Sporting CP 3 Moreirense 0

 

Sporting CP v Moreirense

Monday September 21st, 2025

Estádio José Alvalade 

Matchday 6

The Warm Up 

Sporting welcome Moreirense for their first Monday night game of the season. At the time of writing we sit second in the table following Saturday's 2-1 win away to Famalicão. For context this post is going up before Thursday's Champions League opener against FC Kairat, that of course being the reason why our game is being played after the weekends fixtures in the Primeira Liga.

Up until the final whistle in our game on Saturday night Moreirense were in nosebleed territory sat in second place, although to be fair being third at the time of writing is nothing to be sniffed at by their fans I'm sure. This is their third straight season back in the top flight following their championship win in Liga 2 in 2022/23. Their first season back they finished a highly impressive 6th place, last time out was lower but they still finished a respectable 10th. 

The club are based in the town of Moreira de Cónegos which is in the municipality of Guimarães, which itself is in the Braga District. Need that explaining? Ask someone who is Portuguese. Last population figures shown from 2021 give a total number of just 4,652 residents. That means there's nearly as many letters in their stadium name as residents in the town - Parque de Jogos Comendador Joaquim de Almeida Freitas. Capacity 6,150 spectators which means they need their entire residence of the town to turn up on Matchday and hope the visitors bring 1,500 supporters in turn. Unsurprisingly they don't sell out every week. Their first season back in the Primiera Liga they averaged 2,567 spectators per match. That figure dropped to 2,387 last campaign. If those figures are unsurprising given the size of the town then it's surely very surprising that this year they announced plans to build a new 10,000 capacity seater stadium at a cost of €16m. The stadium with the ridiculously long name will remain in use for their B team and U23s. Hopefully they'll name the new Estádio something that rolls offp the tongue far easier. 

Nicknames are Os verdes e brancos (The Green and whites) or Os homens de Moreira de Cónegos (The Men from Moreira de Cónegos). I shan't be typing either of those again during the match it's fair to say. 

Their campaign got off to a fortuitous start against newly promoted Alverca with a 2-1 home win scoring in the 5th minute of additional time. XG for that game was 0.93 to Alverca’s 0.97. Next up a 1-0 away win to Santa Clara whose focus I’d suggest at that point was firmly on trying to secure qualification for the Europa Conference League. Just five attempts for Moreirense but those were all classified by Opta as big chances as they finished with an XG of 1.52 to 0.63. Their third straight win more impressive at home to SC Vitória 2-0 (1.54 to 0.29). Their first defeat came away to Gil Vicente 2-0 albeit the stats suggest the result wasn't as one sided as the scoreline suggests (GV 0.86 to M 0.73). Back to winning ways at home to Rio Ave last time out 3-1 with the visitors consolation goal coming in the 84th minute. XG 2.25 to 1.17. 

Their overall record played 5 won 4 lost 1, GF 8 GA 4. With the lions playing Thursday they'll have had the benefit of 9 days rest before the two teams kick off on Monday night. Their trip also significantly shorter than the 7,500 trip made by FC Kairat on Thursday night. I'm guessing Moreirense were gutted the lions weren't away in Kazakhstan for that game. Away from home played 2 won 1 lost 1 GF 1 GA 2. With just 2 clean sheets to date it's fair to suggest that they'll potentially need the rest against the league's top scorers. Guilherme Schettine their top scorer with 4. Alan, our loan boy Travassos, Marcelo and Lincon with a goal apiece. Schettine managed 5 goals for all of last campaign across 30 matches playing 1,700 minutes so it remains to be seen how long his purple patch of 4 goals across 356 minutes lasts. Another in form player and one to keep an eye on is right back Dinis Pinto who has contributed 4 assists in 5 games and has the highest average player rating to date. 

