first shot of the night, a tame effort which trickled into the arms of Israel. Akturkoglu with the effort from just inside the area. 

14 Reis goes down under a challenge from Di María. He catches the foot of the Brazilian. No love lost between their home nations 

15 Trincão bursts free and fires a shot into the arms of Trubin from 20 yards 

15 Quenda taken out in the box by Bah. He's sent flying but the referee was right behind and adjudged it to be a shoulder charge. 

16 Trubin keeps his side in the game. Clever ball from Geny found Quenda on the far side of the six yard box. One touch to control, his shot from four yards met with a wonderful block with the keepers body and the ball goes out for a corner. 

18 Quenda appeals for handball but his header back comes off the shoulder of the defender Luis

19 Di María tries a long range effort which comes off the back of a flying St Juste 

20 Rui Borges can have no complaints about the opening 20 minutes. Sporting have dominated the game in all areas of the pitch

24 Cheap free kick given away by Quaresma 24 yards out. Dangerous position. 

25 Kökcü free kick beats the wall but Israel is equal to it and pushes the ball out for a corner 

27 Trincão and Gyökeres combine. The Swede with a clever ball into the box where Trincão just couldn't get the ball out from under his feet to comment well enough and his Shot goes wide from 16 yards 

28 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Benfica 0. Said Geny loves a derby as he slots home. Gyökeres from the byline with a sublime cutback across the box found Geny unmarked who taps home from 8 yards and makes my 8/1 bet for him to score anytime look like I know what I'm doing. Sporting have deserved that goal. 

30 Well there's only one set of fans making noise inside the stadium now. Not hard to work out which set. 

32 Sportinguista's now reminding those from the red half who are the current Champions of Portugal. For now Sporting are back at the top of the league as well

33 Otamendi shown the yellow presumably for something he said to the referee 

34 Diomande shepherds the ball out of play and asks the fans behind Israel's goal to lift the volume again. This team are finding that connection once more with the faithful

39 Trincão tries from outside the box but his effort is deflected and safely into the arms of Trubin 

39 Violent effort from Gyökeres from 24 yards saved by Trubin diving to his left. 

41 Gyökeres and Trincão combine again. Trincão tries to lift his effort from 16 yards but Trubin was wise to it 

42 Quaresma with a beautifully timed tackle to nip the ball off the toes of Carreras and out for a corner. 

42 Aursnes fires from inside the D straight out of play wide right

43 Replay of Reis sliding off the pitch and straight into the Sporting dugout. That's got to have hurt. 

Plus one 

+1 Gyökeres goes down in the box. Correct call from the referee as Araujo just got his foot to ball first 

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Benfica 0

I'm not going to write this because of who we are playing but I think genuinely that's the best opening 45 minutes we've played in any competition all season. Geny has been electric wide right and his goal was the icing on the cake. Gyökeres and Trincão have linked up beautifully as a two. The change in formation in combination with a high line from Benfica has allowed Gyökeres space to roam into and the opening goal is down to his resilience, strength and quality of final pass. 

Borges seems to have definitely reinstalled the belief that's been missing since the departure of Amorim to Manchester. Why it went missing only the players will ever really know. The fault lies with them as much as it ever did with Pereira or Varandas. 

Sporting have won the ball all over the pitch, they've snapped at the heels of their biggest rivals, they've kicked, harried, thrown their bodies on the line. If you're picking fault with that performance then you're a hard person to please. Can they keep it up for another 45? You'd like to think so. I'm back with the mindset they need a second goal and sooner rather than later. To sit back would be the biggest mistake. Attack is the best form of defence. We've seen week after week at the start of the season how dangerous this side is when given space. You can't give Gyökeres a sniff when he's on form like this. 

Second half 

Sporting get us back underway. Luis replaced by Barreiro for the visitors.

47 Benfica have started the second half on the front foot but they've been doing a great impression of Sporting in event weeks with the quality of their final ball in the final third 

48 Huge dive in the box. That was blatant. I've no idea who it was but that's simulation all day long. Where's the yellow? Di María it was going down like a Jenga block. Hjulmand was a yard behind the Argentinian as he hit the deck with zero contact 

51 Quaresma whips the ball off the toes of an attacker and for the second time in the opening six minutes charges up the field. He's having a good game. 

