Sporting CP 1 S.C. Braga 1

The warm up

As I begin to write it's early Saturday afternoon, the sun is shining and I'm sat in the garden taking in some well earned Vitamin D. Tomorrow night will see Porto host Benfica in the Clássico, a result which could prove critical to Sporting's title ambitions if it's positive in any form to Anselmi's men. Last season's corresponding fixture finished in a 5-0 win but that was under the auspice of Sergio Conceição now plying his trade as coach of AC Milano. Things certainly didn't go their way in the first meeting between the two this season as Vitor Bruno's side were picked off 4-1 at da Luz. As a Sportinguista you'd take a 0-0 especially if Sporting can pick up a positive result against Braga but a total of ten goals in the previous two meetings would suggest that it's highly unlikely *. Benfica conceded 2 goals at home to second bottom Farense in midweek so it's not like they're infallible. I'm sure the green and white half of Lisboa will be keeping one eye on Sunday night's events.

I thought it might be interesting to do a comparison study on where Sporting sit year on year. Of course it will never be a fair comparison; different coaches, involvement in different competitions, the 2024/25 impacted by significant injuries throughout the campaign to date. It does at least give me something different to write about and of course for you dear reader something different in turn. 

April 7th, 2024 

Sporting occupy first position in the table. They've played 27, won 23, drawn 2 and lost 2. Goals scored 79, goals conceded 27. Total points - 71.

Ten clean sheets, Gyökeres is the league's top scorer with 29 from Banza at Sporting Braga with 21 and Mujica with 20 neither of whom will remain in Portugal during the following campaign.

The lions lead at the top is 4 points over Benfica, 13 over Porto and 15 over Braga.

In all competitions Sporting very handily had played 46 games as we have this season prior to Braga on Monday night. 34 wins, 7 draws and 5 losses. They had featured in four competitions; the league, the Europa League and both the Taça’s losing the semi final of da Liga to Monday's opponents Braga and knocking Benfica out of a two legged semi final in de Portugal. Goals scored by that stage - 123. Goals against 46. I'll caveat that by pointing out those figures were boosted by two 8-0 wins, one in the League against Casa Pia and one against Dumiense. Other notable score lines include a 6-1 v Boavista, 5-2 v Vizela, 5-1 v Estoril and a 5-0 against Braga. I'd love a repeat of that Monday if you're reading this please Rui. Despite all the big numbers there was a real sense at the time that the squad was on its last legs. A season that had started in squash buckling style was now anything but. Sporting from that point onwards would play a further 8 games, winning 6, drawing 1 and their final game of the 2023/24 campaign was the 2-1 loss in the Taça de Portugal against Porto. Two 1-0 wins against Famalicão and Estoril, a timely reminder that a season is a marathon not a sprint. I'm sure we did suffer significant injuries at points last season but I'd not be able to tell you who they were at this point a year ago. Had I a premonition they'd be as dreadful twelve months later I'd have made a point of recording them down. Google of course is about as much use as a wet fish as this juncture. Maybe we can ask Jeeves to come out of retirement. I'm going to say at some point St Juste will have been injured during the 2023/24 campaign prior to April 7th, 2025. 

April 5th, 2025

Fast forward 12 months give or take a couple of days. Look up the term injury crisis and you'd not be surprised to see a list pertaining to Sporting's 2024/25 season and it shows no signs of abating. Plausibly by the time some of you read this we could be second in the table depending on the result of the Clássico on Sunday, but as I write at least Sporting are top still albeit level on points with our big city rivals. It's been a season of change. Amorim started with intentions of leading his side to back to back title wins, then Manchester United came knocking and said it was now or never. João Pereira stepped up from Sporting B, left, eventually went back to Sporting B and left them again and of course Rui Borge took over his role, leaving from Vitória de Guimaraes. This season Sporting have featured in five different competitions if you include the Super Taça. The Europa League was replaced with Champions League football by virtue of last season's title win, lest we forget for now we're still champions of Portugal. Sporting's bad run in finals continues having lost on penalties in the Taça da Liga to Benfica. It's hard not to imagine they won't get a chance to correct that outcome in this season's Taça de Portugal final come May and unlike last season we won't be starting with Diogo Pinto between the sticks should it happen. 