They're now coached by Vasco Botelho da Costa who succeeded in getting Alverca promoted in his last role. His coaching career began at União de Leiria in July 2022 so he's still very much wet behind the ears but is fast making a name for himself and appears one to keep an eye on for the future. His side certainly not afraid of getting stuck in on the pitch averaging 14.8 fouls per match and collecting 16 yellow cards already. Sat 3rd for interceptions per game averaging 9.6 we'll see if that's good reading of the game or a case of bodies behind the ball come the end of 90 minutes at the José Alvalade. They average 3.4 shots on target per match compared to Sporting's 7.2 

Their summer transfer business looks as follows;

In

Rodri CM Villarreal B

Kiko Bondoso RW Maccabi Tel Aviv

Álvaro Martínez CB Cultural Leonesa 

Mateja Sjtepanovic CM Partizan Beograd 

Kiko LB Benfica B

Andre Ferreira GK Real Valladolid

Jimi Gower CM Arsenal 

All free transfers 

Loans 

Diogo Travassos RB Sporting CP 

Luis Semedo Sunderland 

Vasco Sousa FC Porto 

Out 

Guilherme Liberato Torreense (Loan)

Hernani Infande Released 

Jeremy Antonisse Kifisia FC

Ruben Ramos Vitoria 

Ivo Rodrigues Motor Lubin 

Luis Asué Shanghai Shenhua 

Sidnei Tavares Blackburn Rovers £1.7m

The obvious name that jumps out is that of Diogo Travassos as he continues his footballing education with another season long loan move away from the lions having spent last season out with Estrela. He made his debut as substitute against Gil Vicente and played a full 90 in both the Portuguese U21 games during the international break. Luis Semedo was with the Juventus Next Generation squad last season in Serie C and made 29 appearances scoring 3 times. The selling of Tavares you imagine enabling them to balance their books or at least limit their losses given their total outgoings before signing on fees or wages was €0. If you imagine being part of a multiclub structure tied into a Premier League Club brings you added investment and the chance of higher quality loan players then I guess you'd be wrong if you used Moreirense as an example albeit as previously mentioned they do plan on spending €16m on their new stadium. They're part of the BKFC (Black Knight Football Club) partnership owned by American businessman William P Foley II. Given the deal was only concluded in June of 2025 maybe the money pours in next summer? We shall see. Moreirense join AFC Bournemouth, Lorient from Ligue 1, Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership and Auckland FC from New Zealand within the group structure. The 80 year old is reportedly worth €2.8bn. He's certainly not the richest owner in Portugal mind you as Evangelos Marinakis is worth a reported €5.1bn though 3 points last weekend against the Greeks Rio Ave at least gives the American bragging rights on that score. I would suggest ignoring Wikipedia as they have him listed as part owner of SC Vitória. They got the locale of Guimarães correct. I'm of course assuming the press release from AFC Bournemouth about the purchase is indeed the correct information. 

The lions have won 9 straight games at the José Alvalade against Moreirense. The last time they came away with a point was way back on December 14th, 2014 following a 1-1 draw. They did however claim all 3 points in a 2-1 win in December of last year after Gyökeres had given Sporting the lead in the 12th minute. That should probably carry an asterisk however as it came under the stewardship of João Pereira during his short tenure. I had somehow managed to forget about the game completely from memory and I'm sure this was the fixture I said I'd rather stab myself in the eyes with two sharpened pencils than have to sit through and watch it again in it's entirety which is probably why my memory blanked it out in case I followed through on the the threat. Rui Borges men won 3-1 in the corresponding fixture in April with Gyökeres claiming a hat-trick. Prior to that Moreirense claimed a point at home in April 2021 in a 1-1 draw and in July 2020 in a 0-0 draw. This is in short a fixture the lions have traditionally dominated and the loss under Pereira was very much a blip. 

I often remark in these posts that I'm watching a different game to everyone else. Saturday marked the debut of Doris Ioannidis as my phone wants to call him or Fotis to call him his real name but I quite like Doris as a moniker. I read several people say they were really impressed by him. I just thought he looked a lump at pedestrian pace who was blowing out of his arse come the end of a very short cameo. The truth I suspect is somewhere in between the two. Time will tell whether my theory of whether we've been sold a pup stands up but I did feel aggrieved at his minutes on the pitch compared to what Conrad Harder had been given. I feel sorry for the youngster and was genuinely sad to see him go. I'm going to go early and say two bad bits of business and you won't generally read me criticising the clubs current management structure in these posts. Time will tell. I also thought Fresneda was unfortunate to be ousted from his starting spot and to have been left out of the Champions League squad. Still there's a reason why I'm writing these posts and Rui Borges is coaching and picking the team. Maybe Doris is the new Paulinho and is handy with his noggin? If he's not then I'm still confused by his signing as I don't see him ousting Luis Suárez from the starting XI so we've basically purchased a very expensive substitute several years older than the one we sold. Let's hope he has me eating my words. 11 goals in Greece last campaign and none this before his transfer don't suggest that I will be. 

