Sporting CP 1 Sporting Braga 1

 

Sporting CP v Sporting Braga
Sunday October 5th, 2025
Estádio José Alvalade 
Matchday 8

The Warm Up 

It is said in life that the one thing money cannot buy is time. Whilst clearly true to a large extent there are cases whereby you can argue that money can buy you time, it merely depends on the measurement or your definition of it. 

In the March of 2020 Sporting paid Braga €10m for the services of Ruben Amorim and it would be easy in hindsight to paint the deal as a fantastic piece of business. Afterall, he brought the Lions their first title win for 19 years during the 2020/21 campaign. He followed that up with second place finish in 2021/22. Generally in any other league around the world a title win and a runner up spot in your first two seasons will generally allow you to accrue a large deal of credit in the bank if the wheels come off. If you coach in Portugal and are mister for one of Os Três Grandes, the notion of the wheels coming off can largely be measured in the fact you've not won the league. 

In the 2022/23 season Sporting finished fourth and this is where I make my argument that money can buy you time because had it not been for the fact that Varandas had chosen to pay €10m for his services, I fully believe Amorim would have been out of the door. Paying €10m for a player is an investment that football club's right off with little fuss in the modern day market. No one is out on the streets holding placards berating the board for the signings of Ruben Vinagre and Jeremiah St Juste. However, paying €10m for a coach whose top flight experience extended to just 13 games, your head is on the chopping block even if he did deliver you a title win. Losing a few million euros on a player is fine, if you sack a coach that cost you €10m then fans and the media are going to let you know about it. I think had their been no fee paid then Amorim was gone in the 2022/23 season. What saved him was exactly that fee paid for his services and therefore money can buy you time when it's to save the face of the person paying the bill at the end of the meal. Had they not paid anything for his services they'd have dispensed of him without thinking twice about it. For a long period of time I think Varandas was hoping someone would trigger his release clause and he'd not have to make a difficult decision to cut his losses. 

If you want a set of metrics and case studies for what continuity can bring in terms of stability and success, or not as the case maybe, what better examples than the two Sportings from Lisboa and Braga? Braga may well have thought they'd gotten the better deal receiving €10m for a coach with 13 games top flight experience and you imagine at that stage most of the footballing world would have thought exactly the same, but did they in the long-term? In the end Amorim oversaw two title wins and provided the platform for a third before his departure to Manchester United. Not only did Sporting win those titles but they recouped the money paid to Braga, as Manchester United paid his release clause. Since his departure from Braga, Sporting have had three coaches in charge and OK whilst João Pereira’s time was incredibly short lived and I'll fated, the current mister Rui Borges has been able to build on the stability and continuity that Amorim's time at the club provided. Whereas in Braga, their coaches have changed like the wind direction. 

Custódio took over from Amorim until July 1st, 2020 and was replaced by Artur Jorge, who was replaced 28 days later by Carlos Carvalhal on July 28th. May 15th, 2022 Braga went maybe we should have given Artur Jorge more of a chance and so the two swapped back again. April 3rd, 2024 they decide no actually he's a bit shit and Rui Duarte wins the half time raffle to be the new coach and is made the mister until May 18th. For six days no coach, presumably everyone was on their holibobs and then someone remembered oh bollocks we'd better hire someone new. In comes Daniel Sousa on May 24th and off he fucked on August 12th to be replaced on the same day by Carlos Carvalhal again. Not satisfied with his 20th time in charge with the club they then went and employed former Manchester City youth team coach Carlos Vicens on May 28th, 2025 and frankly if I had to bet my money on who'll be in charge at the end of the season then it is on Carvalhal or maybe I'd take an each way on Artur Jorge. 

If someone asked you to predict the Portuguese league table in full, if you've got any sense you put Braga in as 4th and then try figure the rest out from there. There's no shame in consistently being the fourth best team in Portugal. There are a queue of clubs behind them who'd give their back teeth to swap places. I reckon I could probably coach Braga to fourth, though we'll never be able to put that to the test so humour me if you will. How do you break the monopoly that is Os Três Grandes with their stranglehold on the competition so great that only two other clubs outside them have won the league in Boavista and Belenenses and their long term reward in both cases was bankruptcy? Is there really any point in continually changing your coach if you're still just going to finish fourth? You may occasionally reach the dizzy heights of second and Champions League brings with it great riches, as long as the clubs competing before you haven't totally fucked the club coefficients forcing you into the qualifying rounds buggering any master plans you might have had. Even if you were to make it into the new Champions League format and you've got money in your pocket to spend you've still got to try convince players to come and there's a real danger that being in the Champions League would curtail your domestic season and you drop out of the top four altogether. So why not try to aim for continuity and stability or just accept that fourth isn't so bad after all? After all you could be Boavista.

