Sporting CP 5 FC Alverca 1 (Taça da Liga)

Sporting CP v Futebol Clube de Alverca
Tuesday October 28th, 2025
Estádio José Alvalade 
Taça da Liga Quarter Final

The warm up 

The lions welcome Alverca for the first of two games against them in the space of just four days. We kick off with Tuesday nights Taça da Liga game at the José Alvalade and then welcome them back on Friday night in the league. One imagines that we'll see two very differing starting XIs for the lions between the two games which is pretty standard for the bigger clubs. Alverca during the summer did something unprecedented in possibly the history of not just Portuguese football but European and World football when they sold or released their entire promotion winning squad bar one player. In all over 50 sales and purchases to be registered. Given Sporting's failure to register Jota Silva on deadline day perhaps we should have been looking to hire their administrator. You might have thought Chelsea fans have a job on your hands trying to learn their new signings every summer but this is really next level stuff. So yes Sporting might change players between the two games but I'm giving Alverca the win on the changes score hands down. Diogo Martins the only first team player to stay. Whether he was wanted or no one else wanted him it's hard to ascertain. Talisca and João Douglas also remain but the former was part of Alverca II and the latter yet to register an appearance following his move on February of 2025. 

As mentioned they were promoted last summer, runner up to CD Tondela by a solitary point. Played 34, won 17, drew 12 and losing 5 times. GF 58 GA 34. Their away record 4th best in Liga 2; played 17, won 7, drawn 6, losing 4. GF 25, GA 18. Alongside wholesale playing squad changes they also brought in Custódio as coach who had previously been part of the setup at Sporting Braga. Well I suppose you would really if you were ripping everything else up. A few faces which may be familiar to some readers, Andre Paulo who made 32 appearances for Sporting B and 2 for the first team. Gonçalo Esteves who I thought looked a decent prospect but Amorim clearly didn't share that opinion and after loan spells to Estoril and AZ Alkmaar was finally let go on a free transfer to Udinese in the summer of 2024. It's noted with their new purchases they could if they wanted field a starting XI of Brazilians with a total of 13 nationals in the squad. 

To date they've played 8 times. At home played 4, won 2, lost 2, scoring 4 and conceding 5. Away, again played 4, winning only once, 1 draw and 2 defeats. Seven goals for and against. 6 goals from open play, 2 from set pieces, 2 penalties and own goal getting on the score sheet again. He gets about the league every year doesn't he? They're just out performing their XG of 10.1. Top scorer in the league is Marko Milovanovic with 3, 7 others with a goal apiece. Two clean sheets, they average 274.8 passes per game which suggests they'll be more than happy to let the Sporting have the lion's share of possession. Don't moan it's taken me two years to even pick up on that joke. 

Their campaign began away to Moreirense which is a tough fixture for anyone let alone a squad of players doing a Slim Shady wearing stickers with Hi my name is…….. for the preceding weeks of pre-season. Despite the level of opposition and trailing mid way through the first half they went in level at 1-1 at the interval and were only undone with a winner in additional time at the end of the 90 to lose 2-1. Their XG 0.97 to 0.93, attempts 7 - 10 scoring their only Opta defined big chance. Side note the new Moirenense coach is one Vasco Botelho da Costa whose last league game came in charge of … Alverca. Nothing like getting one over on your old employers, especially having just won them promotion. 

Braga next at home and if they were gaining any advantage of insider knowledge of the opposition setup it didn't show as they went down 3-0 with the Fraggles scoring those within the first 35 minutes. However, their XG 2.22 to 1.50, 12 attempts apiece. Five big chances which clearly resulted in five misses. So maybe there was some advantage with Custódio in charge if only they had someone more capable of putting the ball into the onion bag.

Short trip to Estrela where they were leading 2-0 before Ronaldo (not that one) and Jovane (yes that one) pulled it back to 2-2. Alverca at least had their first point on the board if still searching for their first win. Estrela with an XG of 2.60 to 1.08 and 19 attempts to 6. Alverca guilty of wasting both their big chances. The dirty pigeons at home next who led 2-0 at the break. Gui full of glee with a goal 6 minutes remaining but not enough as they lose 2-1. However they registered 11 attempts to 6, scored their solitary big chance and their XG 0.81 to just 1.03.

