Sporting CP 2 CD Nacional 0

The warm up

The former US President Benjamin Frankly is famously quoted as having said "Nothing is certain other than death, taxes and St Juste getting injured," and so it did come to pass that the wise old sage was correct once more as the Dutch defender was withdrawn midway through the first half defeat to RB Leipzig. This new injury ensured that Sporting followed their new medical policy implemented in the summer that for every returning player from injury, one player must take their place on the treatment table newly injured. It really has been one of those seasons to date. 

With Sporting suffering their first defeat under Rui Borges in all competitions since his arrival with the 2-1 loss to Leipzig, attention turns back to the league as Nacional visit the José Alvalade and the two sides meet for the third time this season. So far the aggregate score of the meetings is Sporting 9 Nacional 2 following a 6-1 win on matchday 2 and for those of you blessed with superior skills in the field of mathematics you'll have worked out the other game was a 3-1 win which came in the Taça da Liga. To their credit I personally thought Nacional played really well in the opening half of the league game but the gulf in class was all too apparent come the second half as Sporting added another four goals for what remains their biggest win of the season to date in all competitions. 

Nacional come into this game off the back of two straight home wins against Porto 2-0 and AVS 3-1. The first would have been one of the final death nails in Vitor Bruno's coffin who has subsequently been removed of his duties as coach of Porto. However away from home Nacional are still to record a single win following their promotion to the top flight in the summer. In 9 games they've drawn 3 and lost 6 scoring just five times in the process. They occupy 13th position in the table with four points back to Farense and AVS who make up two of the sides in the current relegation places. Boavista who prop up the table are seven points behind. At some point Tiago Margarido's side are going to have an upturn in fortunes away from home if they're realistically to stay up come May. With that in mind they've brought in four new faces during the winter window; Joel Tagueu and Paulinho Boia from Brazilian outfit Paysandu, Fuki Yamada from J League Kyoto to boost the league's Japanese contingent and finally Ivanildo Fernandes who had been unattached since leaving Al Ittihad Kalba in June. The centre back now 28 started at Sporting's academy but never played a first team game. 

Twelve different players have found the net this season for Nacional but only three have scored more than one; Costa and Teodora both with 2, leaving Isaac Aguiar with us now over half way through the season the top scorer with 3. Their combined total of goals is six short of Gyökeres tally to date for the season. 

Having failed to make the starting XI for the past two games you have to imagine that Gyökeres with his ongoing injury concerns will once more start on the bench especially considering Sporting face Bologna on Wednesday night, a game which became all the important after Wednesday's loss if Sporting are to progress to the knockout rounds of the Champions League. Before Wednesday Leipzig had lost their opening six games and Bologna had scored just once but took their tally to 3 with a 2-1 against BVB. Sporting need a point and their chances will be improved with their talismanic goalscorer being given more time to rest against Nacional that's for certain. The problem is Gyökeres doesn't know when to say no. If we lose him for a considerable amount of time then we really could be up shit creek without a paddle. Harder played well last time out against Rio Ave. I can't single him out in midweek because no one really put in anything resembling a decent performance across the board. One assumes a definite change will be the return of Rui Silva in between the posts and if Sporting manage a draw or better he'll be able to play in the Champions League going forward after that game. 

Some confirmed transfer business for Sporting, Samuel Justo who spent last season on loan with Casa Pia and was named on the bench for the Taça da Liga final has been loaned to relegation threatened Farense until the end of the season to continue his development. Speculation continues about the exit of Marcus Edwards. Everton are now rumoured to have joined Besiktas in the hunt and the player changed agents in the week. He'd have been better off switching up his attitude. If he doesn't then he'll be in danger of becoming the new Ravel Morrison. Games like Wednesday night were made for him and instead he's not even in Germany. Last season was going so well for him until the point he crashed his vehicle and it's like he left his career in the boot. If he was being badly advised by his last agent you can only hope the new people do a better job going forward. There are always things behind the scenes that we'll never be party to and I don't want to dig the lad out. If I ever claimed to be perfect you'd all have permission to roll on the floor holding your sides. Don't waste your talent. 