Braga have of course accepted the lure of foreign investment in the shape of petromoney from PSG’s owners QSI whose holding I believe is now at 29.6% having originally brought a 21.67% stake in the club back in the October of 2022. However it appears the investment is to help solidify the club's position as the fourth best in Portugal and not to overtake Os Três Grandes which you'd have to ask a Braga fan how they feel about the deal. I'm guessing however unlike say a fan of RC Strasbourg Alsace in Ligue 1 owned by BlueCo the parent company which also owns Premier League Chelsea, they'd probably be quite non plussed about the whole affair. Whereas for the fans of the French club who rescued their team from financial ruin, their end goal in doing so wasn't to one day become the Chelsea reserve team even if it is starting to pay huge dividends on the pitch for them. This investment from QSI is of course nothing new in Portuguese or European football. Last week's opponents owned Moreirense owned by the same group who owns AFC Bournemouth, Rio Ave of course majority owned by the Greek billionaire Evangelos Marinakis with an 80% stake in the club. Even newly promoted minnows Alverca are owned by an investment group headed by the Real Madrid star Vinícíus Junior. So even if you do get a slight advantage for a while from foreign investment there is money queued around the block waiting to be invested into your competitors to quickly nullify any short term advantage it may bring and Os Três Grandes maintain their dominance. Maybe it helps you keep hold of your talent for a season longer before you have to sell to balance the books or enables you to achieve a larger fee for their services. It's not helping you win titles that's for certain, at least not for now. It's definitely not bringing extra bums on seats as regular readers will know that I do like highlighting how small the followings of Portuguese top flight clubs are on a match by match basis not for my own amusement, because it astounds me how small some of the clubs really are and it would never be mentioned otherwise. I appreciate Braga’s ground as an example only has two stands because of its location but other than Oxford United's ground which weirdly has three stands, the notion of a ground probably in all of the top four divisions of the English footballing pyramid having no stands behind either goal would be mind-blowing for the average Matchday going punter. It's a right of passage for goalkeepers in England to have you're shit ahhhhhh shouted at them from opposing fans behind their goal every time they took a goal kick. Maybe if they had that in Portugal then they wouldn't take so long with time wasting. Just a thought.

By the time the two sides meet it will be Braga's 16th competitive game of the season compared to the lions 11th and that's if you include the Supertaça into the mix. I'm writing this on Saturday afternoon before Sporting play Estoril so I guess there's a chance Braga might have even changed coaches by the time this game is played. That thought aside their season to date looks as follows;

Their campaign started away to Levski Sofia on July 24th in the Europa League qualifiers (what was I saying about buggered coefficients?) and the game finished 0-0. At home a 1-0 win after extra time to qualify for the next round. 

Away to CFR Cluj and a 2-1 win with a Gorby brace to take into the home leg. The Portuguese league kicks off and maybe fortunately for Braga their campaign starts against newly promoted Tondela at home with a 3-0 win. Braga's XG 1.98 to 0.78 however the visitors recorded and missed 3 Opta defined big chances. 

CFR Cluj at home results in a 2-0 win, 4-1 on aggregate and then we're back to the league again away to the other newly promoted Alverca. They had five Opta defined big chances and missed them all as they went down 3-0 and they even had the better XG of 2.21 to Braga's 1.50 but nevertheless 6 points from 6 for the northerners who despite the congested fixture list are holding their own on the field. 

Lincoln Imps are thrashed 4-0 away before AVS at home proved a side that could at least take 50% of their big chances and led 2-1 until Braga pulled it back to 2-2 with four minutes remaining. Their XG does suggest however they should have won with 2.08 to the visitors 0.51. 

Wheels back on the rails at least with the visit of Lincoln Imps in the return leg, another 5-1 thrashing to go through on aggregate 9-1. 

The the wheels came off again, firstly away to Rio Ave where they needed an equaliser 3 minutes from time to again draw 2-2 albeit the XG once more suggesting they should have won with 2.20 against the home sides 1.05. Gil Vicente at home is their first loss of the campaign and this time is Braga with 5 Opta defined big chances and 5 misses. The XG an almost even 1.42 to 1.26. Vitória away and they took the lead at least but the game finished 1-1 and again Braga guilty of missing 2 of their 3 big chances over 90 minutes. That's 3 points collected from a possible 12. 

Feyenoord the visitors in the Europa League proper and a 1-0 win in a somewhat dull affair. Braga's XG just 0.68 against the Dutch sides 0.27. 