53 Quaresma with the flying tackle to dispossess Di María. Looks like a goal kick wrongly awarded to Sporting but we won't complain 

55 Well I wondered if Sporting could keep the ferocity and pace of the opening 45 up and at the moment the answer is very much no. I suspect that's tactical as much as anything else. All the noise is coming from the visitors 

58 Bah becomes the second player onto the book for a shove on Morita in the back with the referee placed five yards behind. 

58 Reis quickly becomes the third as he pulls down Di María. Referee is definitely not standing for any nonsense second half 

58 Free kick finds the head of the substitute Barreiro but he can only steer it high over the bar from 8 yards 

60 You can literally cut the tension in the air coming from the Sportinguista's. The side needs to give them something to cheer about and get behind 

60 Turn and shot on the volley from 8 yards straight over the bar from Amdouni. He should have done better there. Sporting hanging on at the moment. 

62 Israel booked for time wasting. If this is our game plan for the second half I'm not sure it's going to work out. We're not Vitoria de Guimaraes. 

63 All the joy for Sporting is coming down the right. Geny doing his best Fred Astaire beats two men with his dancing feet and is finally taken out 

65 Somehow we're twenty minutes into the second half. It's felt more like forty. 

66 Diomande blocks the shot of Di María and out for a corner. Otamendi heads onto the top of the net from 14 yards 

67 Mix up at the back sees Israel under pressure. That could have gone horribly wrong. Sporting need to pick this game up in an attacking sense otherwise they're going to pay the price at some point. 

68 Bizarre scenes as Morita and one of the Benfica players have their laces and studs wrapped up like an old school prank and the Japanese international ends up on the floor and has to be untangled. Question of Sport what happened next round. Bit like Reis flying into the dugout. 

70 Quaresma has gone down and is waving frantically at the bench. That doesn't look good. 

71 Quenda, Morita and Quaresma off. Fresneda, Araújo and Simões on. Quaresma had to be supported off. Shame for the youngster because he's been Sporting's best player second half 

72 Di María shot from 19 yards hits the legs of Hjulmand and deflects into the arms of Israel 

73 Gyökeres effort from 20 yards doesn't get the bend he was looking for and goes harmlessly wide. That's Sporting's first effort with nearly half an hour gone of the second half. It has literally all been one way traffic into the Sporting box. 

76 Wonder what's wrong with Gyökeres finger strapped in black and white tape?

76 Kökcü with a wild swing from over 30 yards goes wide of the right hand post. I think you'll find that in the dictionary marked ambitious 

78 Gyökeres looks like he takes a knee to the back as he goes down and the referee is unmoved. 

79 Calmness personified in the box from Simões who flicks the ball up onto the arm of Pavlidis and wins a free kick. My heart wasn't as calm 

80 Trincão replaced with Harder. Cannot remember the last time the former didn't finish 90 minutes. I'm hoping this means we'll go looking for a second or at least try hold the ball up in their half 

82 Geny off and flying again into the box just cannot pick out the final pass

82 Too casual from Simões as he's dispossessed in midfield. Ball comes into the six yard box and headed clear from Fresneda. 

84 Three man break. From 24 yards all the way into the Benfica area. Araújo wide left, Gyökeres to the right. Geny decided to go it alone. Should have passed it left. God I hope we don't pay for that. That's the first thing he's done wrong all night. Had that been Gyökeres unmarked on the left he'd have squared it all day long. 

86 Israel with the superman punch clears 

87 Gyökeres brings a save from 17 yards from Trubin. He was the only man up for Sporting with one defender. Used his strength to move the ball into a good position. Keeper does well diving low to his right. 

88 Araújo has the ball nipped off his toes inside the area. I'm curling my toes as Benfica go straight down the other end. Header wide from 10 yards from Cabral

Six minutes shown

Where the fuck have they got six minutes from? Apart from the Quaresma treatment I can't think of any real stoppages other than the time you'd allot for substitutions 

+2 Yellow to Araújo for a foul on Gyökeres

+2 Finally the Sportinguista's have woken up in the stands

+3 Kovačević directing traffic, Trincão chewing at his nails. My heart is going like the clappers 

+4 Israel quickly off his line to snap up a goal bound Barreiro header. 