In the markets 

Sporting 1/7

Draw 7/2

Nacional 11/1

Team News

Starting XI 

Silva, Araújo, Inácio, Diomande, Fresneda, Quenda, Hjulmand, Morita, Bragança, Gyökeres and Trincão 

Substitutes 

Israel, Reis, Debast, Geny, Esgaio, Brito, Simões, Harder and Couto

As expected Silva comes back in for Israel and with the latest injury to St Juste, Inácio starts at centre back. In midfield the misters favourite Morita comes in for Debast and what follows isn't a typo, Bragança in for Geny wide right. Sorry give me a moment… Hollywood wide right. Hmmmm. Is that the big news? Or is there return of Gyökeres the big news with Harder the player to miss out? You decide Sportinguistas. 

Good news on the bench as Reis is back in the squad following his injury. Bad news is if he comes on we now know the rules and someone has to go off injured. Look I didn't make the clubs new medical policy they've been following with an incredible level of diligence for the entire season people's.  

First Half 

Sporting have since the arrival of Borges made a habit of delaying the start of the second half but tonight we're going for kick off as both sets of players finally take the field 3 minutes later than the planned kick off time. Big news of the night already is Casa Pia's 3-1 home win to the dirty pigeons meaning a win tonight will open up a six point gap at the top of the table. I said in midweek could this season get any crazier? Well the answer is clearly yes. 

Sporting back in black with white and green horizontal stripes will attack right to left. Nacional get us underway six minutes late. 

1 Free kick to Sporting for a clothesline on Quenda. Sporting look like they've actually setup in a 4-3-3 

2 Twice Nacional's defence has been hurried into mistakes at the back. Could be a long night for them 

3 Sporting win a corner which is easily cleared by the first man. We need someone who can coach set pieces 

5 Another mistake at the back from Nacional. Gyökeres tries to find a man in the six yard box but found a crowd of yellow shirts 

6 Hjulmand concedes a free kick on the halfway line which will give Nacional the chance to actually go over the halfway line. Sporting have been that dominant in the opening exchanges 

7 Bragança blocked shot from 18 yards. Nacional are defending with a narrow line of five with two midfielders sat in front protecting 

8 Araújo with a sliding tackle to knock the ball out of play. Teodora goes down like a man pole axed. Firstly he was offside and secondly there was no connection 

10 Rio Ave finished with an XG of 0.06 last weekend. On this showing Nacional might not even equal that 

11 Nacional now defending in a 5-4-1. Plenty of space on the wings for Sporting to operate in 

11 Time wasting already started from the goal kicks which brings whistles from the home fans 

15 Incredibly for all their dominance still the solitary blocked effort from Bragança to show for all Sporting's endeavour. Away they created 22 attempts over the 90 minutes 

16 Another enforced error at the back and turnover but Sporting are yet to take full advantage 

17 Araújo chopped down wide left by Laabidi, yellow card shown. 

18 Gyökeres is down clutching his knee but no foul given. Hjulmand then taken out by Teodora on the touchline. The home fans are showing their displeasure at the officiating. One of the Nacional coaching staff shown the yellow. Bragança auditioning for a part in Meet the Fockers gives the referee the two fingers to the eyes

19 Inácio header the first attempt on target from the free kick awarded for the foul on Hjulmand, straight at Franca from ten yards 

21 Inácio with the wildest slice from 20 yards. That's how I tee off at golf i.e. badly 

23 Trincão accidentally collides with the neck of one of the Nacional defenders as he tried to hurdle him and we've a break in play. Thankfully he looks OK. This is why it pisses me off when players go down feigning head injuries. Trincão knew he'd connected because he was straight up to check on him. 

