Boavista 0 Sporting CP 5

The warm up

Tuesday night I was bemoaning the fact that in my humble opinion there's far too much football being played by club's now. After all this is game 51 for Sporting of the 2024/25 season. Then the fixture list delivers a game that says wind your neck in son, you absolute melt. Opponents Boavista are still facing a complete financial meltdown with no guarantees their fans will even have a club to watch come the start of next season. Given the choice of too much football or the possibility of no football at all I'll happily concede the point even if I'm the one making it on behalf of fans of the Porto based club. 

Champions of Portugal, you'll never sing that.

Only the fans of five Portuguese clubs could get to sing that to opposition fans. Only five clubs have ever won the top flight title; Sporting CP the reigning Champions in case anyone had forgotten, the dirty pigeons, Porto, Belenenses and of course if you hadn't already guessed it - Boavista. That fact still blows my mind. All five clubs hail from just two cities; Lisboa and Porto, not that Portugal is a huge country in terms of size of course. Boavista were one of my introductory clubs to Portuguese football along with Marítimo given their travails in Europe during the early 2000s, how times and fortunes change. Belenenses and Boavista can only claim a title each, but nevertheless they can still claim to be a title winner. That doesn't diminish their achievement, far from it. Belenenses kicked off Saturday teatime against Sporting B trying to secure promotion from Liga 3 having already found themselves on their knees as a sporting institution. It's Boavista who's future now hangs perilously by a thread. They were given a ray of hope by their new coach Stuart Baxter, 71 years young who has guided them off the bottom of the table following their win against Farense to swap places in the table. As I always say though it's always the hope that kills you. By the time they face Sporting on Sunday night they could be bottom again if Farense take something from their away game at Gil Vicente on Saturday. Both the bottom two will be looking at Benfica to do them a massive favour as they face off against AVS who have the worst away record in the division. I'd say Sportinguista's are hoping the opposite but I'm not sure we'd waste our energy on AVS winning, it's not going to happen is it? Importantly in Portugal finishing third bottom secures a playoff game. AVS occupy that spot 3 points ahead of Boavista and Farense. Estrela face Porto at home over the weekend, they sit five points ahead of the bottom two teams. It's as close at the bottom as it is for the race for the title. The playoffs are no guarantee of beating the drop of course. Last season saw Liga 2 come out on top with the promotion but generally as a rule of thumb the existing top flight club will retain their status in most leagues where a play off exists. 

If you're English and new to Portuguese football I was trying to think of a way to compare Belenenses and Boavista. The first maybe a Stockport trying to compete for bums on seats with the two Manchesters of United and City. Boavista is harder and my first thought was Bradford. Well supported and capable of putting 30,000 bums on seats amongst the better times. Maybe a two club city example is needed again so if Porto were say a Liverpool then Boavista would be their Everton. The blues are a far bigger club with a greater history than Boavista but for long parts of their history they were living in the shadows of their city rivals. Both crippled by huge debts linked to new stadiums. Whoever…my basic point is don't be fooled into thinking because of their current plight that they're not a big club. Their situation remains a warning to every other club outside the big three of what potentially happens when you chase dreams. Mind you saying that Porto's debts far exceed those of Boavista's yet theirs remain serviceable. Allegedly. 

Boavista are capable of beating Sporting at home. I write that but those were different times and when I say times in plural … well ... September 2022 saw the last win, 2-1 the scoreline and in the last 23 meetings in all competitions between the two sides that's their only win. So not plural at all. Two draws, Sporting have won the other 20. The omens aren't good for Baxter's charges. Most will expect Sporting to thump their opposition Sunday, however there was only the one goal in this season's 3-2 win at the José Alvalade. Best to caveat that with the fact João Pereira was in charge mind you, it wasn't the unbeaten Sporting under Ruben Amorim in the league or the unbeaten Sporting in the league now under the new mister Rui Borges. Last season Boavista were pumped 6-1 away, Gyökeres with a hat trick. They surely won't be fooled into gaining false hope by a less than convincing performance from Sporting against Rio Ave away on Tuesday night. They'll be fully aware a storm is brewing and heading their way on Sunday night. Hatches will be battened down, buses will be parked and prayers said to the Gods of football. Hopefully no goats will be sacrificed but you never know with football fans, they're an odd bunch at the best of times. Lucky pants primed and ready, again, hate to point this out but sadly there's no such thing as luck. They're coincidental pants. Doesn't quite have the same ring about it does it? There is such a thing as Viktor Gyökeres though and even on an off night Tuesday he still made it goal 91 for the lions. Baxter might be pragmatic and think well if we're to lose, let it be by a tight margin. Gyökeres however might well be miffed at being hauled off early and be determined to take it out on their defence. Five more games left as a Lion, 9 goals to get to reach the 100 club and now the possibility of two more titles winners medals. This time last year he was quite literally being held together by medical tape. Not so this season and Tuesday night aside he has looked imperious in recent weeks following his layoff from injury. I'm convinced I'm watching a different game to everyone else. I thought he was really poor Tuesday, A Bola rated him man of the match. So there you go. 