Battle of the promoted sides and those who have read my Tondela blog will know how well that went for them. First win for Alverca 1-0 the scoreline. As I often say you get the same points for that as you do a 6-0. Combined 5 big chances all missed, the home side with 2 of those. Tondela XG 2.36 to 1.65 and 14 chances to 12. 

Island hopping with Santa Clara away next. 1-1 at half time having gone behind in the opening ten minutes. Additional time heartbreak for the second time with a winner coming in the 6th minute of additional time. So whilst you may only get 3 points whatever the scoreline 1-0 and above, you do need to play until the final whistle. This is a league where it's only two points dropped is never a case of only two points for those at the top or the bottom. Championships and relegations will have been decided on less. Their XG lowest of their campaign to date with 0.45 to 1.89 missing their 1 big chance. Just 3 attempts to Santa Clara's 14. 

They put that disappointment to bed with a shock 2-0 win at home to SC Vitória and to cap it all their second came in the sixth minute of additional time. The world moves in mysterious ways clearly after the previous match. 19 attempts to the side from Guimarães to 11, the key being Alverca missed just the 1 of their 3 big chances. Their XG 1.71 to 1.24. 

Wouldn't you know it, wins are like buses and two turn up at once. Mind you it was away to AVS which you might claim doesn't count but it does really. Not before going behind for the second time in three games in the opening 10 minutes. 1-1 at half time, Sporting old boy Esteves with his first for the club putting the gloss on a 3-1 victory. AVS XG 0.48 to 1.21, 5 attempts to 12. Alverca guilty of spurning both their big chances. At the time of writing they sit 10th in the table before they take on Gil Vicente at home on Friday night before the double header with Sporting. 

So a positive start in the league given all the squad changes and being newly promoted. They shit the bed on Saturday however firstly going down 2-0 to União de Leiria. They made it 2-2 with goals in the 5th and 7th minutes of additional time. Taking the Taça de Portugal tie into additional time neither side could find a winner and justice was seemingly done when União went through 4-2 on penalties. I'm not sure my heart will take this game if it went to penalties. Seeing the lions with 39 attempts to score just the 3 against Paços over 120 minutes was punishing enough. 

Formed in September 1939, a reminder once more of the benefits Portugal enjoyed for staying neutral during WWII when you could start football clubs rather than be sent to the front line. The play at the Complexo Desportivo FC Alverca with a capacity of 6,900 but not big enough to have it's own Wikipedia page. Clearly their fans too busy learning the names of their new players to have created one. Average attendance in their promotion season just 1,005 with 17,086 bums on seats. Clearly playing the dirty pigeons already this one has helped with that because after 4 games they've had 83.24% of the total attendance from last season through their gates. 14,222 bums on seats to date at an average gate of 3,556. Their president, one Fernando Orge. Oh I'm glad I've not got to say that surname aloud. I'm sure it's not as rude as how I'd pronounce it when you do it in Portuguese, or maybe it is. They're located in the city of Alverca do Ribatejo which is in the Lisboa region so a Dérbi of sorts if you were being polite which I can be sometimes. The region is best known for its association with aviation and was originally home to Portugal's first international airport and retains connections to this day with the Portuguese air force. 

Their first foray into top flight football finally came in 1998 after nearly 60 years of existence. At the time they operated as a feeder club for the dirty pigeons so it feels karmidic that they went bust in 2005 for financial reasons. Reformed in 2006 they restarted in the Lisboa FA District leagues not making it back to national level until winning promotion in 2017/18. According to Deepseek after the 2001/02 season they were forced to sell the entire squad. The only player not sold a certain CR7 who returned to the lions from a loan spell. Not sure how true that is as I can't find any other reference. 

For Alverca, if they're known on any level at all outside of Portugal it will I'm sure be because of the Real Madrid and Brazilian star Vinícíus Junior who with his investment partners acquired a stake in February 2025 of over 70% for somewhere in the region of €8m though exact figures are not publicly known. In 2020 another Brazilian, Ricardo Vicintin was the clubs majority shareholder and his philosophy was to use connections in his native country and as mentioned in the opening, with 13 Brazilians currently on their books it's a strategy that doesn't look like changing under the new ownership. The end game to become a club known for developing talent and providing a gateway into other European markets. Their nickname is Os Operários which translates to the labourers or maybe better fitting as the workers given their administrators, accountants, lawyers, liaison officers et al probably won't have seen a day off during the summer months. 