25 Nice link up between Morita and Araújo who then tries a trick so neat he beats himself and passes the ball to the defender. This game desperately needs a goal 

27 There is no more than 7 yards between the back 5 and midfield 4 of Nacional when defending. They've clearly watched the Santa Clara footage from when Sporting struggled under João Pereira to find a way to break through 

28 At some point the referee will book Franca for time wasting so why not do it now so we don't have to suffer it and encourage him not to do it?

30 Oh nice touch on the Sporting shirts with their name in braille. I mean if you were blind you'd have to take someone's word for it but still better than some of the other gimmicks you see from clubs. 

31 Franca received treatment for an injury from colliding with his own defender. Far be it for me to suggest he's making a meal of it … but he's making a meal of it. I think they did this in the first game and Sporting scored in or around additional time at the end of the first half to go in 2-1 up 

36 Sportings defensive line is 6 yards inside the Nacional half which means everyone bar Rui Silva is camped inside their half. 

37 Diomande charges forward in the centre and is encouraged to shoot. He probably should have done but decided to pass left to Quenda who knocked it into the stand from 22 yards 

39 Araújo again tries to be clever with a back heel which goes straight to a Nacional midfielder 

41 Quenda finally finds space on the left in the same range Leipzig opened the scoring from midweek and hammers it out of play for a throw in on the far side 

43 Fresneda is clearly blocked in the corner two yards in front of the assistant who's looking the other way. Unfuckingbelievable 

Plus four shown 

+1 GOLAZZO Sporting CP 1 Nacional 0. Goal of the season contender from Trincão who smashes the ball into the top left hand corner from 29 yards. That's top drawer quality. 

+2 Gyökeres brings out a good save from 8 yards low to his left. Half time now cannot come soon enough for Nacional. Define irony. Shouldn't time waste

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 CD Nacional 0

The opposition game plan is clearly to frustrate Sporting and to time waste as it was when they first met away and both times they've been punished with a Sporting goal in additional time. I believe that's what is known in the world as karma. I'm happy to give them credit for the way they've defended with their blocks of 5-4-1. I mean it's made for an abysmal watch but until the goal was highly effective. The only two highlights in the entire half came in that two minute period in additional time when Sporting could well have gone in two goals to the good. It's been a while since I've written this but the best thing for the second half is they'll have to attack now which will finally open up the space for Sporting to exploit. 

It'll come as no surprise to learn that Nacional's XG at half time is 0. At home I'm sure Nacional were more entertaining than this. It really has been like watching Sporting v Santa Clara but AI has altered the shirt colours and transposed the heads of the players in turn. The difference this time is the wonder strike from Trincão. How life might have been different had they managed the same before Christmas and not lost. Maybe in a parallel world they have. 

Gyökeres clearly doesn't look fit. When he went down clutching his knee having jarred it on the landing I can't have been the only one watching, holding my breath and saying a prayer to a God I don't believe in. 

Let's hope for a more open game second half and a quick goal for Sporting to settle the nerves and hopefully allow for Gyökeres to come off. We need him more against Bologna than we do tonight. 

Second half 

Sporting out first with the Nacional players nowhere to be seen. More definitions of irony. Finally they appear from the tunnel. Double substitution for the visitors. 

Sporting get us back underway. I wonder if a Sporting player is booked they'll encourage the referee to run his hands over the braille?

46 Araújo wide open on the left looks like he's been watching too much rugby union as he kicks to touch. That's the fourth big mistake from him tonight. 