Back to the opposition - Just over a quarter of Boavista's points accumulated for the entire season (28.57%) have come in the last three games as they beat Rio Ave and Farense. So it will come as no surprise where exactly their performance statistics stack up in the pantheon which is the top flight of Portuguese football. How low can you go...

Average goals, bottom, level with Farense averaging 0.7 per game.

Goals conceded 47, on average 1.6 per game the 15th worst record in the division. XG 16th with 27.3 - they've scored just 20 so 1/10th of their goals worryingly have come against Sporting. Their shot conversion rate is 6.6%, over half of Sporting's 13.9%.

Just 45 defined big chances in front of goal compared to the lions 114. They've missed 30 of those so ⅔ rds. Second worst pass completion rate at 73.7% and second lowest total passes on average per game with 230.5. See you could give your kids these posts to encourage them with their maths. As for the swearing ... well, they'll learn it somewhere else soon enough. 

Weirdly their xG for conceded goals is pretty much spot on with 47.8 Vs the actual 47. Fourth highest total amount of saves made. You frame that one how you want. They've been bad defensively but could have been worse? 

To their credit they've given away the fourth least amount of fouls, Sporting being by that same metric the nicest side to play against if you value your ankles. However they have had 9 red cards so I guess if they are going to foul a player they don't dick about. That's the most in the league so roughly one in every three games they'll have finished with ten men. 

At the start of the season the expectation was that Boavista were staring relegation in the face. So when they won their opening game there were probably a few raised eyebrows and people wondering whether maybe there was the remotest possibility that things wouldn't be so bad after all. Probably weren't wondering for long mind you. No more wins in August, a winless September and October followed. Their second win was on November 2nd. Four full months before their third win on March 2nd. Some Sporting fans were losing their fucking minds after four straight defeats under João Pereira. Christ if you weren't depressed enough already reading that on their behalf, in 15 home games they've won once, lost eleven times and scored just 7. Six points coming at home all season compared to fifteen won away. 

I'm going to have to include whoever scored an own goal to benefit the club in their 20 goals scored just to pad out their total number of goalscorers to 9. I did make the mistake of pointing out how many games it was since topscorer Robert Bozenik had gone without a goal before the teams last met only for him to break his drought so I'm not going there again. This time I'll confirm he's got 4 for the season as has Miguel Reisinho. Vukotic has 3 as did the now departed Sopuruchukwu Onyemaechi.

Having been subjected to ongoing transfer bans in recent seasons suffering the same fate in FIVE consecutive windows, ten new faces arriving in the winter window isn't I guess surprising. The fact that anyone would want to sign for them is maybe however surprising given their record of paying staff and players isn't great. A grab them while you can philosophy before the governing bodies potentially change their minds again and impose another transfer ban. Given their current financial state all ten signings were free transfers. Importantly they did at least raise £2.1m through the sale of Sopuruchukwu Onyemaechi to Olympiacos which was a shame for the club because he also generated an additional €10,000 in lettering for his name on fans matchday shirts. 