Nuno Santos and Pedro Gonçalves have been absent for significant chunks of the season which has been to the detriment of the team but has allowed Quenda to flourish in his debut season, remaining the only player to have featured in every game. Few could have imagined that, even him when Amorim handed him his senior debut against Porto in the 4-3 defeat in the Super Taça which he marked with a goal. It's been some rise capped with Chelsea securing his signature last month along with Dário Essugo. Morita has probably accumulated more air miles than any Japanese national worldwide as his country secured their place in the forthcoming World Cup finals even if it's been to the detriment of the player at a club level, another one who has missed large chunks through injury. 

There have been highs; an eleven game winning start to the season when you'd be forgiven for thinking Sporting had already written their name on the league trophy. I wasn't one of those people I hasten to add. I'm always waiting for things to go wrong, it's just in my nature. A 4-1 beating of Manchester City in the Champions League will go down in the clubs folklore even if Pep Guardiola's men have been a shadow of their former selves. Whilst we might not have had any 8-0 victories we saw a 6-0 against Amarante, a 5-1 at home to Estrela in which Gyökeres scored 4. 6-1 away to newly promoted Nacional and 5-0 away to Farense. 

It always seems strange now to see a game in which Sporting don't score. With Gyökeres departure inevitable in the summer barring an injury requiring long term surgery which I wouldn't wish upon him, we may well be facing a very different future so enjoy it while it lasts. Three games this season where Sporting failed to find the net to date; Santa Clara, Gil Vicente and BVB Dortmund. Last season that happened once and came in the 1-0 defeat to Braga in the aforementioned semi final where Sporting had hit the woodwork three times before conceding. 

This season could end with a series of what ifs. What if we hadn't lost Coates in the summer? Would he have made a difference after the departure of Amorim and been the steady hand that guided the club through the choppy waters that followed? What if we had him now in the run in? Would he be the difference maker? What if Amorim had called United's bluff and said no, I'll come in the summer and if you really want me you'll wait. What if Marcus Edwards head hadn't disappeared up his own arse? What if Pedro Gonçalves had said no to Amorim and didn't play against Braga knowing there was a huge chance he could be injured? On all accounts we'll never know, they'll always be hypotheticals. Hopefully none of them will ever be questions we need answering. Somehow we'll get over the finishing line by hook or by crook and we'll be thinking a minor miracle occured to see us home. 

So in all competitions played 46, 30 wins, 10 draws and 6 losses. Goals scored 107, goals against 46. So the same total of goals conceded however 9 of those came between the Super Taça and thumping by Arsenal in the Champions League. 16 goals less scored but that's the equivalent of the two freakish score lines of 8-0 previously mentioned so you could suggest it's par year on year. 12 clean sheets which is 2 more, Gyökeres has one more goal to his total with 30. For club and country he has a staggering 53 goals to date. I read somewhere midweek that he's fallen off and no one is talking about him anymore. Not sure what rock the person who wrote it was living under but never mind. We all know. 3 more draws to which you'd point at the fact that 4 draws came in the Champions League against, you could argue, a higher quality of opponent. BVB for example were in the Champions League final last season. Just one more defeat than the same point last season. You could say the Super Taça doesn't count as a competition. The loss on penalties against the dirty pigeons in the Taça da Liga stays on the record as a draw because that's what's written in the laws of the game and not because I'm being belligerent. 

I guess the ultimate question is have Sporting dropped off or have Benfica improved? Maybe it's OK if the answer is a bit of both. I don't feel we're as leggy as we were this time last season. We're certainly not as rigid in our style of play and Borges is more tactically adept as a coach and flexible, even having no issues in switching back to the more favoured 3-4-3 of last season as the injury toll took a grip with each passing month he's been in charge. The fact we've used 38 players to date across all competitions bears witness to this continuing crisis. The clubs medical department won't have had a day off in months. All things considered my conclusion is it could have been worse. There's five minutes of your life you'll never get back but you can now draw your own conclusions if nothing else and be the pub bore to your heart's content even if it might be to the detriment of others entertainment for the evening. ‘Well they've conceded the same amount of goals this season as they had at the same point as last and this year we've got Rui Silva and having to rely on Franco Israel not making a fucking howler.’ 

