Sporting CP 6 AVS Futebol SAD 0

Sporting CP v AVS Futebol SAD

December 14th, 2025

Estádio José Alvalade 

Matchday 14

The warm up

The Lions welcome AVS to the José Alvalade for Matchday 14 with the visitors experiencing one of the worst starts to a campaign in the history of Portuguese top flight football. Based on their average points per game of just 0.25, they are currently on course to break the record for the lowest points total ever recorded in the top division. Still to register a single win in the league this season, their only joy has come in the Taça de Portugal where they beat Fornos de Algodres 7-0 away in round 3 and progressed in round 4 past Academico Viseu 7-6 on penalties after the game finished 0-0. 

They began the campaign under the stewardship of José Mota, quickly replaced by João Pedro Sousa who has been unable to bring any upturn in their fortunes or performances. However that will hardly have come as a surprise given they finished 3rd bottom following their promotion to the top flight finishing level on points with Farense and only three above Boavista. This secured their position in the play off spot where they beat Vizela 5-2 on aggregate to guarantee their position once more in the Portuguese top flight for another campaign. 

Nineteen new signings have come into the club since the summer and they continue to sign free agents in the hope of finding any player who can turn around their ailing fortunes. Carlos Ponck was picked up as a free agent at the start of last month and Ruben Semedo who left Sporting in the 2017/18 season for Villarreal, signed as a free agent in October. 

Their record heading into Saturday's team time fixture at home to Rio Ave is played 12, drawn 3, lost 9, GF 8, GA 29. Their away record heading to the Alvalade, played 6, drawn 1, lost 5, GF 4, GA 17.

Remarkably AVS upset the apple cart in the meeting of the two teams last time out when Sporting contrived to throw away a 2-0 goal lead away from home. Reduced to ten men following the dismissal of Diomande in the second half, AVS equalised to take a point in the 95th minute to secure a highly improbable 2-2 draw. No such issues however at home when Harder opened the scoring and a brace from Viktor Gyökeres secured all three points in a comfortable 3-0 win. 

Between August 9th and October 25th, AVS collected a solitary point in a 2-2 draw away to Sporting Braga. No surprise to learn I had money on the home side to win and that my legendary ability to inflict suffering upon those sides I've bet on hasn't diminished over time. They did however only lose one game in November albeit that was owed to a shortened calendar with the international break. They drew at home to Tondela and high flying Gil Vicente before being comprehensively beaten 4-0 away to Vitória SC. 

Their eight goals have all come from open play. Top scorer, the evergreen Brazilian Nene who has 2 to his name at the tender age of 42. Six others share a goal apiece. Alongside their failure to win a single game, they're also yet to keep a clean sheet which will come as an ominous sign ahead of this fixture against the league's top scorers in Sporting who've scored 32 times to date in their opening 13 matches.

They come close to topping some of the tables associated with the league, 2nd for most fouls on average per game with 15.7 behind Famalicão. Second for most penalties conceded with 5 behind Moreirense and Arouca who are tied on 7 apiece. Second in the XG conceded table on 21.1 meaning they've actually 8 goals worse off than where statistically they should have been. Maybe this is the game where Luis Suárez could actually come away with his first match ball under his arm though even then I'd not put my hands in my pocket to put money on it occuring.

It should be noted that they have no relation to Clube Desportivo das Aves who were dissolved in 2020 owing to financial difficulties. Their greatest moment as a club was the 2-1 victory over Sporting in the 2018 Taça de Portugal final. Despite the win they were denied a licence to compete in European competitions the following season owing to their poor financial health and were relegated in the 2019/20 season with five games still to play. 

AVS are now the grand age of 2 having been formed in the May of 2023. Hailing from the town of Aves in Santo Tirso, the last recorded population wouldn't even fill 20% of the Estádio José Alvalade if the entire town were to descend upon the southern capital. The area is renowned for its textile industry so maybe one of the locals can help them knit together a run of form. The club's president is the Brazilian Rubens Takano Parreira of which little is known other than him having been named in the Panama Papers leak so maybe no surprise his side often go into hiding during the 90 minutes. 