Most probably by the time you read this they'll have played Nacional and Celtic and Carvalhal is back as coach. If they have been played scroll down I'll have added an updated at some point to this original post or I'll have forgotten totally and it'll be a case of made you look, made you stare, made you lose your underwear. 

Incoming 

Florian Grillitsch - Hoffenheim - Free
Pau Victor - Barcelona - £10m
Gabriel Moscardo - PSG - loan
Fran Navarro - FC Porto - £2.2m
Gustaf Lagerbielke - Celtic - £2.1m
Mario Dorgeles - FC Nordsjælland - £9.1m
Leonardo Lelo - Casa Pia - free
Alaa Bellaarouch - RC Strasbourg - £249k

A name possibly made up entirely of left over tiles at the bottom of a Scrabble bag.

Outgoing 

Simon Banza Al-Jazira - £7.1m 

I'm assuming that's a football club and he's not gone to become a news presenter. I'd have paid that money even at his age to come to Sporting over Ioannidis.

Robson Bambu - San Luis - £332k
Roger Fernandes Al-Itihad - £27m
Ismaël Gharbi - Augsburg - loan
Franciso Chissumba - Alverca - loan
Tiago Helguera - CD Mirandes - loan
Adrián Marin - Orlando- free 
Djibril Soumare - Sheffield United- £830k
Andre Horta - Almería - loan
Josafat Mendes- Samsunspor - £996k
Roberto Fernández - Espanyol - £5.1m
Bartlomiej Wdowik- Jagiellonia Bialystak - loan
Matheus - FC Crvena Zvezda - £1m

I know I said I'd drop that section after the last post but compared to the Napoli one it was like a walk on the park but I did have to copy and paste in Nordsjælland for full transparency. 

Last season's fixtures between the two sides were polar opposites of each other. The game in Braga was Amorim's last in charge and Braga clearly hadn't bothered to read the script or if they did they tossed it aside and went fuck that. They led 2-0 at half time and to compound the lions misery they'd lost Pedro Gonçalves to a serious injury early on. Then again maybe they did read the script and played their part in the perfect ending as Sporting fought their way back to 2-2 with goals from Morita and Hjulmand. The Dane's goal from 27 yards is one of the sweetest struck goals you'll have seen all season and you watch the reaction of the Braga defence and it was like pulling the plug on an inflatable dinghy and all the belief just poured out from them. In the 88th minute Conrad Harder fires a low volley through a defender's legs from 25 yards which nestled perfectly into the bottom right hand corner past the hand of their keeper at full stretch. Then proof of was ever needed that attack is the best form of defence as the youngster repeated the trick from outside of the box to complete his brace and secure an incredible second half come back with a 4-2 win in additonal time. Of course history ignores the obvious part which is how bad Sporting were in the opening 45 and on another night could have had their arses handed to them 4 or 5 nil so never rest on your laurels. The fixture at the José Alvalade with none of the comparative excitement as the first game. Gyökeres scores a free kick to make it 1-0 and it transpires late on that defence isn't the best form of defence as Braga equalised in the 86th minute and they come away with a small vindication for the home defeat and a point won versus two points lost for the lions. 

Frequently Braga have had their arses handed to them away at the José Alvalade. 5-0 losses in December 2022 in the Taça da Liga, February 2023 and February 2024 in the league. Their last win away coming on January 22nd, 2022. One thing is for certain, the lions will need to up their performance levels from those displayed away to Estoril last time out

Just one ex Sporting player in the Braga ranks, João Moutinho who despite having left 15 years ago will still get booed by those with long memories and nothing better to do when in possession of the ball. He got his marching orders in the 1-1 draw.

I'm quite impressed with myself that I've gotten this far in without mentioning my irrational fucking hatred of Braga or calling them the Fraggles. I do so hate to disappoint my audience though. 

Sunday update - Braga lose at home to Nacional 1-0. Ramirez scores the only goal after five minutes winning a foot race with the sort of space to run into that will be giving Quenda and Alisson wet dreams between now and Sunday night. The opposition with 3 Opta defined big chances, missing 2, XG 0.58 to 1.33. 

Thursday update - Braga win 2-0 in Glasgow. Horta strikes from 32 yards to beat Kasper Schmeichel, son of ex Sporting keeper Peter. Kelechi Iheanacho has a goal ruled out for handball which replays suggest touched only his face before coming down. Celtic failed to clear their six yard box and Martinez capitalised on 84 minutes to secure all three points in the Europa League and more importantly coefficient points for Portugal. Genuinely well done Braga after Tuesday and Wednesday night's results. 

Champions League roundup 

Roundup of the lions future opponents games from midweek. Tuesday nights can be found in the buildup on the Napoli blog.