It's hard to make a case that Sporting Braga are not firmly established as Portugal's fourth largest club. I don't think I'm being disrespectful when I write that. If you were asked to compile a prediction of final places for the league table the first one you'd write in would be Braga in 4th. 

You'll find 14 clubs below every season that would love to swap places. 

The season for Braga started under the stewardship of Daniel Sousa who lasted a grand total of four games before being given the push. Incredibly he lasted an even shorter number of games as coach of Vitória de Guimaraes after he'd taken over from our own Rui Borges with just three in charge. A familiar face in charge once more for the Fraggles as Carlos Carvahal came in for his third spell as coach. Sousa wasn't the only face to vanish acrimoniously during the summer as last season's top scorer Simon Banza who scored 21 in 28, was loaned to Trabzonspor in the Turkish Super League where he's continued his fine goalscoring run with 17 goals in 23 appearances to date. Despite Braga being 4th they could do with his goal output relying on goals spread sparsely around the team. Fifteen individual goalscorers in all, top scorers are Horta and Bruma with 8 a piece followed by El Ouazzani with 6. Their combined tally puts them one ahead of where Banza was this time last season at the same juncture and 8 off Gyökeres current total. 

13 away games have brought 9 wins, 2 draws and 2 losses scoring 17 and conceding a paltry 7. They boast more clean sheets than any side with 14 in total home and away and overall have conceded an average of 0.9 goals per game, 23 goals in total the same as the lions. Ahead of the Clássico, Porto have conceded 21 and the pigeons 22. Much has been made of the total goals Gyökeres has scored from the spot this season, he may not get the chance against Braga who've conceded just 2 penalties to their opposition throughout the campaign. The last three games at the José Alvalade have all finished 5-0 to Sporting though. Discounting Braga's cup win in the semi final last season, their last win against Sporting in the league was in January 2022 and previous to that February 2020.

Their winter transfer market business was similar to Sporting as only two new faces were brought in; Uros Racic a defensive midfielder from Serie B side Sassuolo and Fran Navarro a forward from Porto, both on loan. Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) owners of French Champions PSG hold a 22% investment in the Minho based club, one of a growing number of foreign investments held in the league. Sporting's midweek opponents Rio Ave for example are owned by Greek businessman Evangelos Marinakis who also owns Premier League Nottingham Forest and current Europa Conference League holders Olympiacos. 

Post win in the Taça de Portugal much was made over the penalty awarded for the foul on Geny with opinions divided over whether the offence should have stood. I wrote after the award of the penalty against Alan Ruiz on Diomande in the previous game against Estrela that my own litmus test is derided simply from whether or not I'd have been aggrieved if the decision had been given against Sporting. In that instance I'd have fallen on the side of Estrela, in this I'd have had no complaints if it was reversed and the penalty had been given against Sporting at the other end. 

Off the field much talk that Sporting have lowered their asking price for Viktor Gyökeres in the summer. To clarify for any non Sportinguista's who may be reading this, a termination clause is not an asking price. In the case of the Swedish forward that was set at €100m as a deterrent for another club to come in and pay what it would have taken at that stage to potentially purchase the player. Even if the clause has been met the decision still rests on the shoulders of the player whether he wants to leave or stay. An asking price would suggest Sporting have been actively trying to sell a player which in this instance they've most certainly not been trying to do. The move has been beneficial for both parties and it was well documented last summer that the club wouldn't stand in the way of a move come the summer of 2025, neither would they enforce the termination clause at that point. So now they've set the asking price. One to receive his fair market value and two to ensure that they honour a gentleman's agreement to the player. Again it's important to stress the €100m fee was to protect their asset and not a claim by the club that's what the player is worth. Remember Neymar at Barca having a clause of over €200m thinking no one will ever pay that. Well PSG did and on the one hand you've been caught out as a club, but on the other if someone is that daft to pay the inflated fee, for a club the size of Sporting compared to European neighbours that would have been huge. If they sell him for €70m that's still an incredible piece of business even if Sporting don't win the title again this season. Viktor is hands down the best player in Portugal. He's the best number 10, 9, false 9, left winger and right winger. Anyone claiming he's a goalscorer reliant on penalties should be forced to watch every minute he's played in a Sporting shirt over 2 seasons and write a 100,000 word thesis on why they were wrong and apologise for their misjudgement. I'm not saying he's going to win his next club the league. It takes 11 players on the pitch, not just one. Sporting are not a one man team though many may have you believe it. I'd wager a club's chances of winning a title of any sort given the European definition of a title to include cup wins, will be vastly improved. Do I hope to see him in the Premier League? No do I fuck. I'd love to see him go to Serie A or La Liga because it would amuse me greatly. Or to the Saudi League and pick up Ivan Toney level wages. I very much doubt his next coach will give him the same freedom he's been allowed at Sporting to roam with the ball. Chances are he'll have to fit within a structure and when people question why he had to go to Portugal to find his feet that's probably the answer. If you buy a pedigree greyhound and kept it in a cage 10ft by 10ft you might be fortunate in that it's overjoyed to be released, but more likely what made it special will quickly be lost over time. We shall see. 