Gérard López the club owner, may I suggest, should be banned from owning any football club for life. Whilst involved with F1 at Lotus he stopped paying the salary of Kimi Raikkonen and the technical team and eventually fucked off leaving them without a pot to piss in. Sadly there's no such thing as the internet or any other public spheres like social media to warn other sports about these types of practices. Oh no wait there is. So how clubs let him then get involved with football is anyone's guess. At Ligue 1 side Lille he helped them eventually manage to rack up €400m worth of debt before exiting left, with the club on the brink of bankruptcy. Six months later he rocked up at Bordeaux and left them well and truly corked which is posh wine speak for proper fucked. They lost their professional status and have had to restart from the bottom tier of French football. Not content with exclusively ruining French clubs he bankrupted Royal Excel Mouscron in Belgium and of course he's on the verge of driving Boavista out of business to make it four from four. Unfuckingbelievable. What a cunt.

It's alleged that by the end of last year Boavista has had around 39 lawsuits taken out against them from clubs seeking monies owed on transfers to players seeking unpaid wages. Boavista are on their third coach of the season like Sporting but for very different reasons it's fair to say. 

Ahead of Sunday's game apparently the club's energy supplier has cut off the power to the stadium. I mean at least there wouldn't be any VAR controversies if you had no power. 

I was quite chuffed they won on Saturday against Farense. Not that I've any skin in the game, just that no one wants to watch a dog getting kicked week in, week out. I'd not be so pleased if they win on Sunday it's fair to suggest but I hope they stay up by some minor miracle, that they get rid of this clown López and that removing him also removes him from any involvement in not only football but sport in general. 

Friday update - In a recent post I suggested it wouldn't be a surprise if the Portuguese Disciplinary Commission levelled a fine at the club for fans holding up placards with the word YEAH on them and low and behold they didn't disappoint dear reader. What's the Portuguese for petty twats?

Saturday update - Huge result for both ends of the table as Estrela beat Porto 2-0 extending their lead over tomorrows opponents to eight points. The defeat leaves Porto in 4th behind Braga who occupy the Europa League qualifying spot with Porto potentially looking at qualification for only the Europa Conference League next season. Their finances were set for a boost with their appearance in the World Club Finals in the summer but the Conference League would see them take a huge hit. This could accelerate the sale of Diogo Costa which would be a huge loss given his absence in tonight's loss. So ahead of tomorrow in terms of teams from the two cities it's Lisboa 1 Porto 0. Let's hope it's a good omen for tomorrow. Boavista play AVS away next time out. Maybe they'd be better off resting players and focusing all their attentions on that game. I believe that's called wishful thinking. 

In the markets 

Boavista 11/1

Draw 5/1

Sporting CP 2/9

Team News 

Starting XI

Silva, Inácio, Diomande, Quaresma, Araújo, Hjulmand, Debast, Geny, Gonçalves, Gyökeres and Trincão 

Substitutes 

Israel, St Juste, Reis, Morita, Fresneda, Esgaio, Quenda, Harder and Biel

Three changes from the Taça de Portugal semi final second leg on Tuesday night. Quaresma comes in for St Juste in the right of the back three. Reis is replaced by Araújo and on the right flank, Geny is in for Fresneda. All three left out are named in the matchday squad as is the returning Morita fit enough to make the bench once more which means no spot for the youngster Felicíssimo. We saw a good cameo from Biel in the Taça proving there is a player there if given the chance. Despite being given man of the match Tuesday I was personally disappointed with Gyökeres. He needs nine more goals from his last five appearances as a lion to reach the 100 club. He was still more impressive than Trincão and especially Gonçalves who is maybe rather unfairly having to play a second pre-season at a point when Sporting need to ensure they win every game to remain level on points at the top of the table with their bid city rivals ahead of the Lisboa derby in the penultimate game. Morita in turn could make on his last appearances as a Lion having confirmed he won't be signing a new contract and the club unwilling to let him leave on a free at the end of his contract. 

First Half 

It appears that someone stuck 50p in the metre at the Bessa as the game goes ahead as scheduled. Os Axadrezados were hoping Benfica would do them a huge favour and at half time they were obliging massively with the score 4-0 against AVS who occupy the relegation play off place which appears now their only hope of avoiding relegation. I've not bothered to look to see what the final result was. If you know, keep it yourselves unless by a miracle AVS scored five with no reply. I'll assume Sporting start in second place. 