+5 Stoppage in play as Reis is laying face first on the floor. He took the brunt of that Barreiro header. Thankfully he's up again 

+6 Six minutes are up but with that last stoppage we've probably still two minutes to add on. I can barely watch 

+7 Whistles from the home fans desperate for the final whistle…and finally there it is 

Full time 

Sporting CP 1 Benfica 0

The final word 

Jesus, Joseph, Mary and the wee fucking donkey I swear I just aged ten years in the last 45 minutes. I want to say that was a defending masterclass in the second half but some of it I was watching behind closed fingers. That was the true definition of the footballing cliché of a game of two halves. 

Sporting as I wrote at half time were a joy to watch in the opening 45 but to quote Amorim's favourite line - we suffered in the second half. You could tell the nerves hit enveloped the entire stadium because the atmosphere had just vanished. In the end Sporting were equal to everything thrown at them. I'll show my age here but if their released it as a DVD you'd hope they didn't include the second half unless you're masochistic in which case you'll love it. 

The thing is though defensively they were great and in all areas of the pitch. Yes they got away with it a couple of times, one with a poor back pass and a couple of times with Simões but let the scoreline reflect that Rui Borges has started his tenure with a derby win. 

He clearly likes the mind games, was vocal in saying he'd stick with the 3-4-3 and then went with a 4-4-2. I've written it before in saying that Sporting need a new way of playing and they didn't show any signs of struggling with this new shape. My only complaint would be the decision that defence is the best form of defence but that's because I'm old and I have said for years I'll die of a heart attack watching football. So one day if I've not posted you'll know how I went. Mind you having just read through the second half minute by minute I'd completely forgotten about the break where Geny chose to shoot instead of lay it off to Araújo and Gyökeres has a good chance from 17 yards. So it wasn't all one way. 

Israel never looked like conceding. St Juste and Quaresma being able to carry the ball out from defence was refreshing after so many years of the ball going sideways and backwards. Diomande was solid as a rock again. Amazing to think someone could have taken him in the summer for buttons. Unlucky, he's going to go for top dollar now. On that form he's in with a shout for being one of the very best young central defenders in European football. 

Gyökeres and Trincão as a pairing worked wonderfully at various points during the game. That neither scored shouldn't take away from how well they worked together. Geny had his best game of the season, he was my man of the match and not just because he scored. He was always prepared to take his marker on. I've said it since the first time I ever saw him how much I love him as a player. You see the confidence he has wide right compared to Quenda and it's night and day. If someone wants to pay €60m for Quenda then you'd take it and reinvest the money in an improved contract for Geny. His final ball isn't always on point and his shooting can sometimes leave a little to be desired de temps en temps but he really is a joy to watch in full flow. 

Shout out to Eduardo Quaresma as well who clearly isn't still 100% fit. He was a half point off Geny for my man of the match. Perfectly timed challenges, 100% commitment, he left it all on the pitch tonight and has the heart of a true Lion. I doubt there's a player in the squad who the club means more to than him. Also if you've not seen it please watch the video of him and Benfica’s Araujo visiting the kids hospital yesterday. That's what this great city is really about. Forget the rivalry, forget the result tonight I'm just sending a massive thank you to both players for such a beautiful gesture which clearly meant so much to the kids they met. Stand up Lisboa as a City and take a bow. I've been writing for weeks that football is just a game and there's more important things in life and the fact that two players could put aside their rivalry on the field to do something truly magical and special really is a thing of beauty. 

So Sporting finish the year top of the table. Fair enough it's by virtue of the head to head with Porto but they make a huge thing of it in Portugal in terms of who goes on to be Champions. I wouldn't put money on any of the big three right now over the others. I'd say it's a coin toss but coins don't have three sides. Two points separate the three clubs, it could come down to the head to head record. For now Sporting have wins in the derby and the Classico, and Benfica have their win in the Classico. It really could come down to that record this season. Whoever wins, you cannot take away a win in the derby. As my friend said at full time that's the best Christmas present I could have asked for. It was the present we all wanted. So obrigado João Pereira that win was for you as much as it was for everyone else. I hope you watched the game and enjoyed the win as much as the rest of us because it wasn't all on you what happened in the last eight games. We should always rise and fall together. 

Division of any kind serves no purpose in football or in life.