* Well I suggested a 0-0 would be highly unlikely as the Clássico produces another five goals. The grape crushers getting quite literally crushed again 4-1 at the Dragõe by the dirty pigeons. Sporting will start the game in second position tomorrow. 

In the markets 

Sporting 1/2

Draw 31/10

Braga 11/2

Team News 

Starting XI

Silva, Quaresma, Diomande, Inácio, Quenda, Hjulmand, Debast, Reis, Trincão, Gyökeres and Geny

Substitutes 

Israel, St Juste, Fresneda, Esgaio, Felicíssimo, Arreíol, Harder, Araujo and Biel

Inácio replaces St Juste on the left of the back three. Fresneda and Araújo miss out on either flank, replaced by Quenda and Reis. Geny after his fine performance midweek including the opening oal and the penalty won is rewarded with a position in the front three. Morita is once more missing through injury. Gonçalves return still not finalised though he is at least said to have returned to training with the ball. Trincão with the opportunity to get one over on his old club. João Moutinho who spent six years with the lions starts in midfield for Braga hoping to do the same. Apparently Bruma is now a dirty pigeon. Who knew? My apologies. That explains why their joint top scorer isn't in the starting XI. This isn't a Sporting Braga blog to be fair to me. 

First Half

Well we know it's going to be a late one with a 20.45 kick off. After last night's result there's a distinct danger that nervousness from fans in attendance creeps onto the pitch the longer it remains 0-0 so fingers crossed for a quick start for the lions so that's a non factor. This is Luis Godhino tonight's referee. Sporting in black with green and white horizontal stripes. Braga will line up in a 4-3-3, they get us underway. Sporting attack right to left. 

1 Spine tingling rendition of the anthem. You can't help but feel moved when thousands of voices come together as one 

2 GOAL if there were reasons to be nervous no one told Viktor Gyökeres. Debast plays Geny in around the half way line. He moves the ball forward to the Swede who carries the ball level with the edge of the left of the six yard box and smashes it home. VAR check ongoing. 

4 Offside the decision. If nothing else we now know how easily the talismanic forward can cut through their defence like butter. 

4 Trincão passes to Geny who finds the stand behind from 17 yards. 3 cms offside the decision against Gyökeres. Women will tell you every inch counts 

6 Great skill from Reis to beat his marker but his cross is cut out. Lively start from the lions. All the danger coming down the left 

7 Gyökeres swivels wide right inside the box and drills a shot from eight yards saved by Hornicek 

8 First attempt from the visitors on the edge of the 18 yard box from El Ouazzani. Tame effort off target plucked out of the air with ease by Silva 

9 Whistles from the home crowd every time Moutinho touches the ball in midfield 

13 Free kick awarded for a foul on Gyökeres who's pulled to the ground and acts angrily telling Oliveira to fuck off. The Braga player shown the yellow 

14 Free kick 24 yards from goal. GOAL. They're not going to give that one offside. Four man wall looks at each other as Gyökeres makes it Sporting CP 1 Braga 0. He went low into the bottom left hand corner, probably about 3cms from the foot of the last man on the right of the wall. Inch perfect this time. 