As a quick side bar for this game tickets for members start at €10 and even for non members just €22. I often write how it's hard for other clubs to get eyes on their teams when competing against the big 3 but when tickets are that reasonably priced you really must be on a hiding to nothing. I reckon I'd have to go back to 1988 in England for that type of ticket price by way of comparison!

Thursday update - Sporting's remaining two Champions League opponents in action Thursday night. Napoli travelled away to Manchester City where they went down to ten men early on with Di Lorenzo given his marching orders. Two second half goals from Haaland and Doku in a 2-0 win. The Italians next up for the lions in this competition. Club Brugge beat AS Monaco 4-1. The visitors missed the chance to take the lead inside 10 minutes as Mignolet saved a penalty. Some awful defending from the side from the principality saw them go 2-0 down and heads had dropped by that stage. A finely taken third goal by Vanaken gave the Belgians a 3-0 half time lead. They added a fourth before Ansu Fati got a consolidation in additional time. Brugge level with Sporting in the table ahead on alphabetical order. Frankfurt top the table from our penultimate opponents PSG in second place following their opening 5-1 win at home to Galatasaray. In all Athletic Club, Napoli, Marseille all defeated. Juventus drew 4-4. Bayern, PSG and Club Brugge all won. 12 goals conceded combined by our opponents, only 2 of whom failed to find the net in Athletic Club and Napoli. Makes the 4-1 opening win all the more important for the lions as they aim to reach the play offs for the second straight campaign. 16 goals in total scored, half of which came from Club Brugge and PSG.

Stat Chat

To date for the lions at home 7 goals scored and 2 conceded. 39 attempts in total with 33.33% on target. 6 Opta defined big chances, 3 of which were missed. In all 12 blocked shots, 14 off target and 13 on. They've given up 22 attempts, 2 big chances, 1 of which was missed. Percentage of shots on target by the opposition 38.1% albeit that figure is heavily inflated by Porto's percentage in their O Clássico win. Total XG 4.07 to 1.76. 

Taking the league and Champions League games into account as a whole, Sporting are averaging 21 attempts per game and have managed 123 over the 6 games played. 49 attempts against at an average of 8 per game. Porto the only side to have achieved total attempts in double figures. Famalicão the only side to stop Sporting from achieving attempts in double figures.

Sporting B

The young lions not in action this week, back at home to face Maritímo on Saturday September 27th at 11am. 

Sporting CP Feminino

Champions League heartbreak for the ladies who took a 2-1 lead into the home leg against AS Roma which kicked off Thursday afternoon. A Barron own goal 5 minutes into first half additional time levelled the tie before Bergamaschi scored what proved to be the decisive goal to see the Italians through 3-2 on aggregate. The own goal is utterly bizarre because it comes from the narrowest of angles away from the far post and you imagine she could try to do it deliberately 100 times and never score once. The second saw the defence chasing shadows sadly and was easily slotted home unmarked. In truth the Italians I think should have led from the first leg and the right team won out in the end. 

Their league campaign starts Monday at 16:00 hours away to Damaiense.

The ladies put Champions League heartbreak behind them last week with a thumping away win to open their league campaign. Carolina Santiago's opening goal set the tone as the Lions ran out 6-0 winners. She finished with the match ball following her hat-trick. Madison Haugen, Ashley Barron and Samara Lino with the remaining goals. Particularly pleasing to see Barron on the score sheet following her freak own goal against AS Roma in the second leg. 

