Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 3
The warm up
We've reached the point in the season which I affectionately call the Bon Jovi. If you're old enough you'll figure it out, if you're not old enough here's some simple advice from an old man don't waste your youth.
Incredibly Sporting are still top after Nacional beat Porto 2-0 on Sunday night. Maybe some of the tripeiros were left with bad karma after Saturday night and gloated at our failure to win the Allianz Cup a little too gleefully? The world moves in mysterious ways. The hand of fate that guides us all seems to be female and unable to presently make up her mind. Whilst we await her decision we'd better buckle up for a rollercoaster of a second half of the season. If ever there was a time to go on another 11 game winning run this is surely it.
If you're after some top level pedantry you've come to the right place. Law 10 governing the rules of the jogo bonito confirms in the case of Saturday's result in the Taça da Liga that the game finished as a 1-1 draw and therefore Rui Borges remains undefeated since he took charge of Sporting. Look, I didn't write the laws. Look them up for yourself if you don't believe me;
Now knock yourselves out if you want to argue the toss.
Let's be fair no one wants to see their rivals lift the trophy in a final, that's why they invited the off switch on the television and feet on the end of your legs if you're in attendance at the game.
On a serious note, importantly we didn't lose anyone else to injury* and I'm pretty sure Trincão's broken heart doesn't count. Shit happens. I thought it interesting he apologised on his social media after the game. I hope someone kindly pointed out that without his equaliser against Vitória we wouldn't be top of the table still. It's all swings and roundabouts and if Sporting win the title by a point I hope people remember that point he helped win. No one can argue the fact that we had a threadbare squad and our nearest and dearest lifted the trophy only on account of a saved penalty. All of the players can lift their heads high as far as I'm concerned. Some of those boys in that matchday squad are still babies let us not forget; Quenda 17, Simões 18, Diomande 21 and Quaresma 22. On the bench Harder 19, Brito 19, Moreira 19, Fresneda 20, Justo 20 and Debast 22. 50% of the matchday squad 22 or under. Oh and Diomande and Simões only had their birthdays last month. You've been unable to call on Pedro Gonçalves, Hidemasa Morita, Daniel Bragança, Marcus Edwards or Nuno Santos. Gonçalo Inácio still isn't match fit. So well done to the dirty pigeons for lifting the trophy. I don't know how accurate online data is but Benfica's gross wage bill is a reported €965,769 per week. So the largest wage bill in Portuguese football buys you a win on penalties in the country's smallest cup competition. Parabens! *Slow claps.
Sporting have confirmed the signing of Portuguese international goalkeeper Rui Silver from Real Betis. The Spanish side may be rueing that decision after they got their arses handed to them 5-1 by Barcelona midweek in the Copa Del Rey.
However after football agent Miguel Pinho’s confirmation that his client Vitória’s Alberto Costa only wants to come to Sporting, it turns out he might have whispered out of the corner of his mouth unless a club like Juventus offer more money which they did and he's subsequently fucked off to Turin. Have fun in Serie A grinding out another draw Alberto. The Old Lady have drawn an incredible 13 times to date this season. This deal has put the brakes on Fresneda’s exit. Given how he's played the last couple of games to me you'd keep him as he fits into the new playing system, he's only 20, has a good attitude and unless he's shouting from the rooftops that he wants to leave I don't see the sense in getting another player in when you've already got someone more than capable in house. We'll see what happens before the end of the window.
In my last post I hinted at what lies in store for Marcus Edwards who apparently failed to turn up on time for the Taça da Liga final and presumably will now face internal discipline and a fine if he's not received it already. The question I guess is now can Sporting get him out the door in this window or in the summer? His time surely is done. I always wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt when stories arose from his time at Spurs but given what went on last weekend it does suggest his attitude is what has held his career back more than anything else.