16 That goal has settled the nerves of the home fans who raise the volume once more. 

17 Shot of Varandas in the box. I thought he was banned. Portuguese officialdom is so confusing 

18 Quenda tries his first shot of the night from 24 yards and sees his effort blocked 

19 Interesting that Braga at points when defending have a defender on each corner of the 18 yard box and a gaping hole in between. Must have supreme belief in their young goalkeeper who's already been beaten twice tonight. 

22 Sporting's back three able to sit 18 yards from the halfway line comfortably as they look to build patiently 

23 Gyökeres is down. Referee makes the shape of the ball and the game goes on. Whoever made the challenge had to get it inch perfect because he was the last defender. Bambi I think it was with the timely interception

24 Racic with a wild effort goes well wide of Silva's right hand post from a considerable distance. Ambitious doesn't quite cover it. Funnily enough they don't show a replay. 

29 Geny hacked down by Moutinho as he tries to lead a counter attack. Unsurprisingly the ex Sporting man is the second player booked 

30 Inácio on the receiving end of a late challenge from behind. Free kick awarded but Martinez escapes a yellow. 

31 Applause as Quaresma carries the ball forward. Finds himself in a sea of bodies and plays it badly to Hjulmand who'd slotted onto the centre of a back 3. Fluid positioning 

34 You can still cut the tension in the air. Zalazar with a poor late challenge from behind then goes down clutching his shin. Utterly bizarre. Referee waves play on 

36 Gyökeres holds his head in his hands as he can't believe he's not made it 2. He bumps a defender off the ball on the goal line far right, runs into the box, cuts left to find room for the shot but it's straight at Hornicek from just outside the six yard box. 

38 Hjulmand with a late challenge sliding into Oliveira. He tries to stop but his momentum carries him into the player. Can be the only reason the Dane wasn't booked. Braga not happy 

40 Another late challenge sees Trincão go flying. Finally they show the replay of the Gyökeres chance, it strikes the keeper on the back 

41 Zalazar with a late challenge on Debast robs him of the ball. He carries it forward to bring a save low to the right of Silva from 20 yards. That takes Braga’s xG up to 0.07. same xG as Gyökeres attempt for the goal to show how hard a chance it was 

Plus two shown 

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Braga 0

I think you can forgive the fans' nerves. In terms of the performances of the two teams however the visitors haven't given any real reason to warrant them. The game plan for Sporting will be more of the same second half. They've won their battles in every quarter of the pitch. Calm in possession at the back, what chances Braga have had have been limit to long distance and haven't troubled Silva in any capacity. Whereas their defenders have failed to get to grips with Gyökeres. The ease in which he bumped the defender off the ball for the chance close to halftime made it look like man against boy. They'll now be fully aware of the dangers as they try press for an equaliser. 

In the centre Godhino has had his hands full and needed his wits about him as a succession of late challenges have come flying in from Braga especially. Hjulmand was fortunate to escape a yellow card it must be noted but in the main Sporting's positional play in defence has been spot on. There's no doubting a second would settle the nerves a bit more but whilst the defence is keeping Braga's forward away from the 18 yard box there's little they can do by way of counter attack. 

Luis Godhino tonight's referee. Sporting in black with green and white horizontal stripes. Braga will line up in a 4-3-3, they get us underway. Sporting attack right to left. 

1 Spine tingling rendition of the anthem. You can't help but feel moved when thousands of voices come together as one 

2 GOAL if there were reasons to be nervous no one told Viktor Gyökeres. Debast plays Geny in around the half way line. He moves the ball forward to the Swede who carries the ball level with the edge of the left of the six yard box and smashes it home. VAR check ongoing. 

4 Offside the decision. If nothing else we now know how easily the talismanic forward can cut through their defence like butter. 

4 Trincão passes to Geny who finds the stand behind from 17 yards. 3 cms offside the decision against Gyökeres. Women will tell you every inch counts 

6 Great skill from Reis to beat his marker but his cross is cut out. Lively start from the lions. All the danger coming down the left 

7 Gyökeres swivels wide right inside the box and drills a shot from eight yards saved by Hornicek 

8 First attempt from the visitors on the edge of the 18 yard box from El Ouazzani. Tame effort off target plucked out of the air with ease by Silva 

9 Whistles from the home crowd every time Moutinho touches the ball in midfield 

13 Free kick awarded for a foul on Gyökeres who's pulled to the ground and acts angrily telling Oliveira to fuck off. The Braga player shown the yellow 

14 Free kick 24 yards from goal. GOAL. They're not going to give that one offside. Four man wall looks at each other as Gyökeres makes it Sporting CP 1 Braga 0. He went low into the bottom left hand corner, probably about 3cms from the foot of the last man on the right of the wall. Inch perfect this time. 