Five more times to see Gyökeres as a Lion. A reminder in case you've forgotten we're still champions of Portugal for now. If you want the title you'll have to wrestle it out the hands of the talismanic Swede. With every round it's becoming the case of who'll blink first in the battle to be crowned this season's Champions. Varandas didn't help matters this week as Rui Borges was left to fend off questions about his future in the buildup to the game. He remains unbeaten domestically since taking over at Christmas let us not forget and despite defeat in the Taça da Liga final on penalties has led the club back to Jamor for the curtain closer in the Taça de Portugal. As we've seen at Porto the grass isn't always greener after they changed coaches mid season and now in real danger of missing out on the Europa League. 

I have commentary on a league game which is odd for me. I'll try not to let their opinions change my own. Think I'll be OK given I have no idea what they're saying. 

Boavista fans unveil a huge banner emblazoned with five people that look as old as coach Baxter. I want to say it says love and resilience. I might be lying. 

Sporting in their garish luminous green shirts with darker green shirts. Sportinguista's clearly caring little for the death of the Pope as they chant through the minute's silence. Let's hope karma doesn't bite us in the arse on that one. Boavista in their familiar black and white checks. No club shirt sponsor a reminder of their financial woes. Sporting get us underway and attack right to left. 

1 Sporting close to taking the lead as Trincão's shot is blocked by Vaclik from 12 yards, the follow up by Gyökeres also blocked from 15 yards. 

3 Boavista lining up in a 5-2-3. Not quite parking the bus but their half is crowded nonetheless. 

4 Test screen on the coverage. Usually means something has been taken off air. Perhaps they've just realised Sport TV is being broadcast. Thankfully I have coverage again oh and no commentary. So wasn't someone having to run and put another 50p in the meter then. 

5 GOAL Boavista 0 Sporting CP 1. He only needs eight more now to reach 100. Araújo wins the ball back superbly in the box, with two defenders ahead of him picks out Gyökeres at the near post who slots home from five yards. 

9 Sportinguista's in full voice and clearly intent on enjoying themselves tonight. 

9 Shot of Baxter on the sidelines who looks like a dapper gentleman out for date night but has ended up lost on the sidelines of a Portuguese top flight game and stopped to have a watch, his interest peaked before moving on his way again

10 Corner to Boavista. Finds the head of Reisinho on the left of the six yard box. His effort back across goal hits the top of the bar and away to safety for a goal kick. 

11 Spectacular overhead kick from Gyökeres from 14 yards brings a diving save to Vaclik's left. 

14 Hjulmand shot blocked from 20 yards. The hosts defence sitting at points around the 18 yard line which is enabling the space for Araújo and Geny to operate wide from both flanks. 2-0 won't be far away

15 Trincão received the cutback from Geny and his effort from 12 yards to the right is easily dealt with by Vaclik's. That's two gilt edges chances he's missed tonight 

16 Hjulmand flattens Koné. Free kick given but no yellow. 

17 Whistles from the away fans. Gyökeres was clean through on goal and goes down under contact from Fogning. Referee immediately waved it away. He's no real reason not to have stayed on his feet and taken the shot there would be my initial reaction. 

19 No penalty and the referee doesn't explain the decision to the crowd either following the VAR check. I'd not die on the hill of saying it was a stonewall penalty. 

22 Gonçalves bundled over by Reisinho looking every inch a forward making a defensive tackle. 

23 Debast with the free kick wide left. Found Diomande back post whose header back across goal was straight at the keeper 

24 I can see the home fans but I've not heard them once in terms of chants 

24 No I lie, I've just heard them in turns of screaming an appeal for a penalty as Quaresma goes down holding his chest from a van Ginkel shot from 16 yards 

26 van Ginkel header from six yards goes high and wide of the left hand post. 

27 Gonçalves fortunate to be awarded a free kick under pressure from Kakay. I thought he got his touch all wrong and went down too easily and Kakay's defensive partner clearly thought so too as he yells abuse at the referee.  

28 Gyökeres blasts the ball into the crowd from the resulting free kick 26 yards out. Justice done there I think after the free kick wrongly awarded. I'd go as far as to say it was so soft you could wipe a babies bum with it 

28 Gonçalves hits a shot on the turn from 12 yards unmarked which flies high into the Sportinguista's behind the goal 

31 Interesting to see the away fans are behind fences. You rarely see that anywhere in European grounds anymore. Was definitely common place when I was a kid 

32 I was up and celebrating. Trincão lobs the ball up to Gyökeres whose header appeared goal bound from six yards but was actually well wide. Hjulmand played Geny in with a crisp pass, who cut it back to Trincão. Great move from the lions. 