BVB v Athletic Club 

Poor defensive display by the Spaniards away in Germany. BVB took the lead on 27 from a far post tap in from Svensson. They doubled their lead on 49 minutes from a Chukwuemeka goal from an acute angle at the near post which the keeper really should have done better with. Guruzeta gave the visitors some hope pulling a goal back on the hour mark but to to no avail as Guirassy made it 3-1 and Brandt with the pick of the nights goals on 90 minutes to secure the win. 

Villarreal v Juventus 

Mikautadze gives the Spaniards a 1-0 lead on 17 minutes slotting home from 10 yards past Perin. On 48 minutes a long throw far side is flicked on to Gatti who scores with a bicycle kick from 8 yards. Much made of it by the media given he's a centre half whilst none pointing out how bad Tenas’ attempt to keep the ball out actually was in the Villarreal goal. The Portuguese Conceição slots home on 55 minutes to give the old lady the advantage. He of ex-Porto.fame himself and son of the infamous mister. Not to be out done though former Sporting B player Renato Veiga equalised in the 89th minute with a powerful header from a corner to see each side come away with a point in a 2-2 draw. 

Barcelona v PSG

Man of the match presented to another Sporting academy product Nuno Mendes once more keeping Yamal in his pocket. Ferran Torres gave Barca the lead at full stretch, poking home on 18 minutes from 8 yards. The current Champions League holders equaliser through the 19 year old Mayulu who slotted home from 16 yards. Six seconds from the end of the 90, another Portuguese player took the headlines as Gonçalo Ramos scored from ten yards. He of ex-pigeon fame of course having scored 27 goals in 47 appearances before his big money move to Ligue 1 in the 2023/24 season where he's never really been given the chance to shine. Let's hope he doesn't against Sporting though bookmark this page because it's bound to happen now. 

Side bar - if Gonçalo Ramos left it late with a goal on 89’54 then step forward another ex-Sporting player Eric Dier who equalised for AS Monaco from the penalty spot on 89’55 to help them to a 2-2 draw against Manchester City. 

Sporting CP Feminino 

SC Vitória at home on Saturday October 4th in a 14:45 kick off. Really? What an utterly bizarre time for a match to start. 

The lionesses playing in pink and white thought they'd taken an early lead on 7 minutes through Beatriz Fonseca only to see her effort ruled out for offside. They broke the deadlock on 24 minutes with a neat finish from 14 yards from Cláudia Neto and took a 1-0 lead into half time. Argentine Florencia Bonseguendo came close to extending the lead on 49 minutes but her shot from 16 yards was deflected onto the bar. Sporting had Catarina Potra to thank for keeping the score 1-0 as she kept out an audacious 30 yard strike on 78 minutes which was set to fly into the top left hand corner. Sadly she was finally beaten by a somewhat scrappy strike in the 80th minute by Betinha and the game finished 1-1. 

Next up for the Lionesses is Tuesday's home game against FC Rosengård in the Women's Europa Cup a game fans can get into for free which personally I think is a fantastic initiative and hope Sportinguista's take full advantage especially with the international break. 

Sporting B

Leixoes away on Sunday October 5th, kick off 15:30. Christ who designed their club badge? It looks like something you'd have gotten as a vector on the first edition of Microsoft Word in the 1990s. 

Starting XI 

Callai, Moreira, Silva, Muniz, Dias, Mendonça, Justo, Besugo, Blopa, Ribeiro and Nel.

Substitutes Used

Oliveira, Silva, Goncalves, Camacho and Pontelo

The lion cubs climb back top of Liga 2 with a 4-0 demolition of Leixoes after Vizela lost 1-0 against Chaves yesterday. They led 2-0 at half time through goals from Ribeiro and José Silva. Nel with a second half brace completing the rout. 

In the markets

Sporting CP 5/12
Draw 10/3
Sporting Braga 6/1

Team News 

Starting XI 

Silva, Vagiannidis, Debast, Inácio, Araújo, Hjulmand, Morita, Quenda, Trincão, Gonçalves and Suárez 

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Fresneda, Diomande, Quaresma, Mangas, Geny, Kochorashvili, Alisson and Ioannidis 

Fresneda, Quaresma, Simões, Geny and Ioannidis swap out for Vagiannidis, Debast, Morita, Gonçalves and Suárez. Just two players remain on the injury roster, Nuno Santos who could possibly return this month and Daniel Bragança said to still be some time away from returning. Reis drops out or the matchday squad along with Ribeiro who started and scored for Sporting B. No place at all for my man of the match midweek in Simões.