16 That goal has settled the nerves of the home fans who raise the volume once more. 

17 Shot of Varandas in the box. I thought he was banned. Portuguese officialdom is so confusing 

18 Quenda tries his first shot of the night from 24 yards and sees his effort blocked 

19 Interesting that Braga at points when defending have a defender on each corner of the 18 yard box and a gaping hole in between. Must have supreme belief in their young goalkeeper who's already been beaten twice tonight. 

22 Sporting's back three able to sit 18 yards from the halfway line comfortably as they look to build patiently 

23 Gyökeres is down. Referee makes the shape of the ball and the game goes on. Whoever made the challenge had to get it inch perfect because he was the last defender. Bambi I think it was with the timely interception

24 Racic with a wild effort goes well wide of Silva's right hand post from a considerable distance. Ambitious doesn't quite cover it. Funnily enough they don't show a replay. 

29 Geny hacked down by Moutinho as he tries to lead a counter attack. Unsurprisingly the ex Sporting man is the second player booked 

30 Inácio on the receiving end of a late challenge from behind. Free kick awarded but Martinez escapes a yellow. 

31 Applause as Quaresma carries the ball forward. Finds himself in a sea of bodies and plays it badly to Hjulmand who'd slotted onto the centre of a back 3. Fluid positioning 

34 You can still cut the tension in the air. Zalazar with a poor late challenge from behind then goes down clutching his shin. Utterly bizarre. Referee waves play on 

36 Gyökeres holds his head in his hands as he can't believe he's not made it 2. He bumps a defender off the ball on the goal line far right, runs into the box, cuts left to find room for the shot but it's straight at Hornicek from just outside the six yard box. 

38 Hjulmand with a late challenge sliding into Oliveira. He tries to stop but his momentum carries him into the player. Can be the only reason the Dane wasn't booked. Braga not happy 

40 Another late challenge sees Trincão go flying. Finally they show the replay of the Gyökeres chance, it strikes the keeper on the back 

41 Zalazar with a late challenge on Debast robs him of the ball. He carries it forward to bring a save low to the right of Silva from 20 yards. That takes Braga’s xG up to 0.07. same xG as Gyökeres attempt for the goal to show how hard a chance it was 

Plus two shown 

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Braga 0

I think you can forgive the fans' nerves. In terms of the performances of the two teams however the visitors haven't given any real reason to warrant them. The game plan for Sporting will be more of the same second half. They've won their battles in every quarter of the pitch. Calm in possession at the back, what chances Braga have had have been limit to long distance and haven't troubled Silva in any capacity. Whereas their defenders have failed to get to grips with Gyökeres. The ease in which he bumped the defender off the ball for the chance close to halftime made it look like man against boy. They'll now be fully aware of the dangers as they try press for an equaliser. 

In the centre Godhino has had his hands full and needed his wits about him as a succession of late challenges have come flying in from Braga especially. Hjulmand was fortunate to escape a yellow card it must be noted but in the main Sporting's positional play in defence has been spot on. There's no doubting a second would settle the nerves a bit more but whilst the defence is keeping Braga's forward away from the 18 yard box there's little they can do by way of counter attack. 

Second Half

Carvahal with pen and paper to hand and a perplexed look on his face like he's doing the Times crossword. Horta is trying to make a point to Godhino who gives him a look like he's talking utter twaddle. The longest prayer on the sidelines as Niakaté waits patiently to come on for Braga. Should have carried on as Sporting are no where to be seen. We see Bragança complete with crutches in front of one of the boxes. Carvahal rolls his eyes and looks at his watch with the time 2155. Esgaio whispers something to Geny. Finally Sporting out for the second half and get us back underway.