33 Araújo with another perfectly cut back ball from the left round Trincão whose shot was deflected from 13 yards for a corner 

35 Watching the finishing of Gonçalves and Trincão you wonder if Sporting will renege on the Gyökeres agreement that he can go for less than his termination clause in a last ditch bid to keep him

36 Araújo with another dangerous ball in from the left deflected out for a corner. 

39 Petulance from Gonçalves. I forget who wrote on X about good luck to his partner on having a child with a child. Never a truer word said in jest. 

41 Gonçalves shot from 17 yards blocked. Gyökeres run down the left opening up the space 

41 van Ginkel shown the games first yellow bringing down Geny wide right 

42 Free kick is level with the 18 yard box. Debast over the ball. Runs up and stops. Leaves it for Geny. He gets the delivery all wrong. Thought the point with those is you both ran at the same time. Might as well have taken an advert out in the evening press about what you were going to do or not as the case may be.

44 Gonçalves yellow for a poor foul from behind on Kakay. Let's hope that's the end of his contribution to tonight. 

44 Second attempt of an over head kick tonight. Came from a Boavista forward who didn't make a proper contact. I'd have given more information if it wasn't for the fact of what followed and I'm now back filling editing after the full time whistle where autocorrect stitches me up like a kipper

Plus two shown 

45 GOAL Boavista 0 Sporting CP 2. He only needs seven more to reach 100. Smashes the ball home from 15 yards into the bottom right hand corner. The home side has pushed everyone up in search of the equaliser and left Gyökeres pretty much unattended on the halfway line. Quick ball played him through and as we've seen so many times he does the rest all by himself. 

47 Yellow to Hjulmand on the stroke of halftime. 

Half time 

Boavista 0 Sporting CP 2 

In fairness to the home side they're not out of the game but aren't far off it especially after Gyökeres second of the game just before halftime. Did I write the start of that sentence when it was still 1-0? How did you guess? Sporting have been let down by the finishing of Gonçalves and Trincão. The latter especially should have had a brace and the lions could easily have gone in three or four goals to the good. If we're reliant on those two next season then best to tell Gyökeres he can only go for €100m. 

The excuse given for Biel not playing is that he's in a position with great players who also play in the same position. So one, why buy another player in that position if that was true and two, can you really say that Gonçalves on his current form is a better option? It's not his fault he's not at the races but the fact is very much just that. He should be an option from the bench. Get the game time back in his legs that way and stop hoping by some minor miracle he's going to get 30 odd games he's missed in his legs. He didn't come out for the second half on Tuesday and I'd hope Borges has the sense to do the same here tonight. 

One more goal and Boavista will fall like a house of cards but if they get one back then you never know. This is the critical point in the season. No time for niceties. I'll be disappointed if Gyökeres doesn't add another match ball to his collection. Araújo has been fantastic down the left hand side. If he keeps delivering crosses like that and Viktor is on the end of them it makes for a beautiful marriage between now and Jamor. 

Second Half

Sporting turning into Manchester City more every game as they're late out once more. Not sure they'll be fined the best part of £2 million as City were by the Premier League.

Borges is giving instructions to Quenda on the touchline. Whistles from the home fans as Sporting finally make their way out the tunnel.

Quenda is on

45 Boavista get us back underway

45 Huge thrown in into the box headed clear for a Boavista corner by Quaresma

46 Corner nearside headed clear. Hand ball given against Bozenik their top scorer who came on as a half time sub. He was close to leaving in midweek to to MLS but a deal fell through

47 Quenda fires low from the left and brings a save from Vaclik

48 Clumsy challenge on Hjulmand sees a yellow for Reisinho

49 GOAL Boavista 0 Sporting CP 3. There's the match ball as Gyökeres smashes home between the keepers legs from the edge of the six yard box on the right. He started the move midway inside the Boavista half, continued his run past the last defender and made it look all too easy. He could easily get a forth in the game as he hunts that 100 goal mark.

52 Ninety four goals since his arrival in the summer of 2023. Just let that sink in. I think from memory he scored a hat trick in a behind closed doors pre season friendly this summer and had one the season he joined so 98 as a lion just not all in competitive games.