UEFA Youth League

Prior to the first team playing FC Kairat on Thursday night the two sides under 19s faced off against each other. The lions took the lead through Cielselski after 12 minutes. Corner far side floated in and the defender headed into the bottom right hand corner from 8 yards past a flat footed goalkeeper who looked like he'd won a competition to be in goal. The lead was doubled on 22 minutes when Flávio Gonçalves turned on the edge of the box to avoid his marker, avoiding the attention of a second Kairat player before pinging a wonder strike into the far left of the net from half a yard inside the D. On 55 minutes the lions were coasting at 3-0 as Diogo Martins turned outside the box and made a run into the area before blasting the ball from a narrow angle into the net from the right. Awful goalkeeping again because he really had no right to score from that angle. 63 minutes and a penalty awarded for a trip in the box is missed when Flavio Gonçalves smacks the ball off the bar. At least he hit it with more conviction than Hjulmand did later on in the evening. Still at 3-0 what could go wrong? Well on 69 minutes Tuyakbayev pings one into the top right hand corner centrally from 30 yards and this time it's Miguel Gouveia’s turn to look like he'd won a competition to be in goal as he looked on helplessly. He then wasn't helped by his defence either when a back pass was ill weighted and it was Tuyakbayev again who benefited, latching onto the mistake before rounding the keeper and slotting home on 76 minutes to make it 3-2. Fortunately the youngsters were composed enough to see the game through for the victory. 

Sporting

Starting XI 

Miguel Gouveia, Costa, Cielselski, Lucas Dominguez, Afonso Lee, Rafael Camacho, Eduardo Felicíssimo, Flávio Gonçalves, Salvador Bopa, Diogo Martins and Chris Grombhai 

Used substitutes

João Rijo, Denilson Santos, Sandro Nascimento, Rayhan Momade and Miguel Almeida 

In the markets 

Sporting CP 3/20

Draw 6/1

Moreirense 11/1

Team News 

Starting XI

Virgínia, Vagiannidis, Debast, Inácio, Mangas, Hjulmand, Kochorashvili, Quenda, Trincão, Gonçalves and Suárez.

Substitutes 

Callai, Reis, Morita, Alisson, Simões, Ioannidis, Fresneda, Quaresma and Araújo

Rather sensibly with Rui Silva still not 100% Rui Borges continues with Virgínia in goal. What a difference it makes having two competent goalkeepers in the squad. Three defensive changes AS out go Fresneda, Quaresma and Araújo and back in go Vagiannidis, Debast and Mangas. Lucas, Anjos and Ribeiro drop from the matchday squad with the lions not needing the same quotas as a Champions League game. 

Moreirense Starting XI 

13 Ferreira 

27 Kiko 44 Marcelo 66 Batista 76 Pinto

15 Sousa 8 Sjtepanovic 

10 Bondoso 11 Alan 7 Teguia

95 Schettine 

First Half

Sporting once more in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes. Moreirense's kit looks like it's been run over by tractor tyres, a combination of red and green. The lions get us underway and will attack left to right. 

1 Suárez with the games first chance can only fire straight at the keeper from 12 yards to the right of the area. Good work from Ferreira alert to the danger and quickly out to nullify the threat 

3 Corner Sporting near side. Played short by Quenda who receives the ball back, drives forward and tries a shot from wide right outside the area to the near post but Ferreira once more alert to the danger 

5 For the first time in a while Sporting actually defending in a line of 4. Not that they've had much defending to do

7 Suárez draws a save from 11 yards. Both his attempts have come wide of the edge of the six yard box and I imagine Moreirense are happy to allow him to occupy that type of space where it's harder to test the keeper 

10 Overcooked pass from Mangas goes all the way out for a throw 

11 Better from Mangas this time as his cross causes panic in the defence with the first bounce. Finally fell to Vagiannidis whose header was straight into the arms of Ferreira 

11 So close to 1-0. Gonçalves finds Suárez who rounds the goalkeeper but again he's got his angles wrong and his attempt from a yard inside the edge of the six yard box is blocked by Batista on the far post. At some point he'll find himself centrally and find the net if he can figure it out 

14 Corner conceded far side to the visitors 

15 Debast heads clear and then again from a second cross 

15 Second corner far side. Poor from the visitors and the lions clear their lines far too easily 

16 Good cut out by Vagiannidis to snuff out a potential threat on the edge of the area 

18 Vagiannidis fires a shot from a ridiculously tight narrow angle saved by the outstretched leg of Ferreira. Again we see how their defence is set up to push the lions out wide

20 Ferreira dives at the feet of Gonçalves. Moreirense have a back five all sat in between the edges of the 18 yard box. Then all ten men are concentrated in no more than 12-15 yards. 