45 Rui Silva with some exercise has a little run out the box and punted it out of touch

47 All ten outfield players for Braga concentrated within an 18 yard space. I guess it's spring, perhaps they think they're sheep herded into a confined space

49 Cross from Martinez on the right sums up Braga's night as he gets it horribly wrong and it flies out of play

49 Whistles abound as Gomez the latest player to clip Geny down whose been playing almost as a midfielder this half when he's been in possession, the man charged with carrying the ball out from defence to transition into attack

51 Zalazar slices a shot from 20 yards with the outside of his right boot.

52 Rui Borges looks stoic on the sidelines his face giving nothing away in comparison to his opposite number who looks animated every time he's shown

53 Braga just enjoying some possession for the first time tonight. It came to nothing but the home fans showing their discontent whistling again

54 Hjulmand gets crumpled by El Ouazzani and takes an arm into the face as he goes down. Just the free kick

54 Gyökeres elbowed in the back by Chissumba. The Swede looks less than impressed once more as only a free kick awarded.

56 Corner Sporting. Bambu kicks the ball away in frustration but no booking again. Perhaps the offences aren't the same in Portugal as they are in England. First half Braga players were motioning for a booking which is a yellow in the Premier League

57 Geny beats three men and lays the ball off for Quenda who brings a save from the right hand side of the six yard box. Gyökeres with a follow up wildly off target from the other side of the area. Collectors item that one

60 Bambu who escaped a yellow for kicking the ball away is booked for a foul on Gyökeres. In England that's a second yellow and Braga down to ten men. Just saying

61 Reis causing all sorts of problems down the left twists his marker and wins a corner

62 Geny fouled again, this time by Zalazar. Free kick 27 yards out to the right. Debast goes for goal but finds the side net.

63 Inácio shown the yellow as his arm makes contact with Martinez

64 Heart in mouth as the free kick wide right is played into the centre. Defence for the first time at sixes and sevens as they almost hand Braga the equaliser. Finally between themselves they get it clear.

64 Niakaté shown the yellow as his arm connects with Diomande

66 Brilliant play from Hjulmand who wins the ball in a crowded area and plays in Gyökeres who overcooked his pass disappointingly and the ball goes out of play

67 Braga try a ball to the back post but Silva was alert to it. Sporting cannot get anything going at present in an attacking sense

68 This game could be about minute 75 had Sporting come out on time for the second half. My heart rate is going up I can feel the anxiety rising again. Very different to the away game where we scored 4 and it was pumping with excitement

69 Zalazar the latest Braga player guilty of overcooking a pass from the right straight out of play. Can watch those all night gentlemen

70 Gyökeres turns midfielder, finds Trincão and continues his run. Ball out wide to Geny on the left, too much pace on it, his cross finds Gyökeres ten yards out but he can't steer it on target and the move ends with a goalkick.

71 Double substitution from the visitors. Sporting set to make changes. Borges giving instructions to Felicíssimo on the sides.

72 Geny comes off to a warm round of applause to be reloaded by Araújo. He's in no hurry to get off. Debast replaced by the youngster Felicíssimo

73 Trincão bundled over on the edge of the area, got his shot away but was straight at the keeper from 19 yards

74 Air ball from Horta allows Quaresma to mop up at the back

74 Free kick in a dangerous position conceded by Felicíssimo. 30 yards centrally. That was naive from the youngster

75 Effort straight into the Sporting wall.

76 Sporting need to take advantage of one of these rare counter attacks. It feels a dangerous game trying to soak up Braga's attacks

77 Trincão now more involved. Araújo shoots far left but doesn't really connect but brings a save as the fans behind the goals let off huge flares which bring the game to a halt. Borges shakes his head

78 The entire far end is now engulfed in smoke. If Sporting concede in additional time that will be the most stupid fucking thing we've seen this season.

79 Game finally back underway. Or maybe not. No now we are after nearly two minutes. Corner Sporting nearside easily cleared

79 Trincão effort low to the left from ten yards saved by Hornicek. That's a great save. Started with a run from outside the box by the ex Braga man before he got his shot away. All attacking threat is going through him now

81 We've now gone half ten. This game feels like it will end in May

82 Trincão again drags a shot from 24 yards well wide of the right hand post. Same burst of pace to lose his marker

83 The announcer must have given the attendance starting with a lado a lado. One day I'll surprise you all and tell you what was said. Not today

84 Hjulmand does his best Bruno Fernandes impression. He's booked either for the challenge of his reaction. There didn't look anything in the challenge to be fair. Up went the right arm in petulance. How many times did we see that from Bruno?