Braga Starting XI 

1 Hornicek, 5 Lelo, 14 Lagerbielke, 4 Niakaté, 2 Gomez, 6 Carvalho, 8 Moutinho, 27 Grillitsch, 10 Zalazar, 21 Horta and 18 Pau Victor

Referee Claudio Pereira

First Half 

The lions playing in their annual change kit for October to support research into breast cancer, white shirts with pink trim and lettering and pink shorts. A wonderful initiative replicated across all teams. The lionesses wore it at home to Vitória yesterday as did the futsal team.

Braga set to line up in a 3-4-3 and get us underway in a lurid purple and lime green trim kit. The lions attack right to left. 

1 Electrifying rendition of the hymn from those in attendance. Let's home the game matches the levels on the stands 

2 Despite what the graphics suggested Braga defending with a line of 4 in the early stages 

3 Quenda fires low from 19 yards bringing a save to the keepers left, pushed out for a corner. Acres of space on the counter. Araújo started the move which quickly switched from one wing to another. Noted Braga then switched to a line of 5 at the back. I felt Allison was perfect to start this game so let's hope we see him for a good half hour second half to exploit that kind of space 

4 Morita fouls Grillitsch and the referee makes it explicitly clear no more 

6 Piercing whistles when Braga are in possession. This isn't fucking Istanbul for fucks sakes 

8 Horta believes his own hype after his goal against Celtic but fires into the stand behind Silva from 24 yards

9 Foul called against Suárez one on one with the last defender

10 Let off at the back as a Braga forward inside the 18 yard box unmarked kindly passes the ball to the two defenders in front of him who clearly their lines 

11 Strong run from Quenda inside the area runs out of room and the ball goes out for a goal kick. 

11 Carvalho foul on Suárez in the centre who goes down clutching his head

12 Suárez dispossessed 20 yards from goal, he has a crowd of 7 purple shirts in and around him 

13 Corner to Braga near side conceded despite the attentions of both Morita and Araújo 

14 This whistling is going to drive me fucking insane. VAR check ongoing for potential penalty after Carvalho went down inside the box. Sorry that should have read threw himself down in the box 

17 The lions consistently looking for one pass to break the defensive line and to date consistently losing possession 

17 Araújo decides Gomez needs some more screen time on the touchline and sends him clattering towards the pitch side camera behind them both

18 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Sporting Braga 0. Gonçalves wide left plays the ball into the six yard box, ricochets off a defender to Suárez who with a contender for worst goal of the season kicks it down onto the floor and it somehow ends up in the net on the far side. They all count 

22 Lelo fires over from 16 yards. His blushes saved by the assistants flag finally going up after the shot despite the player being a yard off in the buildup 

26 Old fashioned clearance from Hornicek out of his area who just sends it way off into the lions half 

27 Braga seems to play like a concertina from wide to narrow as if being played by a giant invisible hand 

29 Shot of Nuno Santos and Bragança watching on in the executive boxes, the former looking like he was yawning his head off. Now we're shown Varandas. Always a good indication of how exciting the game is 

30 Araújo slides in to dispossess Horta. I wonder if this is going to be a penalty. He looks like he heads it from one angle but hits the elbow with another, VAR check ongoing. Just a corner. Tad fortunate maybe 

33 Another corner near side as an attempted cross deflects off Araújo. Once more comes to nothing as the final ball towards the far post straight out for a goal kick 

34 Braga pressing high manage to force Sporting into conceding a throw in as they try play out from the back. You can see in theory what their coach is trying to achieve when out of possession but the amount of room they leave at the back must cause their fans palpitations at times 

38 Petulance from Gonçalves having been penalised for a foul on the halfway line and is shown the yellow presumably more for his reaction than the actual challenge 

40 Close up of Trincão whilst there's a break in play. I'd forgotten he was on the pitch 

44 Turn and snap shot by Horta 7 yards out. Easy save for Silva

44 Yellow to Suárez for a foul on Lagerbielke who went to ground clutching his face 

Plus two shown 

+1 Niakaté smashes his hands onto the pitch in frustration as the centre back forgets he's 9 yards from the lions goal and heads high and over like a defensive clearance 

+2 One last chance fell to Gonçalves who tries to curl the ball with the outside of his right foot from 12 yards having been found open by Suárez on the left. I pointed out the deficiency with him on the right after the Naples defeat. 

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Sporting Braga 0

An opening 45 equally as bad as the Braga kits punctuated by incessant whistling and a scrappy opening goal. The only thing worse is possibly the highlights on top of Zalazar's bonce. The referee has in 8 games this season shown 46 yellow cards, two of which had led to a red along with two straight reds so it's no surprise to have already seen two bookings handed out in the opening 45. 