Usually around this time I'd do the summer transfer business for the opposition. When I looked at Fotmob they had no incomings or outgoings listed but it transpires after further research they probably did what I'm about to do and say fuck that. I'm led to believe 26 departures and 31 signings. Gonçalo Esteves one of the signings, André Gomes a goalkeeper from the dirty pigeons is said to be highly rated and Nabil Touaizi is another product of Manchester City’s academy. Whether their business in this window and no doubt in January will be enough to keep them up we'll have to wait, but their fans will have at least been treated to the sight of Vinícíus Junior and rapper Travis Scott in their new home kit. No I don't think I could have cared less either but maybe if I was 12 and not so bitter and cynical I might have been mildly impressed. 

You'll know how bored I get as I'll either have copied and pasted this into the post for Fridays game to see if anyone's noticed or you'll find I've done the entire list of summer incoming and outgoings. Maybe I'll have figured out how the Taça da Liga format now works.. oh Deepseek says its solely a round of 8 based on the top six finishers from Liga 1 and the top two from Liga 2. 

The last time the two clubs met was in October of 2019 with Alverca, then a 3rd division side recording a famous 2-0 victory to knock the lions out of the Taça de Portugal 3rd round. 

Friday update: 

Alverca couldn't have gotten off to a worse start in their home game against Gil Vicente if they'd tried as a header clear fell to Esteves inside the D who volleyed into the bottom left hand corner after just 40 seconds on the clock. GV book ended the half with a second on 44 minutes which again came from the D and fired home into the same corner, this time through Garcia. 

What the poor left hand side of the net had done to upset the opposition is anyone's guess as it took another whack in the 50th minute as Pablo fired in unmarked from 16 yards. Finally the right hand side took some of the burden on 69 minutes with a crisp low finish from 15 yards. Fernandez with the goal to secure the win. Luis Esteves was sent off for the visitors in the 73rd minute catching the heel of Nuozzi who has a fine career in acting ahead of him if the football doesn't work out. 

In the 78th minute Andrew saved a Lincon penalty which was awarded for handball after one of the Alverca players basically pushed the defender in the back moving him forward and the ball hits his far arm. Utterly bizarre and justice done with the save. I'd have been super pissed if I was a Gil Vicente fan. Interestingly Andrew given top rating in the match and Gil Vicente despite winning 4-0 had a lower XG of 1.2 to 1.56. 12 shots for them Vs 6 for Alverca who missed all 3 of their big chances. Andre Gomes in goal appears to be the new Rui Patricio. If he plays in either game next week then lions need to aim for the corners they're his kryptonite. 

In the markets 

Sporting CP 3/10
Draw 19/4
Alverca 6/1

Team News 

The visitors already without eight players for their first of two games; Léo Chu, Chiquinho, Isaac James , Julián Martínez , Figueiredo, Tomás Mendes , André Paulo and Stephane Diarra all miss out.

Starting XI 

Virgínia, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Reis, Mangas, Morita, Kochorashvili, Quenda, Alisson, Blopa and Ioannidis 

Substitutes

Callai, Ribeiro, Muniz, Moreira, Gonçalves, Lucas, Grombahi, Nel and Justo.

No Surprise to see a raft of changes. Virgínia replaces Silva in goal, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Reis and Mangas come into the backline for Fresneda, Diomande, Inácio and Araujo. Morita returns to the starting XI having not featured in the squad on Sunday. Kochorashvili also afforded a start. Quenda, Alisson and Ioannidis also come in which means Hjulmand, Simões, Geny, Trincão and Gonçalves all drop out. Big news - full debut for 18 year old Salvador Blopa promoted from Sporting B. I'll be honest I don't even remember him making a matchday squad before. There's a Gonçalves on the bench - Flávio! In total 9 players from Sporting B make up the entire bench. How exciting. 