So Sporting travel to the Vila do Conde for a 6pm kick off which will be a head scratcher I'm sure given they've not played at 6pm since taking on Nacional in their first away game of the season which finished 6-1 in their favour so if that's a good omen then I'll take it. The Vilacondenses are unbeaten at home after 8 games having won 4 and drawn 4. That being said they're yet to play any of the big three so it could be said that they're in a somewhat false position. Their away record would give testament to that claim where they've won only once in a 2-0 victory against struggling Boavista. Otherwise it's one draw and seven defeats. There was the 3-1 opening day defeat to Sporting followed straight after by a 2-0 to Porto. Both those results look positively respectable when put alongside the drubbings handed out by Braga and Benfica which finished 4-0 and 5-0 respectively. Despite their unbeaten home record, clean sheets have been hard to come by at Estádio dos Arcos conceding in each of their last six games, and on four of those occasions letting in 2. You have to imagine an in form Viktor Gyökeres is eyeing up the chance to add to his tally of five goals since the turn of the new year.
I can't claim to have watched the opposition with any great focus this campaign but when you look at some of their statistics it's not hard to envisage that they're used to being put under immense pressure having registered 438 clearances in their opening 17 games, third only to Moreirense and Farense. Sporting by way of comparison have 218 just over half of the Rio Ave total. To their credit Rioa AVE don't give away a lot of fouls and have the second least amount of yellow cards with 35 so fingers crossed with a half decent officiating team we might get a free flowing game of football.
Bad news for the home side is the suspension of top scorer Clayton who has scored nine to date and sits third in the goalscorer charts behind some Swedish bloke on 21 and Samuel Aghehowa of Porto on 13. Clayton scored the consolation goal in the 3-1 defeat in August. That game at least went better than his previous outing against Sporting when his Casa Pia side were on the end of an 8-0 thumping in January of 2024.
Rio Ave have been known to cause Sporting some ball ache so this game is certainly not a foregone conclusion. The corresponding fixture last season finished 3-3, a game in which the Vilacondenses took the lead three times with the opener coming after just 3 minutes. Not sure my heart can take another one of those. Their last league win against Sporting came in the infamous 3-2 at the Alvalade where Coates conceded three penalties. Let's not take over that one again.
I'm not sure whether João Muniz is already back with the Sporting B side having gone on loan to Rio Ave but having failed to play a single minute of first team football following his recall he can I guess at least get a lift back to Lisboa on Saturday if required. I'm all for players gaining experience away from the club but surely you've got to do your due diligence better before sending kids out on loan?
Speaking of loanees I wonder if things are just starting to click for Koindredi with Lausanne as his last two games have seen him record his highest match ratings and grab a goal in their 3-0 win against FC Zürich and an assist in their 4-1 win against Lugano. Dário Essugo is by all accounts getting rave reviews at Las Palmas. Could 2025 under a new mister be the point he finally gets a run at the first team? I think I'll skip updates on Rafael, Tanlongo, Sotiris and Ribeiro and save us all the pain.
* That will learn me to post earlier in the week than usual. Gyökeres could miss the trip, Quaresma reportedly is definitely injured. Bragança should be back in the matchday squad.
In the markets
Rio Ave 9/1
Draw 19/4
Sporting 27/100
Team News
Starting XI
Silva, Araujo, Inácio, Diomande, Fresneda, Quenda, Hjulmand, Debast, Geny, Harder and Trincão
Substitutes
Israel, St Juste, Morita, Bragança, Esgaio, Brito, Simões, Gyökeres and Couto
Rui Silva comes in to make his debut for Sporting following his move from Betis. With Quaresma injured, Fresneda comes in at right back and Inácio makes his first appearance under Borges with St Juste the player to make way. Regular readers will know I've said a few times now that I think Debast could do a job in midfield and turns out the mister agrees as he comes in for Simões in the centre alongside Hjulmand. Conrad Harder as expected takes the place of Gyökeres but the Swede is named amongst the substitutes.
With Israel losing his place that means Kovacevic drops out of the matchday squad altogether. Bragança we knew was due back into the squad but additional good news as Morita makes the bench. Justo and Moreira miss out but Couto gives another attacking option on the bench if required. Hopefully we don't see Gyökeres at any stage and allow him some much needed recovery time.
First Half
With Rio Ave in their traditional colours of green and white a change for Sporting who play in black with gold trim. Sporting get us underway and attack left to right.