Just seven chances combined between the two teams. I think from memory this game last season had possibly the lowest total chances of any Sporting fixture though don't quote me on that. My head is awash with lines of data from spreadsheets. XG 0.45 to 0.24. The space which could be exploited behind is there for all to see and I hate to sound like a broken record having said it twice already but this is a game tailor made for Allison Santos if ever there was one especially given the opposition's lack of quality in the the lions final third. The danger I guess is like the corresponding fixture lasts season where we don't take advantage and it ends up 1-1. You need to learn from your mistakes. 

Second half 

Sporting get us back underway. ➡️⬅️ Navarro for Pau Victor 

46 Araújo penalised for a foul on Gomez. Free kick in a dangerous position on the far side. Carvalho cannot get his header on target 

48 Braga player throws himself to the ground and the referee said no free kick but doesn't book him for simulation. Zalazar the player involved with Debast

50 Vagiannidis heads behind him and out for a goal kick from 2 yards. He won't want to see that again. Suárez found Gonçalves free but he got caught in two minds and didn't get his shot away and ran from space and instead into two defenders. His ball to the back post the right idea but just too high for the Greek to get proper contact. That needed Pote to have found Suárez in the same position in the original buildup because the Colombian wouldn't have hesitated to have gotten the shot off first time 

52 Suárez shot from 19 yards strikes Hjulmand who had wandered into an offside position inside the area. Sums up this game perfectly 

53 Zalazar with a great ball into the six yard box is missed in the centre and fired back across goal and saved by Silva. That should have been 1-1. Lelo it was with the final chance but all it needed was the slightest touch in the centre 

53 ➡️⬅️ Gorby on for Mourinho. Perhaps we'll have less whistles if nothing else now 

55 Morita heads wide from 12 yards from a Vagiannidis cross 

56 Zalazar fires wide from 20 yards centrally 

58 Now would be a really good time to have Ioannidis and Allison warming up. If they are I've not seen them. One to provide someone to hold the ball up and one to use his pace to break into the space behind the defenders and give Sporting a double option 

59 Twice Suárez in an offside position in the last minute just left the ball to go past him

60 Aimless from Quenda sends a pass onto a sea of Braga midfielders and the defence once more under pressure as Debast clears 

60 Debast smashes the ball long to Suárez who is the lone man up front and conceded a free kick which he greets with his customary finger wag at the referee in non agreement with the match officials decision against him.

61 Braga player down in the box again. Zalazar under the minimum of contact from Debast. 

62 We've movement on the sidelines. Allison and Kochorashvili. Suárez urges the crowd to make more noise 

63 ➡️ ⬅️ Trincão for Allison and Morita for Kochorashvili. I could not tell you what Trincão has done in the last two games

64 Deflection off Vagiannidis, corner near side. Shot from ten yards blocked and cleared 

65 This game currently has 1-1 written all over it 

66 Suárez causing a nuisance inside the box but has 6 purple shirts ahead of him. Somehow found Kochorashvili whose shot was blocked from 16 yards 

67 Allison with pace down the left again then just slows the tempo down and his pass found Suárez but then the lions tried to be too clever and Braga cleared. Someone just wrap their foot around the ball. Quenda eventually tried to lob the ball back to the other side of the box and it was all just a mess 

68 Thankfully Debast is like Gandalf at the moment in that the ball shall not pass 

70 Zalazar whips an awkward shot bottom left from 20 yards which Silva got his body behind and out for a corner. Lions leading a charmed life 

71 I think Doris is stood on the touchline waiting to come on

72 ➡️ ⬅️ Suárez for Doris. Strange choice of player to come off 

➡️⬅️ Niakaté for Arrey-Mbi

73 Allison shot blocked from 16 yards. 

74 Yellow shown to Carvalho for a foul on Doris in the buildup 

75 Yellow for a foul on Kochorashvili to Navarro

76 Lions run into a wall of defenders again inside the area. Allison however is causing problems as expected down the left  

76 Yellow to Zalazar for a foul on Araújo 

76 The noise just rose inside the stadium. The players need to respond with a goal 

77 Allison has his marker on toast again and fires just wide of the right hand post from 16 yards. Why didn't they start the kid?