FC Alverca Starting XI 

31 Mendes, 14 Baseya, 4 Naves, 33 Meupiyou, 55 Chissumba, 22 Esteves and 21 Sabit, 6 Gui, 88 Martins, 19 Leita and 18 Lincoln 

First half 

I'm trying to think of a braver decision than to select all nine players on your bench from Sporting B. Not one of them over the age of 21. Chris Grombhai the baby still just 17 years old. A combined age of just 168. 

Alverca get us underway, Sporting in green and white halves attack right to left.

1 Alverca defending in blocks of 5-4 with a lone striker in the opening minute. Mateus Reis with the captain's armbands for the night 

4 Mangas wins a corner nearside, headed clear 

5 Kochorashvili with a raking long pass from the left to right flank finds Blopa whose first touch too heavy and Alverca shepherd the ball out for a goal kick 

7 I've made this mistake before in saying the opposition look well drilled but they're using the pitch markings to drop back six yards each time still in a line as the lions buildup their play 

8 Blopa concedes a free kick inside the Sporting half but Alverca choose to play it backwards 

9 Good pressure from Doris which eventually leads to a turnover and the lions start again with Mangas 

10 Blopa goes down in the box but the referee wasn't interested and play continues 

11 Well we've gone from averaging an attempt every 3 minutes on Sunday to waiting for the first chance at all. Mangas times his run wrong and then had a first touch like a trampoline on the end of it straight to the keeper

13 Blopa just starting to find his chops as he went to pick out Doris in the centre but Alverca clear. You imagine his heart rate high pumped full with adrenaline before he'd even started to play

15 Big round of applause for Blopa as he wins possession back in the final third. This has the feel of the Arouca game where the lions scored with their first two chances which took an eternity 

18 Mendes flat out inside the area clutching his ribs after taking a knock from his own player 

19 Blopa beats his marker but can only deposit the ball into the hands of Mendes back on his feet after treatment 

20 GOAL Sporting CP 1 FC Alverca 0. Said it had the feeling of the Arouca win as the lions score with their first shot. Vagiannidis with the perfect header to assist to Quenda whose shot cannons in between the legs of Mendes and deflects up into the goal from 8 yards. That header really was top drawer for the assist. Quenda with goals in successive games I think for the first time in his career for Sporting 

23 When Borges said his players could have a night off they probably hoped that meant not having to watch from the box as they show everyone looking incredibly disinterested on their bus mans holiday 

24 Morita gets a talking to from the referee as he follows through on Gui

25 Quenda nips the ball off the toes of an Alverca defender and bursts away but can only drive his ball at the near post where Mendes stood 

27 Vagiannidis with time to lose his balance, flip himself over backwards, stand up and still receive the ball on the far side 

28 Free kick 30 yards out to Sporting. Chance fell to Morita whose effort blocked from 14 yards 

29 GOAL Sporting CP 2 FC Alverca 0. The players in the box are on their feet, the bench are on their feet. Salvador Blopa with his first ever goal. Picked the ball up on 16 yards, cut inside his marker to the left and slotted home before celebrating with a knee slide. Doris the provider.

32 Yellow to Naves for the arm around Doris. 

32 Mangas draws a save from 5 yards on the nearside. Beautiful first touch to lose his marker in the box but Mendes was aware of the danger and quickly out to block 

35 Alverca player takes a tumble on the edge of the Sporting area near side but again the referee with total disinterest 

36 I'm going to keep on with the comparisons between Doris and Kanu. The ball just sticks to his foot. Perfect for players to benefit playing off the big greek

39 Alverca with their only chance of the game from 26 yards by Abdulai deflects off a sporting defender and up into the arms of Virgínia 

40 Oh no I put the kiss of death onto Doris as the ball came off his knee and Mendes claims. He holds his hands in his heads  

43 Morita slips and the lions lose possession but Mangas charged to win the ball back 

44 Calm from Reis who turns the Alverca forward and plays the ball forward 

Plus two shown 

+2 Corner Alverca far side. Led to nothing and the referee blows

Half time 

Sporting CP 2 FC Alverca 0

In the Arouca game Sporting led 3-0 at half time with just six attempts in total registered. Same ratio this time around with 4 shots to 2 goals. The Alverca coach quick to go on record yesterday that he was missing 8 players. How many of those would be starters I'm unsure but even with a weakened second XI for Sporting they've not been troubled at any stage in the opening half. The obvious highlight the debut goal for Blopa for the second on the night. Everything has to come with a caveat that this is against a newly promoted side but Doris has caused constant problems for Alverca. All that his performance has missed so far is a goal and he knew he should have done better with the only half chance presented to him which came off his knee and into the hands of Mendes. Alverca with plenty of players warming up at half time. I think we can expect a few new faces from them second half. Alverca XG of 0.01 tells the biggest story.