54 Trincão dropping deeper again into midfield.

55 Offside flag I think must have been up as Gyökeres went one on one with the keeper. He put him down but fired into the side netting. The official nearside saved his blushes. Trincão wagged his finger but correct call. Trincão it was with the ball through having said about him moving into midfield

56 GOAL Boavista 0 Sporting CP 4. Gyökeres through again but it's Araújo who heads home for the fourth. Great save down to the keepers right from Gyökeres low shot originally but a bit like on Tuesday night the rebound fell perfectly for Sporting as Araújo headed home into an empty net from 9 yards to cap a superb performance by him tonight

58 Diomande fires wide from 20 yards, they all fancy a goal tonight with this defence. The fourth goal came from a long through ball from the Sporting defence which went over the head of the defender too high up the field to keep this Sporting attack at bay.

59 Araújo yellow as he does through the back of a Boavista player

59 Bozenik heads over from six yards

61 This could easily end up 6-0 to the lions. Boavista now defending in a high line 10 yards inside their own half as if they're 4-0 up and Champions of Portugal

62 Credit to the home fans who've not left in droves yet. They've had nothing to shout about. Their cup final is next week against AVS. Baxter said he wouldn't park the bus tonight. Man of his word but he'd have needed to park two on this showing

64 No signs of changes for Sporting. I'd have bodies lined up ready to come on with the game won. Oh I finish typing that as Morita comes into sight on the touchline.

65 Geny shot blocked from the right from 16 yards

65 Flares go up from behind Rui Silva's goal as Sporting remind anyone watching who are Champions of Portugal. They've been great value all night apart from singing through the Popes minute silence

67 Geny shot from ten yards saved. That would have been one of the Sporting goals of the season and came on the end of seven or eight well timed passes cutting through the Boavista midfield and defence

68 Big smile from Morita as he replaces Hjulmand. Araújo replaced by Reis. He's been phenomenal tonight and the goal was the icing on the cake

69 More keep ball from Sporting. They're basically taking the piss now. Just spraying passes around and Boavista are just spectators

70 Double substitution for the home side. Presumably now saving bodies for AVS rather than any hope of doing anything in the remaining 20 minutes

72 Incredibly the score remains 0-4 as Gyökeres one on one cannot find a way past Vaclik form 16 yards who spread his body to make himself as large as possible. He might have conceded four but he's kept the score down

74 Israel now the official cheerleader for the side as he sings along with the chants ringing out from the away end slapping his thighs, big smile on his face. Even Gonçalves joins in with the fans but he's not as enthusiastic as the Uruguayan in his rendition

75 Harder getting ready to come on shakes the hand of Hjulmand, Israel, Araújo and Gonçalves

76 Earthquake in the Bessa as two Boavista players inexplicably fall to the ground.

77 Sporting fans singing along to the tune of Gloria Gaynor's I will Survive as Geny receives treatment for a smack in the chops. Fans now doing the Poznan not even watching their side defend a free kick.

78 Harder on for Geny.

78 Bozenik yellow as his knee smashes into that of Reis

79 A Boavista fan says his prayers in the stands, hands clasped together. Not sure what he's praying for as this game has been over for a long time. Maybe that the electricity company turns the power off at the Bessa again

81 Huge cheers as Silva catches the ball. Another night he could have been in with the fans behind the goal enjoying himself second half

82 Reis looks to find Harder but the cross cut out for a Sporting corner

83 Amazingly there are still home fans inside the Bessa. Fair play to all of them because of they were Arsenal fans they'd have fucked off in their droves and left an empty stadium

84 Inácio now with the captain's armband mops up at the back but the flag had already gone up for offside anyway

85 Will there be a fifth goal? We should have had one by now in fairness had Sporting's finishing been more clinical

86 St Juste puts his shirt on as he readies himself to come on

87 Huge round of applause as Diomande shown a yellow for a foul on Bozenik in the centre. Got to cheer about something I guess when you're 4-0 down

88 Sporting let's remember beat Gil Vicente by the same scoreline in last season's run in if you're looking for omens and history repeating itself.

89 Diomande jogs over to be replaced by St Juste who take the field with two seconds remaining of the 90

Plus three shown

+1 Gyökeres looks to the official on the nearside to see if he has raised his flag. He hasn't. GOAL Boavista 0 Sporting CP 5. Four goals for Gyökeres as Harder unselfishly cut the ball back to the Swede to tap home from five yards.