86 This is horrible. It's like waiting to be punched in the face

87 Fuck me. There it is. Sporting CP 1 Braga 1. An equaliser that felt like it was coming. Header unmarked in the centre from six yards. Diomande and Quaresma failing to pick him up. Patrao the goalscorer

89 Well ironically at least we've got the time to add on for the flares

89 Harder on for Reis

Six minutes additional time indicated

90 Quenda tries to make something happen. Little bit of chaos at the back for Braga. They're as nervous as we are

91 Felicíssimo shot blocked and diverted for a corner from the edge of the D

92 Shots of hands in heads all around the stadium

92 Play acting in the corner from the Braga player. Actually I say that Araújo does come down on his foot

93 Braga scored in the Taça last season with their only shot on target. A cruel reminder you only need one effort to go in

94 Harder bundled over. Second yellow and a red shown to Moutinho. Not sure what was even a foul in his defence. He seemed to get the ball

95 Referee has shown another yellow. This time to St Juste I think who's not even on the pitch. Taken over the Nero role from last season

96 Diomande given offside as he chested the ball and went to shoot but the keeper came and cleared anyway

Final whistle blows

Full time

Sporting CP 1 Braga 1

The final word

That feels significant and all the more so after last night's Clássico win for the neighbours who now find themselves with a two point gap at the top of the table. What's the age old advice? Don't rest on your laurels. Sporting were like the three little pigs second half, they huffed and they puffed and all to no avail. Braga managed one decent cross in the entire second half. I feel like we've been rope-a-doped by Muhammad Ali and smacked with the sucker punch. I had just finished writing my line about feeling like you were waiting to be punched in the face and it was literally a three second gap to when the goal came. I'll let you all have the winning lottery numbers when they come to me.

The substitutions of Debast and Reis felt a little strange in hindsight and a rare mistake from Borges since he took over. No offence to Felicíssimo but he appears to be a yard off the pace of top flight Portuguese football. What we'd have given for twenty minutes from Morita at that point or Simões.

For Sporting their task is simple now. Win every game and they're Champions. Fail to win the derby and it's over. With Gyökeres scoring every game there's a chance. However heartbreak seems to accompany Sporting so many times like a lovesick teenage girl. We've seen this film before. Braga will have to be at the races for their game against the dirty pigeons. I'm not pinning any hopes on it. I posted earlier today that letting your kids watch football is tantamount to child abuse. How we're set up for a life of suffering we never actually signed up for. Show me where I signed up for this. It's always the hope that kills you in the end.

The stoppage in play for the flares going off won't have helped. Another display of petulance that broke concentration at a point Sporting still had the lead and a corner. But that's not the real reason we dropped two points. It's just one of those things sadly. You do everything else right apart from that one thing. Doesn't seem fair. One inch away. One measly inch. That split second to start your run too early. Not that I'm proportioning any blame on Gyökeres. All through sport that one inch catches people out, on the 18th hole, as the black kisses the pocket in snooker and doesn't drop in, the appeal in cricket still not given out despite it being shown to clip the top of the stumps or just going agonisingly over, umpires decision.

Trincão found his feet midway through the second half. It wasn't quite enough though. Hjulmand was everywhere, a real captain's performance, you couldn't have asked for more from the Dane. Geny could only be stopped by a succession of fouls. They did their job though each time. Quenda with one or two flashes but otherwise not his best game in the colours of Sporting despite being afforded a rest in midweek of sorts.

Apart from the goal…no I lie before I've even written it. There was the defensive mix up which almost led to an equaliser and then of course the actual equaliser. Apart from those two moments they did everything right. Choosing to sit back and soak up pressure can be dangerous, we know that. Play the game another ten times it might actually come off the other nine. We'll never know. I'm back on the what ifs.

Man of the match. *Wow big sigh from me. Heavy hearted whilst I try to think. I'll go with Hjulmand. We win together, we draw together and we lose together. We might also have lost collective hope together.

Regular readers will maybe remember my irrational hatred of Braga. It's not so irrational anymore.

Que Sera Sera.