1 Familiar faces in the crowd as Gonçalves and Nuno Santos watch on.
2 GOAL Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 1. Howler at the back as Santos turns the ball past his own keeper from eight yards. He slipped as he made connection with the ball, Miszta had come off his line and scrambled back but to no avail. Wasn't pretty but Sporting won't care.
9 Counter attack for Sporting. Harder the loan man charges from the halfway line and his shot from 8 yards to the left of the box is saved and goes out for a corner
10 Hjulmand with a turn and shot from just left of the six yard box brings another save from Miszta. He's keeping his side in this game for now. That came from another defensive mistake with the ball being played straight to Debast who quickly set the Dane on his way. The two defenders close to him just did enough to see he was only left with the narrowest of angles for the chance
14 Quenda leaves Richard looking like a Quaver as he turns him left, right, left and right again. His cross is deflected into the arms of Miszta.
15 Trincão fires in a shot blocked with the upper body of Miszta. So far it looks like he's going to have an incredibly busy night in the Rio Ave goal
17 With top scorer Clayton watching on from the stands it's hard to see where the home side are going to create opportunities from in the game. They've yet to register a single effort to date
18 Shout for a penalty as one of the Rio Ave defenders moves his hand from behind his back and stops a Harder pass. You imagine these referee will be asked to look at that. He has and runs to the monitor. The cross ironically had it gone passed would probably have been cleared by a teammate.
20 Referee points to the spot. I understood the word penalty in his summarisation
21 The arguments continue from the home players. Not sure why, it's been awarded, he's not changing his mind
22 Hjulmand with the chance from ten yards. GOAL Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 2. Keeper dives to his left but the Dane lifted the ball over his body into the same corner. You imagine Gyökeres is sat thinking that's one off my total. I said in my intro that I thought Rio Aves unbeaten home record was false given they've not played any of the big three. They've been appalling tonight. I'd not be surprised to see Sporting score four past them or more
26 Touch for Rui Silva but only because of a Fresneda back pass. As it stands he'll have the cleanest pair pair of debut gloves to add to his collection
28 Trincão shot blocked from 17 yards. Keeper tries to punch clear but puts it out for another corner to Sporting.
30 Geny whips in a shot from 20 yards that just dips over the bar
31 English fans had their minds blown when Luton were promoted to the Premier League over the Kenilworth Road ground. I wonder what they'd make of this stadium with it's one stand and three open areas. Sporting of course played their last two games in a stadium with three sides. Goes to show the gaps visually between the big and smaller clubs in Portugal for support.
34 Shot for the visitors has the sting taken out of it and it trickles towards Rui Silva. Aguilera with the shot from the edge of the D. You know he'd have been called Christina through his schooldays had he been brought up in the UK.
37 Quenda smashes the ball onto the bar from 16 yards with a shot across the area from left to right. That would have been some goal had it gone in.
38 Rio Ave have their keeper to thank again as he rushes to block a Harder goal bound effort. Sporting with their sixth corner of the half. The young Dane will be scratching his head how he's not yet opened his account in the game so far
40 Geny bursts in from the right and into the box, cuts it back to Harder who hits it over the bar with his wrong foot from 7 yards. I'd say he should have done better but my own left foot was always like the Daniel Day Lewis movie of the same name so I can't criticise
44 Trincão draws a foul much to the consternation of the home fans. He's had another quiet night. Another player who looks like he needs a rest.
Plus four shown
Half time
Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 2
This has been one of those halves where depending on where your loyalties low you could either claim that Sporting were fantastic and well worth their lead or that the home side were quite frankly dog shite and have made Sporting look better than they may have actually been. Rio Ave defensively have been all over the shop ever since the own goal for the opener. Miszta has kept his side in the game with a string of saves but he's been as bad as the back four in front of him at times with two punched clearances going straight out for corners. 13 attempts to 1 and that 1 for Rio Ave wasn't really an attempt. It genuinely has been that one sided a half.