80 Ioannidis gets his knee to an Araújo cross five yards out which flies to safety 

82 ➡️ ⬅️ Lelo for Vidigal

82 I've missed a Debast yellow card somewhere in the last two minutes. Replay of a foul in the centre 

84 Please find the second goal and put this game to bed  

86 One of those nights where each minute starts to feel more like two 

86 Great passing nearside to play their way out of trouble and Quenda passes the fucking ball to a Braga player again 

87 Gonçalves draws a foul from Carvalho and the lions in no hurry to take it 

88 How long are they going to put up for additional time is the worry now. Four minutes will be better than five that's for certain 

88 Clever from Araújo who felt the arm of Vidigal into his back and went down 

➡️⬅️ Fresneda for Vagiannidis and Geny for Quenda 

90 Blocked shot on the edge of the area again by another Sporting player 

Plus five shown 

90 Fresneda straight into action fires a shot at the near post from a ridiculously tight angle easily stopped 

+1 Araújo penalised for a foul on Vidigal. Dangerous position wide right again 

+2 Silva eventually claims and goes down theatrically after contact by Navarro 

+3 Martínez yellow presumably for something he's said. VAR check ongoing for a penalty. Hjulmand on Lagerbielke. He's got a large chunk of his shirt. Referee has gone to the monitor. This is going to be given 

+5 Penalty and a yellow to Hjulmand for the foul. That night and day. No arguments there whatsoever. Fucking idiot 

+6 Green light flashing in the face of Zalazar trying to put him off. GOAL Sporting CP 1 Sporting Braga 1 as he fires into the bottom left hand corner . Silver went the right way but there was no stopping that. Fuck knows what the club will get fined for whichever idiot shone the light in his eyes. 

+8 No idea how long is left as Alisson put a cross into the centre cleared 

+8 Ball fell to Alisson who couldn't find a shot on target from 16 yards 

+9 Braga free kick inside the Sporting half

+10 Shot fired at Silva from 25 yards 

+10 Yellow Grillitsch for a tactical foul in midfield as the lions try to launch an attack 

+10 Header straight into the arms of the keeper from Gonçalves 

Full time 

Sporting CP 1 Sporting Braga 1

The final word

What did I write at the end of half time? You need to learn from your mistakes. I definitely didn't write, go and repeat them for a second straight year. I wrote earlier on X there's a danger in this game that the referee tries to steal the headlines ahead of O Clássico between Porto and Benfica and I don't think I was far wrong. 9 yellow cards and a penalty awarded. He'll have plenty to masturbate over in his hotel room later tonight when he gets in. 

I thought that Sporting were incredibly poor against Estoril, came away with real credit against Napoli despite the result and then put in a performance tonight that upon reflection was even worse than the Estoril one which is saying something. It's a good job ticket prices in Portugal are vastly cheaper than in England because you've been served up two dog shit sandwiches in the last seven days. 

I'm baffled by the reverance displayed for a Braga side who've seen their defence pulled apart this season by some bang average sides with one third of the quality we supposedly possess in our ranks. I don't remember ever aiming any criticism on Rui Borges before tonight but that ones on him as much as the players I'm afraid. Yes they've travelled to Naples and back this week but Braga have been to Glasgow and back and had a day's less rest so that's no excuse in my book. I don't mind letting Braga have possession of the ball because frankly they didn't do much with it at all to danger the Sporting defence and the fact we dropped two points is fully in Hjulmand’s stupidity at the end. However an 80% pass completion rate is something I'd expect to see from a side at the bottom of the table not from the back to back Champions and virtually every player was guilty of it all over the pitch. 

I get Borges wants to keep everyone happy by rotating his squad and it's not an easy task but Simões shone in midweek against a Napoli side with far more quality than Braga and Morita clearly is still not at the races. However I did think Kochorashvili at least put in a relatively decent performance all things considered when he came on. Why he took Suárez off for Ionaddis when he was the one player who maybe looked capable of scoring is beyond me and Gonçalves should have been hooked. I don't know where Trincão's head has been the last two games but it's not been on the pitch. Possibly something to do with it being mocked up on the front of a Taylor Swift album with it submerged in water in a Tik Tok video. He's offered nothing in either game and rightly shanked off in both. I know he injured his wrist against Estoril but he's not Rui Silva. Maybe there's something in his private life we're not privy too but against Napoli and Braga we saw Gonçalves in an area on the right where Trincão was the man you wanted to be there and he was sat on the bench watching on. 

There's a danger I turn into a Fresneda apologist but he's the better option at right wing back for me and in a game like this one where it's decided on fine margins his might have tipped it into Sporting's favour. The one chance the Greek had admittedly would have needed a giant on the back post but the goal was wide open at his mercy. 

Debast looked defensively solid all game and may have even benefited from not starting midweek. I'm saving myself for the day I get to write a glowing report about Inácio. Next time any Saudi club comes in for him take the money and run please. He'll turn into the next Marcus Edwards or he'll still be with us when he's 30. Araújo alongside Debast the two defenders I could level the least criticism at although that being said the latter concedes the free kick from which we conceded the penalty so maybe he shouldn't be immune after all. 