Second half 

Alverca back out first for the half applauded by their travelling fans in the upper tier. Sparse is the word all around the José Alvalade tonight. One Sportinguista clearly struggling to stay awake as the camera pans in on him yawning his head off. Hjulmand all smiles as we await the return of Sporting onto the pitch. Kochorashvili took a bump on his nose at some point in the first half and is now sporting a fetching plaster across it, shades of Robbie Fowler from a time long forgotten. Blopa forgotten his shin pad. Happens to the best of us. Lions get us back underway.

46 Good work from Morita mopping up in midfield and then puts his foot on the ball and looks around under zero pressure 

47 Esteves takes out Kochorashvili who winces as he gets to his feet. Not the return he'd have hoped for tonight 

47 The kids in the crowd entertaining the adults as they shout whey and the adults return the favour

48 Quaresma wins the ball under pressure and a lovely carry up field 

49 Blopa finds Doris but the Greek unable to control the ball. Sorry Doris that really was a kiss of death on my part first half 

50 Doris charges to the goal line but his cut back could only find an Alverca defender 

51 Kochorashvili rather too nonchalant as his flick with the outside of his right foot trying to find Alisson goes out for a throw 

52 Good work from Blopa as he wins the ball back on the right then flattened for his troubles in the next play 

54 This game has all the excitement of watching sped up chess 

54 Doris accidentally catches Sabit and brings about a break in play. Free kick inside the lions half ends all the way back with Mendes 

55 Morita strong into the tackle again to win back possession 

55 Quaresma wise to the danger from a long ball extends his leg and guides the ball wide and picked up by Virgínia 

57 GOAL Sporting CP 3 FC Alverca 0. Quenda with his first brace as a lion. Alisson drove down the left and picked up his new BFF Quenda in the centre who cut back and made space to get his shot away from a couple of inches inside the area into the far bottom right hand corner 

58 ➡️⬅️ Raft of changes for the visitors. Amorim back at the José Alvalade. No not that one. He comes on for Lincoln. Touaizi for Chissumba. Nuozzi for Abdulai

61 ➡️ ⬅️ The José Alvalade rises to its feet as Quenda replaced by Flávio Gonçalves for his debut

62 Morita clears inside the area and again from the second play

63 Better form Esteves as he tries to conjure something up for the visitors and wins a corner far side. Alverca try to be clever and play the ball tight to the near post but Mangas alert to the danger and conceded a second corner which was eventually cleared by Quaresma 

65 Huge round of applause as a Gonçalves sliding tackle wins back possession 

65 Esteves goes down in the box. Should really have had a yellow for simulation. That came from another mistake from Kochorashvili trying to be overly flashy with his pass in midfield 

66 Reis with the simple pass out of defence. I'd forgotten he was playing. Not in a rude way just he's had literally nothing to do 

67 Esteves concedes a corner far side. Kochorashvili swings a cross in and Doris with a powerful header from 6 yards palmed away 

68 Visitors set to make another change. They could be allowed 10 and it won't make any difference to their night. Borges might be thinking of giving his usual starters more rest on Friday 

69 GOAL Sporting CP 4 FC Alverca 0. Salvador Blopa take a bow son, as the José Alvalade rises to its feet again. Gonçalves finds his teammate from Sporting B who fires home from 8 yards to the right of the area into the bottom left hand corner

71 ➡️⬅️ Martins for Lima. That must have been made during the replays of the goal 

72 Leite shot blocked by Reis who threw himself to block the ball 

73 Ribeiro and Rayan Lucas readied on the sidelines 

74 Quaresma gives his man a bump off the ball. Calmly done again 

75 Ball in from the left just intercepted and Doris throws his hands up again thinking you've got to be kidding me. That would have rifled into the net had the defender not got the clearance away