For Sporting this should be a good opportunity to give the likes of Hjulmand and Trincão some much needed rest in the second half with the home side offering zero threat. Harder has lead the line well and his performance deserves a goal. At the back Rui Silva must feel a world away from the Real Betis side he's just left. Is he a good keeper? No idea on that half. I'll let you know if he gets called to do anything of note over the next 45 minutes. With Benfica winning 4-0 last night three points is all the more important tonight to maintain the gap they ended the first half of the season with. It would take an almighty team talk for Rio Ave to be able to step up to a level where not coming away with three points is even the remotest of possibilities.
On that showing I know why the ground only has one stand. You'd not want to watch that every fortnight.
Second half
I'd love to know how a Portuguese parent explains what Hot Dog, jumping frog, Albuquerque means as Prefab Sprout - The King of Rock N Roll blasts over the tannoy at half time. I love how Portugal is perpetually obsessed with English music from the 1980s.
Rio Ave get us underway as ten year old me sings along to Prefab Sprout.
49 Sporting for the first time tonight under some pressure defensively but clear their lines comfortably
50 Araújo picks the ball up outside his own box and drives forward to the halfway line. We've seen since Borges took charge he's happy for his full backs to carry the ball forward compared to the huge number of passes between the back three under Amorim
51 Araújo causing all sorts of issues in the Rio Ave box pulled the ball back for Quenda despite having four defenders around him. Originally I thought Quenda shot, actually he tries to pick out Harder in the centre who just couldn't find the final touch and the ball goes agonisingly to safety
53 Aguilera shown the yellow for a foul on Harder. Must have been more for intent or possibly something he said to the referee because I didn't see much wrong with it
54 Harder set free from the half way line again. Santos does enough to get a foot on it and send it back to his keeper
56 Rio Ave keeper comes to clear from 30 yards or more. Sporting looking for that long pass again
57 Sporting's third just won't come as Geny's shot deflects for a corner from 10 yards
58 Double chance for Harder, first he stings the hands of the keeper from 16 yards and then fires the rebound behind the goal. I'm resigned to losing Gyökeres in the summer but this kid looks like he's more than capable of filling his boots
59 Hjulmand with the half volley from 20 yards brings another save
60 Rui Silva with an actual contribution is out of his box and clears for a throw in. Nice to see he's done something for his pay
60 Quenda with the nutmeg, runs into the box and fires a shot wide from 12 yards between two defenders. It just hit a bobble before he took the opportunity to be fair to the youngster
65 Sporting have had 20 attempts this game… no make that 21 as Harder smashes a shot over the bar from a tight angle on the left. That's by far the most Sporting have had since Borges took charge. They managed 21 against Vitória and Benfica combined in their last two league games
68 Harder bursts through but can only fire at the keeper from 14 yards. He's done everything right tonight other than score. He had two defenders in front of him, his pace left them both for dead despite them having a head start.
67 Debast replaced by Simões
68 Harder with another chance from 7 yards straight at the keeper. He shouts in anguish. That came from his own hard work on the goal line to cut the ball back through the legs of a defender to find Simões who played the young striker back into position to get the shot away
69 How is the ball staying out for the Rio Ave net? Blocked shot from the right when Sporting looked destined to score. Harder and Trincão with the breakdown in communication as they both went for the same ball. Not sure who got the final touch from about four yards. Maybe Trincão meaning Harder did a better job of defending than Rio Ave have done all night
74 I hope we've got some bodies warmed up ready to come on for the likes of Trincão and Hjulmand. There's zero danger in this game. I'm not sure what Borges is waiting for, a written invite maybe? Maybe he's got the Vitória game in the back of his mind. Rio Ave are not Vitória with a point to prove against their old mister
76 The XG is 0.06 to 3.30 just to emphasise my point above. Gyökeres is now being readied.
78 Sporting calmness personified as they pass their way out of danger in defence.
79 Petrasso pounds the floor as play continues and you see why when the replays show Harder comes down hard on his foot. I don't think is was deliberate but he's a big unit and his studs or moulds were right down on top of his foot with his full weight baring down. I gather modern boots give fuck all support
80 Bragança and Gyökeres on for Harder and Geny. The Dane just couldn't find the goal his performance deserved. He's been an absolute handful all night. Rio Ave defenders will breathe a sigh of relief and then look at Gyökeres and think oh joy. Not in a good way. Sarcasm can be missed in the written word.