21 Trincão unmarked tries to curl into the far left hand corner from 20 yards but out for a free kick. 

22 Gonçalves from the edge of the D goes for an audacious lob but out for a goal kick 

23 Whistles start as the time wasting begins 

23 Suárez hits the post. He forced Marcelo into an error and stole the ball off him, charges into the box, rounds Ferreira again but the keeper sends him wide and he shoots from the edge of the six yard box. Fuck me if an idiot like me can spot it surely someone should be relating it to the players on the pitch 

29 Good tackle from Vagiannidis. Concedes a corner. Teguia goes down like one of those fish you used to get in Christmas crackers that roll up when heat was applied 

30 Teguia takes his frustration out on Mangas far side. Free kick awarded 

31 Sensational save down low to the left by Ferreira. That's the first time he's been properly tested. It came from a low shot from Gonçalves from 20 yards. From the reverse angle that may have hit a Sporting player and it's the deflection which caused the keeper the issue 

32 Gonçalves effort straight at Ferreira from 18 yards

34 Eleven attempts for the lions. Moreirense yet to register a single attempt blocked, off or on target 

35 Miss kick from Ferreira. That's the first mistake he's made all night as it goes out for a throw 

36 Mangas appeals for a penalty as the ball strikes the arm of Pinto but his arm was tucked in. VAR looked but rightly not given 

38 Quenda tries the spectacular from 8 yards with an overhead kick which was as effective as the Kochorashvili effort on Thursday and goes well wide. It was however awarded higher marks on the stylistic charts 

39 Shot from 16 yards by Sousa blocked. First attempt from the visitors

40 Mangas gets a fingernail on his cheek from Alan and goes down like a fucking sack of shit. That's fucking pathetic 

41 Mangas plays the ball straight out for a goal kick. That was dog shite again 

42 What's the point in having a law on how long a keeper can hold a ball but not on how long it takes for a goal kick? 

43 Suárez with three defenders and the keeper in front of him shanks a shot wide of the left post from 16 yards 

Plus two shown 

45 Dinis down after Mangas catches his heel. Yellow shown.

+1 Corner far side following a deflected shot by Kiko outside the box

+2 Marcelo head's wide from the corner 

Ugly scenes as players leave the pitch. Referee was talking to Hjulmand throughout. Debast and Quenda looked upset at whatever caused the incident.

Half Time

In a one sided first half for the lions I'm going to write something which will probably read as incredibly daft but Moreirense got the better of Sporting. Having all the possession and majority of chances is only useful if you take one of them. 13 attempts to 3 with an XG of 1.38 to 0.15 to demonstrate the level of superiority but the visitors have had them where they wanted them all half other than the enforced mistake by Suárez on Marcelo. 

Virgínia has had a quiet night so let's hope he keeps his concentration in case needed second 45. Debast has looked strong and good carrying the ball out once more. Vagiannidis effective defensively when needed and popped up with a couple of chances but no real quality with the finishing. Mangas is a fucking waste of space. Can't pass, but can play act and as clumsy as a cart horse when defending. No wonder he was out in Russia out of sight and out of mind.

Suárez for all his skill and talent cannot grasp that he's been moved around like a chess piece into check mate. Gonçalves has impressed again. Big half time team talk with the tactics board from Borges at half time to work out how to use the space on the wings to find someone centrally. It's not rocket engineering. Either that or it's going to take a moment of brilliance or a deflection to unlock things second 45. Mangas needs to be shanked for Araújo sooner rather than later. 

Second half 

Moreirense get us back underway and immediately concede possession 

45 Trincão finds Quenda who used his pace to drive past Batista but ran out of space and out for a goal kick 

46 Santa Clara did this to such great effect when they beat us under the stewardship of João Pereira last season. Moreirense more than happy to let Sporting have the ball 

48 Moreirense defending with a well drilled bank of five but they're now covering just that bit wider on each flank and sitting much higher 

49 Suárez attempt blocked from 15 yards. Touch of desperation from the Colombian there 

50 This game will hinge on Sporting getting the first goal which will create the space at the back to try find a second 

51 Inácio tries to pass from inside the lions half and so easy to read and cut out

52 Morita readied on the sidelines. 

53 ➡️⬅️ Kochorashvili for Morita and Mangas for Araújo 

54 Referee keen to let play go as a foul from Araújo goes unpunished and then a foul on Inácio ignored. 

55 This is as painful a watch as the loss to them last season away from home. If kids are still up watching send them to bed otherwise it's tantamount to child abuse to make them sit through this 