47 Araújo tries to find Gyökeres and the pass is cut out. I'm imagining if Reis is fit enough we'll see him at some point this half 

48 Quenda tries to bring a long ball out of the sky and his first touch is like a trampoline. Let's hope Nacional don't time waste through the second half I can't wait for this game to be over. No atmosphere in the stadium and no quality on the pitch apart from that Trincão wonder goal 

49 Nacional made in six yards into the Sporting half and then play it all the way back to França. Dear Lord 

51 Quenda beats his man with a quick step over, takes it to the goal line and cuts back to make space, takes a shot from a tight angle which is blocked. Someone has to drop off into space for the pass in situations like that for a better goalscoring opportunity 

52 Nacional make it level with the 18 yard box with a throw in from the right. Careful boys you'll get a nosebleed 

53 Rui Silva clears a passback. He could be in the stands again he's had that little to do. 143 minutes into his Sporting career I don't think he's made a save 

53 Trincão can't repeat his trick from 23 yards on the right and fires his attempt over the bar. 

55 Araújo received the ball wide left over the half way line with Nacional on their heels but to be fair to them Sporting only had two men up and they got back in numbers. Chance breaks down as Araújo applied the brakes 

56 Geny being readied. Please let it be for Araújo I can't watch any more of him tonight. I should have renamed the blog Sex and Drugs and Esgaio for laughs instead. 

58 Corner to Nacional and the TV editor takes time to show a selection of players names in braille again not understanding the irony of it all. 

59 Bragança replaced by Geny. 

61 If you had to clip a five minutes highlight package of this game together at present you'd show the Trincão goal from every angle for 4’55 and the Gyökeres effort saved for the final 5 seconds 

62 Save from a Fresneda side foot effort from 8 yards. He drops to his knees unable to believe he didn't score. Me too! After he got forward and had a couple of chances midweek I've got him to score anytime at 9/1. Credit to Araújo for the ball in from the left but to be fair Fresneda was wide open and even my late Nan could have picked him out with a pass from there. 

64 Familiar face in the stands as Mathieu watches on. He'd have been capable of scoring that Trincão goal. Bloke played in slippers. 

66 Morita sold a hospital ball kicks it out of play. Jesus do we really have another 24 minutes of this game to go? This is your life and it's ending one minute at a time. Debast set to come on 

67 Geny with a brilliant run in the centre, beat one man, held off another, decided not to shoot and passed to Trincão who cut the ball back to a Nacional defender. Pffffffft 

68 Morita's night done as Debast comes on 

68 Quenda shot from 20 yards is blocked. At least Sporting found someone from a corner which is a rarity 

69 Slow motion shot of Morita on the bench rubbing his hands into his head. I hope that's not because he's got a recurrence of his injury and it's a sign of despair and more a sign of I could have done better which in fairness is also despair but you know what I mean 

71 Gyökeres holds the ball up on the left and nutmegs the defender to find Geny whose shot with the outside of the boot from 19 yards deflects to safety. I say nutmeg, purists will point out it has to go through the legs and the same player be still in possession. Potato, Potato which is a joke which works so much better verbally than it does in writing 

73 Gyökeres rolls his marker in the box but an incredible tackle from De Vítor dispossessed him. He had to be inch perfect with that one. 

74 Araújo loses the ball again. Seriously how is he still on the field? 

75 Comical shot of Costa on the bench having a paddy. That's the highlight of the second half. To be fair if Trincão hadn't scored that could have been the highlight of the night. This is what Amorim loved to define as suffering. Last week Borges was all about the happy. No Pharrell soundtrack tonight people's. 

77 Warm applause as Gyökeres shanks the ball into row M from 20 yards. Proof that it helps when your people love you. That was awful 

78 Nacional have now made all their changes. 

79 Nuno Santos, St Juste and Gonçalves watch on all looking like how I feel 

80 Someone far wiser than me once said don't wish your life away. Well I'm wishing the next ten minutes away, fuck em 

84 Pretty sure this game is defying the laws of physics as the last four minutes have felt like ten 

85 Penha shoots wide of the right hand post from 19 yards 

86 Harder and Simões ready to come on. 

87 Trincão awarded a standing ovation as he comes off followed by Araújo and Gyökeres. On Reis, Simões and Harder 

89 GOAL Big sigh from the Nacional coach on the sidelines and maybe realising he's on the big screen suddenly tries to encourage his players. That'll have turned into a FFS as it's now Sporting CP 2 Nacional 0. Less than two minutes after coming on Simões scores his first senior goal slotting home into the bottom right hand corner from 8 yards. Tears from the youngster. Feel you kid I've been bored to tears for 89 minutes 

Plus four shown 

+1 Debast shown the yellow as he leaves his foot in on a challenge. Felt that one. 