81 Gyökeres shanks one wide of the right post. He is human after all. Sporting had 33 attempts against Famalicão. Not quite there tonight but you imagine they'll surpass the 29 against Farense. Their keeper has made ten saves and that's the reason it's still only 2-0.
87 Camera focuses in on Harder rather unfairly who politely claps. GOAL Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 3. Gyökeres cuts right and slotted the ball between two defenders and into the bottom right hand corner. The Dane softened them up for the Swedish striking sensation
89 Trincão departs for Esgaio. What's the point in giving him a minute rest and Esgaio what … five minutes at most? Unless the latter is leaving in the window and a chance to say goodbye?
Plus four shown
91 Gyökeres shot pushed onto the post by the keeper from 14 yards. He clearly knew I said Sporting should score four in this game. If Miszta isn't the official man of the match in this game you'd suspect these things are rigged.
93 Araújo yellow carded for a challenge with seconds remaining in the game
Full time
Rio Ave 0 Sporting CP 3
The final word
Eleven saves, twenty clearances and seven blocks. The Rio Ave defence has had a busy night as Sporting finished with 29 attempts and an XG of 3.93. That Rio Ave's was just 0.06 at the end, comprising of a deflected shot that trickled into the hands of Silva and a shot which cleared the bar and was that great that I didn't even register the chance (probably desperately trying to summarise another Sporting effort seconds before) would statistically confirm this was as one sided a game as you'll see anywhere all weekend. The only thing missing was a Harder goal and it wasn't through lack of trying on his part. I thought it incredibly mean of the programme editor to focus in on him when the third went in.
This was a Sporting side if you read the minute by minute above who were just humping long balls down field for the opening ten to fifteen minutes of the second half as if they wanted some defending practice.
So bang goes Rio Ave's unbeaten record. The hope for them and Sporting is that Clayton isn't suspended against Porto and Benfica when those games come around. Still, looked like he was enjoying his night way more than his teammates did with the company of a young lady beside him. Certainly looked way happier than Harder did when Gyökeres scored to make it 3-0.
When Sporting did have to defend they really did look like a proper unit and that's maybe the first time in 18 games in the league at least where they have looked that calm and capable. A week on the training ground with no midweek game seems to have done them the world of good. Let's hope 80 minutes on the bench does an equal amount of wonders for Gyökeres as we travel to Germany for Wednesday's Champions League game against RB Leipzig. You'd not bet against him adding to the six goals he's already scored in 2025 and making it five games on the bounce that he would have found the net.
Sometimes I wonder when I look at statistics whether I've been watching a different game because Inácio had the most passes in the game with 80, Diomande with 75 and the next closest was Omar Richards with 48 and I can't really remember either one of our defenders on the ball that much. Just goes to show when they're making it look easy then perhaps it really is just that.
So I guess all that's left is to award my man of the match. Overall it is Miszta, did I mention he made 11 saves? Oh I did. I'm sorry. Anyways I have to give my Sporting man of the match as per… I could try argue it was one of three between Quenda, Hjulmand and Harder but in truth it could only be Harder. He was a handful from start to finish. He seemed hell bent on trying to impress and he will have done exactly that but maybe he ended up trying too hard. You could see the frustrations growing in him the more chances he missed. His performance deserved a goal... Sometimes they don't come. Next time out he'll probably have half the threat and score a brace. That's football. But for me I thought he was brilliant. He's pacy, blessed with a great touch, a nightmare to mark, never gives in, full of enthusiasm, has the face of an angel, the body of a wardrobe and that little indication that he's a 'orrible little cunt pardon my French but only if you're trying to mark him. Did he know what he was doing when he came down on the defender's foot? Replay suggests no but I think if you asked him off the record he'd say yes of course.
All eyes on Gil Vicente tomorrow to see if they can repeat their recent trick against Sporting against Porto who fall to third for now.
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