56 Foul on Quenda awarded far right but I'm not convinced he didn't slip as he turned 

57 Trincão with a lovely flick to lose his man but runs straight into another defender 

57 Off the ball incident and play acting from a Moreirense player who went down like a sack of shit. You'd never guess these were grown men 

58 Awful from Quenda to lose possession on the edge of the area trying to be clever with a flick 

59 ➡️⬅️ Bondoso for Landerson

60 Araújo with a superb cutback drops the two defenders in front of him and fires wide from 7 yards. That was the chance. Brilliant in the first instance from the Uruguayan 

62 This side is so well drilled in their 5-4-1 

64 Corner Sporting. Quenda beat his man and then cut back into two defenders when he'd have been better carrying on. Corner comes to nothing 

65 Morita penalised for a shirt pull under the referees nose. Still no yellow shown. Timely reminder not everything has to be a yellow card 

66 ➡️⬅️ Lincon on for Schettine. Their top scorer has had the sum total of zero service all game 

68 Trincão tries centrally from 26 yards and fires straight into a defender. Sporting getting all the more desperate and frustrated 

68 Gonçalves brings a superb diving save low to the keepers left from 19 yards 

69 Super defending by Morita as he blocks a Gonçalves shot from 8 yards. Wonderful image of an old lady throwing her hands up in disgust in the crowd. 

70 Ferreira receives treatment. More time wasted. 

72 Poor from Quenda as his pass towards Suárez goes straight out for a goal kick 

73 I'm sat waiting for the sucker punch 

73 Hjulmand from 25 yards effort blocked 

73 PENALTY. Trincão upended inside the box. Referee had no hesitation. Landerson has just kicked him from behind. That's as clear a penalty as you will see all season 

75 Suárez with the ball. Man in the crowd can't look head in hands. GOAL Sporting CP 1 Moreirense 0. Suárez goes bottom left as Ferreira went bottom right. He's done him with his eyes and body shape. Think Hjulmand may have lost the penalty taking duties for good. The man in the crowd unable to even watch and reacted as the fans around him celebrated. Perhaps he's related to Ruben Amorim 

78 ➡️ ⬅️ Suárez for Doris Ioannidis 

80 Thunderclaps from behind Ferreira's goal as the faithful try to amuse themselves 

81 Somehow Ferreira keeps it at 1-0 as he connects with the outstretched leg to divert a Gonçalves shot for a corner 

83 ➡️ ⬅️ Triple change for the visitors. 

84 Fucking awful from Quenda again to lose the ball. Do the simple things well 

85 Araújo heads unmarked into arms of Ferreira from 7 yards. Two players unmarked far post. Fantastic ball from Trincão across the box 

86 Shake of the head from Gonçalves as his shot from the edge of the 6 yard box is saved 

87 Quenda again loses the ball trying to thread a pass through five defenders. FUCKING FIVE! 

88 PENALTY Trincão with another run into the box and is upended by Marcelo who is shown the yellow card 

89 Gonçalves has the ball. They really don't trust Hjulmand any more. Maybe he doesn't trust himself. GOAL Sporting CP 2 Moreirense 0. Carbon copy of the last penalty just the goalscorer changed 

90 ⬅️➡️ Alisson and Simões on for Trincão and Gonçalves 

Additional time +4

Warm embrace from Borges to Gonçalves as he departs the field 

+3 Wow what an introduction as Alisson escapes down the left and fires the ball into the area. GOAL Sporting CP 3 Moreirense 0 as Doris opens his body to turn home from 3 yards to put the gloss on the win 

Full time 

Sporting CP 3 Moreirense 0

The final word 

Well what can I write about that game? Stick around and you'll find out. This could be a massive contradiction in terms so I'm going to apologise in advance. Moreirense came with the perfect game plan for Sporting and it worked for 75 minutes until they conceded an unfortunate penalty. I wrote last season when losing to Santa Clara that it was a result where their game plan relied on everything going 100% their way and it did. For all the talk that Portuguese teams cannot defend there's evidence that they can. The statistics will tell you something that the eye cannot. You can see why they went into this game level on points with Sporting. The only thing they were missing was a bit of fortune and something telling in the final third. For the lions it was a three little pigs performance, they huffed and they puffed and eventually in reverse having not blown down the bricks they managed the sticks and the straw and came away with all 3 points and that's the mark of Champions. 