+2 Finally the crowd has woken up. Only taken 92 minutes. Just a reminder who's the current champions to anyone watching 

+2 Save from Rui Silva. Free kick floated in just received the faintest of touches goalwards. Hmm maybe it didn't as they've not registered as a chance on goal. 

Full time 

Sporting CP 2 Nacional 0. 

The Final Word

Well I punched the air at full time. Not for the win, not for the fact we're six points clear at the top, simply because that game is finally over. Jesus Christ that was a fucking awful watch. Better than Santa Clara at home but only because we won. Really and truthfully no one cares about the performance when you win. No one will remember it at the end of the season as they will do the Santa Clara loss. Well apart from Simões and Trincão. 

An ugly game but a convincing win. Sporting were never in danger for the second straight league game. Rui Silva has to think his birthdays and Christmas have come all at once joining Sporting. If you're Israel or Kovacevic watching on you'd be thinking hang on a minute how come we never had that type of defensive cover? They'd have a point if it wasn't for the fact that neither Rio Ave or Nacional carried any attacking threat over the last 180 minutes of football played in the league. 

The defence really looked solid, the only complaint comes against Araújo who was frankly appalling in an attacking and distribution sense. Sometimes you just need to do the simple things well. Against a better opposition you get caught with a fast turnover and you're in a world of trouble. He got away with it all night. 

Gyökeres was man marked all night and the fact he didn't score and really never looked like scoring would suggest that it was a gamble that wasn't worth taking but he wants to play. I just hope it doesn't come back to bite us somewhere down the line. Quenda showed flashes of what he can do again but he needs to stay behind and work on his finishing after training, it leaves a lot to be desired. Geny looked a constant threat when he came on and had he started it would probably have been a different game. I thought Bragança offered little. Morita looked short of fitness and didn't have his best game. Hjulmand consistently delivers in every game now and if you can find seven or eight that keep that same level of performance every game then we will be in with a shot come May especially when our rivals keep losing. I'd developed a bit of a soft spot for Casa Pia and their win tonight has only strengthened that. I'm a sucker for clubs that actually do things for their community but this isn't a Casa Pia blog but well done to them all the same. 

Before half time and that wonder strike I had it in my mind that Trincão was probably the best player in a Sporting shirt, only because at half time in midweek I thought I don't know if I'd be able to give you a man of the match on the basis of what I'd scene so I was sharpening my pencil in old school parlance. I think it would have come down to Diomande who was playing in slippers at the back, Hjulmand for another solid overall performance, maybe Fresneda who suddenly looks like the player we thought we were signing and of course Trincão. Having scored what will probably be Sporting's best goal of the season with only Gyökeres wonder free kick that can maybe rival it, then it can only go to him. His standing ovation was well deserved. 

However the final comment has to go to Simões for his first senior goal and the tears that followed his wild celebration. For me that's a game I can't wait to forget I ever watched, 90 minutes of my life I'll never get back. For Simões that's a moment he'll never forget. A moment where all the sacrifices he's made as a youngster have finally felt worth it. We've seen tears from Essugo before when he became the youngest ever player in the club's history so it's nothing new. However it does show what it means to play for this proud club to the kids that come through the academy system, for those who've supported the club since they can remember when they were just knee high to a grasshopper. That goal was a vindication for old pear tree himself João Pereira who gave him his debut. On a day the old mister took his Sporting B into the promotion playoffs that goal will have been the icing on the cake. You imagine if Amorim is still watching on from Manchester he'll have been equally as thrilled having first included him in the matchday squad before his untimely departure. That's what you gave up Ruben for the worst team in Manchester United’s history.