Full time

Boavista 0 Sporting CP 5

The final word

As the final whistle blows it's no surprise to hear the name of Viktor Gyökeres being sung by the fans behind Rui Silva's goal. I said he needed nine more from five games in my match buildup to reach the magic 100 goals mark for Sporting. He leaves needing five from the remaining four as a lion. He could easily have had seven or eight tonight. Vaclik may have conceded five but he's stopped his side from conceding double figures. He's the sole Boavista player to come out with any credit at the final whistle.

If the first half was about clever balls from exploiting the flanks then the second half was just a free for all. It doesn't matter if you're Boavista or Manchester City you cannot give this Sporting side space like that to run into. Not that they even needed the acres of space, Boavista were just spectators at points as the ball was zipped around with an arrogance and nonchalance befitting Sporting's status as league champions.

Their fans cut a sad sight as they remained until the final whistle many no doubt staying until the end unsure of whether the club will even start next season. I'll keep everything crossed for them. They don't deserve what's happening to their club but when do fans ever when someone like López has been green lit by the Portuguese FA as being fit and proper to own this once proud club now on its knees with it's head in the chopping block. He should be banned from involvement in football for life. He's the new iteration of Laurence Bassini in English football. A poison running through this fine games veins.

Rui Silva won't have had an easier game for Sporting. I'd be amazed if there's an ounce of dirt on his gloves or kit. What little the back three had to deal with they did it with ease.

For my criticism of Gonçalves at half time he was rightly pulled off in the second half. He shouldn't start the next game. He needs time that he doesn't have between now and Jamor. Trincão in the second half dropped deeper into midfield and every time he does he looks like he's found his best position as the conductor holding the baton spraying balls around for Gyökeres to run onto in the space he vacates from being that deep. It worked perfectly and he claims two assists. Araújo was outstanding on the left. As I wrote above his goal was the icing on the cake. Quenda still flatters to deceive for me. It's been a long season. He has surpassed all expectations, has now featured in every game bar the midweek win over Rio Ave. He'll have fully earned his summer break but he's still a country mile away from being Premier League ready. Sporting won't care they've banked the transfer fee. He'll have one more season to grow into his potential.

Geny whilst not as effective as Araújo on the opposing flank still showed plenty of intelligence and good link up play. I'd be surprised if someone isn't lining up a summer move for his services.

Hjulmand and Debast were never troubled. Two lions left to their own devices. Their test will come in the derby. Borges will have tough calls to make with his selection for that game. Minutes for Morita but we need a fully match fit version of him for that game. I don't think he gets there in time and Debast warrants a starting position alongside the captain.

They've been saying it in the national press for weeks that it's going to come down to the derby and it's getting harder to argue against that with every game that passes. A 5-0 win is a massive confidence boost for the lions. I still don't know the final result from the Benfica - AVS game. The equation is simple we just need to win every game. The only time we need to worry about the neighbours is when we come face to face with them. They're in the position they're in not because of their brilliance on the field but because of Sporting's injuries, because of Amorim's exit. Sporting will either be crowned champions again because overall despite everything, on their day, on days like this they've proven they remain the best side in Portugal. If they don't win it they'll have to look internally for the reasons why. This great side is about to be torn apart and whether it is Borges still in charge or someone else they'll have to start all again. The biggest piece of the jigsaw puzzle will be how to fill the boots of Viktor Gyökeres. I've run out of words to say about the man. Another four goals to his name. If Sporting are to win the title he's the player that will score the goals to make it a reality. On any other night you could make a case for Araújo to have been the man of the match. Yet you can't argue when your talismanic forward scores four times. So once again Gyökeres is my man of the match. I didn't think we'd ever fill the boots of Bas Dost when he left and his knack for finding the net. I was wrong. The Swede has snatched the crown from the big Dutch man. Yet who can live up to what the Swede has done over the course of two seasons? He's not just Sporting's best player, he has been hands down the best player in Portugal. He brings eyes to the league in the same way Ronaldo did when he was in his prime at Real Madrid. I don't think I can make a better comparison on his behalf than that one. It won't just be Sporting who are poorer for his exit when it comes but Portuguese football as a whole.