As I've already noted Morita isn't at the races and Hjulmand has the turning circle of a London bus in some games a la James Ward Prowse and what you really needed was a Simões to turn on his heels and start the attack quickly and effectively at much greater pace which the Braga midfield and defence were not capable of defending fully in my humble opinion. For all the Danes quality, like Diomande at the back he's got that moment of stupidity in his game that will lead to a penalty being conceded. I have zero complaints about the decision, it was rightly awarded and in the end a draw was the fair result. You'd just prefer it to have come from a chance that's not of our own making in that type of fashion. Why Simões wasn't in the squad at all baffles me unless he picked up an injury midweek. 

Quenda started brightly, again though his best bits came in defence and then he turns into a liability. Frankly Chelsea can have him here and now and it would not worry my at all. If he was a racing driver he'd be great in a straight line but you'd not lend him your car because he'd be constantly heading for the nearest set of bollards in front of him or he'd drag race you at the traffic lights not seeing that he's about to run out of road and crash into a small wall in front which provides a metaphor for the advertising hoardings just in case any of you are confused. There was certainly two times he gave the ball away needlessly in midfield after the defence had done the hard work to nullify any threat on the near side which left me exasperated by his lack of control and quality. The fact that Chelsea have paid a fortune for him does not give him the right to start games unless they've put in a clause where we get penalised for not playing him as part of his season long loan. If you're going to use Alisson as an impact substitute then the same really should apply to him. I'd be happier watching Esgaio out wide which shows how highly I rate Quenda. 

Gonçalves and his fucking petulance and reliance on the outside of his right boot to shoot when open on the right hand side drive me potty. Full time I was deflated, the more I breakdown the performances the more I'm getting annoyed. Yes he played a part in the goal but in reality that came from a defensive mistake not from the poor pass in. To be fair to him had both chances in the last two games come to him on the left hand side I'd back him to score so the question is why is he out on the right hand side and why are the two players you'd want there sat on the bench at that point? Well with Trincão that's fair enough but Suárez was the most dangerous and most capable of scoring the second to put the game out of reach. Poor call on Borges part. We've been sucker punched twice by a piss poor Braga side year on year. 

Alisson as expected caused his marker a constant round of headaches. Yes he missed his chance late on but he should have been missing that type of chance in the opening ten minutes not during ten minutes of additional time. Yes he overcooked one pass that Quenda kept in but even with limited time on the pitch you'll not argue with me that he didn't have more of an impact than Quenda during the entire game. Watch the goals Braga have conceded from the left flank this season and then envisage what he'd have done over a full 90 minutes. Case closed your honour. 

I'm not sure Kochorashvili is blessed with a great range of shooting but he was in the right place to block shots the other end even if his chances were blocked when trying to put the game out of reach. He's blowing hot and cold but he is at least showing signs of quality. Doris impressed me midweek and if you wanted to try hit Braga with long balls over the top, when it wasn't working you could have had plan B already on the pitch and let him hold it up and build off him with the pace of Allison and Suárez. Like Araújo he knows how to draw a foul and we've missed that type of cleverness in all areas of the pitch. If you're going to be brave enough to make five changes in midweek then be brave enough to not just switch back again because actually the beat performance came from the side against Napoli and the two worst performances came against Estoril and Braga. 

Look Braga looked crap. They've looked crap all season but we looked equally as crap yet should have been professional enough to see the game out though once more we weren't. I don't expect us to win a third title. I don't expect us to play scintillating football every week. What I do expect is to at least have 11 players on the pitch who give it their all and just do the simple things right because nothing grinds my gears more when you cannot even do that properly and especially affording a poor side too much fucking respect. 

I guess that leaves my man of the match vote. Jesus what idiot wrote they'd do a choice of four every game? Oh yeah that would be me. Debast, Araujo, Suárez and Allison. Now I should never have to pick a player whose not even been on for a full half let alone the majority of a game but Allison impressed me for all the same reasons he did midweek. Yet I cannot give it to him but I'll allow him the credit he deserves. Araújo started the game well and finished it the same if you discount the ill timed tackle at the death. However it's not his fault Hjulmand conceded the penalty unnecessarily. Maybe went missing in parts but was still better than what else was on the pitch overall. I think it's a choice between Debast and Suárez. The Colombian was a nuisance. The goal didn't warrant a two minute montage of different celebrations like a Tik Tok dance video but each to their own. I'm glad you only read this and aren't watching me on a video trying to deliberate my decision rubbing my lips. I'm going to give it to Debast just in his overall consistency throughout the entire game. 

We're back Saturday week away to Paços de Ferreira in the Taça de Portugal. I expect to see a lot of changes again for that game.