Sporting even with Gyökeres struggled consistently to break down a well drilled defensive unit from back to front. You could draw a straight line through the back 5, middle 4 and given Schettine a hug whilst he watches the game going on around him from his position as the lone striker. Yes it's awful to watch unless you're a footballing purist but it is bloody effective especially with a goalkeeper like Ferreira who knows his angles and benefits from his defence pushing forwards out wide to shoot time and time again. However as I say everything has to go right for you over the full 90.

The Araújo change kick started the win and I'm not just writing that because I said he should have come on at half time. He creates the first real chance centrally and even though he misses that's the first time the players must be thinking OK they can be got at and it has to come centrally. So we saw Trincão drive into the box and he gets fouled and as I said if Suárez shoots centrally he'll get his goal. OK fine it was from the penalty spot but my point still stands. Carbon copy for the second, Trincão fouled and Gonçalves sends the keeper the wrong way and you know Hjulmand is getting a shit load of stick in the dressing room at full time after his miss on Thursday night. 

So back to the statistics; XG 4.65 to 0.16. This is why it pays to watch games and not quote statistics as if metrics are the be all and end all. Total attempts 25 to 4. Total attempts on target 14 to 1. All of which point to an easy three points right? Wrong. See all of the above. It was a hard fought win. Poor old João Pereira might have had a different career as the mister had fortunes smiled on him the same way against Santa Clara but they didn't and the rest is history as they say.

Virgínia with a clean sheet wasn't troubled and other than proving he can come for a cross and can play with the ball at his feet might as well have had a seat in the stands and come down for goal kicks. Debast and Inácio untroubled all night in the centre. Vagiannidis needed to be switched on defensively first half but was able to provide support on the flanks throughout. How Mangas starts ahead of Reis in that game if you don't think Araújo can last a full 90 is beyond me. His crossing is woeful. The play acting annoyed me beyond belief and he's got feet like a shire horse, proper clodders. I'm not sure I'd even bring him off the bench if I had him sat on it. Two goals against Arouca doesn't

disguise how bad he is as a player. 

I was disappointed with Kochorashvili again in midfield, not that Hjulmand was that much more ahead of him but then again you're two men against a bank of four so I'm probably being overly harsh on both. Having been so full of praise for Quenda in Thursday night I'm struggling to find many positives from his game. Gave away the ball far too often in the second half and especially at a point where it was still only 1-0. Morita offered little coming on. Simões wasn't on the pitch long enough to make a contribution which leaves Allison and Doris. Brilliant from the youngster who provided what Sporting had been missing down the left all night in pace and a decent ball in. To be fair their heads had probably gone at 2-0 but that takes nothing away from the assist to add to his first goal Thursday night. He'll give the mister another welcome headache if he continues to deliver like that and did more in one move than Quenda managed in 94 from an end product point of view. Doris with a neat finish turning his body at the last moment but it would still have been harder to miss than score. He's got that early doors part of Paulinho's Sporting career to him. Other than the goal and being sat a yard in front of the back five I can't say I noticed him. 

So onto my four for man of the match. Araújo gets the first spot. Could and should have scored twice and provided the spark for the win. Suárez deserved his goal I don't think there's any doubting that but in a game of chess he got put into checkmate time and time again. Misdirection on the part of Ferreira who didn't deserve to lose 3-0. He was immense throughout in case I've not already written it and if I have then he deserves the praise twice. 

So that leaves Trincão and Gonçalves and truthfully it's between one of those two. Without Trincão you don't get the two penalties and Sporting may never have found the key to unlock the defence. He created 7 chances to Gonçalves 1. The latter had 8 shots to Trincão's 1 and finished with a cooly taken penalty and goal. It's coin toss between the two. The passing rates pretty much spot on for both, their really is nothing to separate them statistically it's whether you measure the assistive side of a game over the final end product. I'm going to go Trincão again but by 0.05% just because he has the nous and the drive to go into the box twice and ends up winning the two penalties and those are what win the game for Sporting. 

Off to the beach next against Estoril. 

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