76 ➡️ ⬅️ Alisson for Ribeiro. Blopa for the 17 year old Grombahi. Rayan Lucas for Morita 

77 The gamble has worked perfectly for Borges. Two goals for Blopa. Debuts for him, Gonçalves and Grombahi. Game time for Ribeiro and Lucas and a ticket to the semi finals with a night off for your big name players. Wait for the criticisms to follow from certain sections of the fan base. Frankly you can fuck off 

79 ➡️ ⬅️ Naves for Sergi who takes the captains arm band 

80 GOLAZZO Sporting CP 5 Alverca 0. Doris picks the ball up with two men in front of him. Moves to the left and curls the ball around the defender in front of him into the bottom left hand corner from 27 yards. Mendes stands there and probably says what the fuck did you expect me to do about that? in Portuguese. He's deserved that goal for his play tonight

82 For the visiting fans their comfort is the trip home not far. You imagine many may live in the city anyway. Other than that …

83 ➡️ ⬅️ Quaresma for Muniz 

85 GOAL Sporting CP 5 FC Alverca 1. Sandro Lima pings one in from 16 yards into the top right hand corner. I hope their fans hadn't all exited after the fifth went in. Reis slipped in midfield and Sporting guilty of throwing too many bodies forward on the attack. I don't think they'll concede four more though. Referee should have penalised the Brazilian for handball as he slipped and awarded the free kick. I'm being facetious… or am I? 

87 The lions not done as they try to find Gonçalves inside the six but the defender uses his height to clear over the top of the youngster. Someone stick him in a grow bag

Plus two shown 

90 Big calls for handball as Gonçalves strike from 18 yards hits a defender. VAR said no

+2 Ribeiro fires into the stand from 20 yards 

Full time 

Sporting CP 5 FC Alverca 1

The final word 

The visitors will be left wishing that one result could count for two competitions as they face the prospect of returning on Friday night knowing that Rui Borges rested the majority of his usual starting XI and they still conceded five times.

I said it half time and I'll say it again that win has all the echoes of the Arouca win, just with a different cast and this time the sixth goal wasn't scored by us. After Tondela we learned that haters are going to hate whatever Rui Borges does so I guess we'll enjoy the wins and let them stew making nonsensical remarks and clinging onto something they might be able to criticise but never articulate what exactly that is. 

It was a bold move to have nine youngsters on the bench and it could have backfired but in a way it's Borges' way of answering all the criticisms at once and still expecting another wave sometime soon because that's how waves work, even if they recede the tide will come back again quick enough when the new moon rises. As with the Arouca game they score from their first shot. No hurried passes, they weren't guilty of snap shots in poor positions. Like a Guinness advert they waited patiently for an opportunity to present itself and took it. 

It's hard to know where to start with the positives. The only blot on the night the slip by Reis and the fact Virgínia maybe should have done better but it didn't effect the result and for those who were in attendance they can say I was there on the night Salvador Blopa scored twice on his debut. It was a nervy start for the youngster but I'll forgive him that as he grew into the game with every passing minute. Some of his crosses were overhit but as dream debuts go that's still got to be up there even if he did forget to put his other shin pad in. Don't worry Salvador no one noticed. 

Vagiannidis had real issues in his last outing and two assists will have thankfully restored his confidence and the assist for the first was sublime. Deadly simple but sublime all the same and I had presumed it was Ioannidis. It's all Greek to me as someone famously once said. Quaresma was calm at the back and solid throughout with a number of timely interceptions and yes I know make that with asterisk or caveat it with who the opposition was and how many players they had injured and missing. Blah, blah, blah... You've still got to beat what's in front of you. 

Mangas was entertaining on the left which is a polite way of saying fun to watch but in the same way you mind find a headless chicken strangely entertaining if you saw it running around in front of you never knowing quite where it's going or what it's going to do. Kochorashvili at points looked great, at points like an Adam Ant tribute act and at others you wish he'd stop trying to be so flash. When it came off it looked great on the eye and when it didn't it could have caused us issues against a bigger more adept team. But it mattered little. Morita's best game of the season. Alert to the what dangers there were posed and looked calm throughout. 

Alisson claimed the assist for the Quenda second goal and covered plenty of ground even if it wasn't his most effective performance to date in a lions shirt. Quenda playing the Trincão role coming up with a brace and benefited from the space occupying that role brought him. More of the same please and whilst the first finish left much to be desired the second was of quality. Again can he show it against a better team is the question? I hope so and whilst he's still at Sporting please. 

Grombahi was box to box. Made a timely clearance in defence and didn't seem at all fazed at any point but it probably helped for him that the game had already been put to bed. Flávio Gonçalves has been putting up some consistent numbers for the B team and thrilled to see him make his debut and thought he gave a good account of himself. Not afraid to put himself about despite his diminutive stature. I don't know how tall he is and it's not a pun when I point out he has that low centre of gravity that you only see in a handful of players which allows them to shake off their markers and turn on a six pence. Marcus Edwards the last Sporting player to boast a similar skillset. Before that Ryan Gauld and Podence too. Someone may need to give him double helpings of pudding and try get a bit of extra weight on him. The only shame with Sporting B sitting atop of Liga 2 has been the impact on chances for the kids in the first team this season. Same with Champions League nights where they've been playing before the game in the kids tournament. We've seen Alfonso Bastardo with two goals for Lyon this week and this would have been a game for him to make his mark in tonight. Another name to add to the list of what could have been. 

* I have to admit Muniz and Rayan Lucas didn't really flash up on my radar. Certainly I think a full debut for Muniz albeit I think Lucas has minutes under his belt as a substitute although I could be confusing that with pre-season so I'll try fact check that at some point on the final read through and edit. No looks like his full debut too and I'm confusing his cameo appearance against Villarreal. Didn't see if they split his name right on his shirt tonight.

Interestingly for a game which saw 6 goals the final XG 1.65 to 0.30 which goes to show the quality of the goals from Quenda, Blopa, Doris and Lima. Did someone write in their pre match buildup that Alverca are susceptible to shots into the far corners? Having been criticised that I can't read a game I'll shrug that one off, must just be a coincidence. 

Just ten attempts in total. 39 against Paços over 120 minutes, 29 against Tondela over the 90. Proof that being patient and recycling the ball and looking for the right move is a far more efficient and effective game plan. I'd not want to watch this game or the Arouca one back any more than I'd want to watch speed chess but that's not taking away from a great performance. 544 passes in total with a 92% completion rate shows how comfortable the night was for Sporting but also belies the fact there were incredibly long build up plays like a metronome swinging left to right and back again. If it brings about a 6-0 and 5-1 win then I'm all for it really. I'd just like a fast forward button. 

So man of the match time. It's a close call from Morita and Quaresma for my first slot. Both had really good nights but then again Vagiannidis had two assists. Fuck it none of them get my actual award so Morita it is. Just maybe caught my eye more times overall. Salvador Blopa with a debut to remember. Two goals capped an excellent debut but had the jitters in the opening 15 to 20 minutes and some of his crosses were wayward but that's gnit picking and not a big criticism but still the reason he's not my man of the match. Again the same for Quenda, scores a brace which I'm genuinely thrilled with. Three goals in two games. Really enjoyed the second goal and would have probably taken my man of the match if it wasn't for the performance of Ioannidis who gets my man of the match. A performance that deserved a goal and what a goal it was too. Only bettered by the goalkeepers reaction as if to say - oh come on you've got to be kidding. His link up play is great, his positional play is spot on even if the two best chances he was presented with he ironically couldn't get under control. That was my fault for highlighting how well he does control the ball, which he does in fairness. I thought we'd been sold a bit of a pup with him but he's proper mould growing on me with every performance. Suárez needs to really up his game to keep him out of the starting XI. In fact I'd maybe be brave and sacrifice one of Gonçalves or Trincão just for his play and ability to link his teammates up in the final third especially against sides who would play with a low block. 

We'll see what Fridays return fixture brings. Semi Final spot confirmed. Three points on Friday night please.

* A long day, Muniz the last defender who the last man against Lima for the consolation goal. Shades of Fresneda for the Marseille goal but it mattered little. Also Ribeiro the forgotten man. There's always one. Did his Pedro Gonçalves impression in additional time placing a section of the fans behind the goal in danger. Could be the new Chermiti which isn't a compliment.