After 13 rounds last season Sporting had 33 points, this season one point less with 32. If you overlap the corresponding fixtures for the two seasons substituting Farense for Alverca and Boavista for Tondela, they're also interestingly one point down season upon season 33 to 32. The only difference in results being the loss to Porto at the José Alvalade and an improvement in beating Arouca 6-0 compared to last season's 2-2 draw. The only room for improvement at home between now and the end of the campaign will be to avenge the Santa Clara 1-0 loss. Otherwise the lions will need to match the ten wins in the other home fixtures remaining. Away from home far more scope for improvement having drawn to Porto, AVS, Gil Vicente and Vitória as well as the loss to Moreirense.

Saturday update 

A Clayton brace gave the visitors all three points. The Brazilians first on the half hour mark gave Rio Ave the lead, AVS drew level on 50 minutes through Óscar Perea's goal which draws him level as the club's top goalscorer. Their evening got a whole lot harder when Jaume Gray was given a second yellow on the hour mark. AVS held out until a minute before time when Sidi Bane conceded a penalty which was finally converted two minutes into additional time. Clayton conceded a free kick just outside the area deep into additional time which led to handbags between both sets of players. After a long stoppage Diego Duarte fired straight into the wall and his follow up effort blocked and their misery was complete as they cleared and the referee finally blew for full time. They remain six points off Casa Pia who lost to Santa Clara earlier in the day, Arouca who travel away to Estrela tomorrow and Tondela who face Porto at home. The defeat means that AVS have now conceded one less goal than Sporting have scored this season in total. Amazingly despite being rock bottom still without a win it's Arouca who have the worst defensive record conceding 34 times. That is you imagine until this forthcoming fixture and tide may well have turned. 

Champions League Future Opponents roundup

Athletic Club v PSG

Rather helpfully our remaining two opponents faced off against each other on Matchday 6. The Basque side went into the game with just 4 points to their name needing a positive result if they're to qualify for the knockout rounds whereas the current European Champions knew a win would see them one step closer to automatic qualification. Nuno Mendes started knowing a booking would rule him out of the game at the José Alvalade and thankfully for him at least we should now see him out on the pitch in the next round. Sadly for us that means we've got to play against an even more improved version of the much loved player most probably to our detriment. PSG missing a host of big name players including the Ballon D'or winner Ousmane Dembélé, Achraf Hakimi whose rated by many as the best right back in world football, first choice keeper Lucas Chevalier and Lucas Hernández who was suspended. Back to fitness for Athletic the highly rated Nico Williams, this only his third outing in this season's competition after a long lay off. 

Come full time the statistics show the Parisians recording 2 attempts to every 1 from the home side. 18 shots to 9, 5 Opta defined big chances created for PSG, 5 big chances missed, Athletic didn't created a single one. XG of 0.56 to 2.05, 186 passes to 597 completed. So who had Athletic Club 0 PSG 0 on their bingo card? Not many I'm sure but that's how it ended. PSG 3rd in the table two points off Bayern and 5 off Arsenal, level with Manchester City and Atalanta. Athletic 2 points behind FC København who occupy the last knockout place in 24th one point above the dirty pigeons who did what Sporting couldn't beating Napoli 2-0 at home on Wednesday night. Co-efficient points for Portugal. No complaints from me. Sporting fell 6 places out of the automatic slots down to 14th level on points with Newcastle, Chelsea and Barcelona. Incredible to think Sporting are level on points with the side that have spent over one billion pounds on players since May 2022. 

Thursday update 

Pedro Gonçalves won't be back until the new year with another issue on his right thigh. Quenda we learned midweek was already out for an extended period of time and they join Debast on the new list of long term injured as Bragança and Nuno Santos start to get closer to their return. The mister named coach of the month for November and the clubs hierarchy set to offer him a well earned contract extension in the new year. Salvador Blopa has had his contract automatically extended two years to run until the summer of 2028 following his progression into the first team squad in recent months. With Geny off to the African Cup of Nations and Quenda injured he jumps up to the front of the queue for a place on the right wing over the next few matches although Vagiannidis could also prove another option though whether Borges would want to risk him and Fresneda in the starting XI with a risk of one of them getting injured is another question. 

In the markets

Sporting 3/50

Draw 10/1

AVS 20/1

Team News 

Starting XI 

Silva, Vagiannidis, Diomande, Inácio, Mangas, Kochorashvili, Morita, Geny, Trincão, Araújo and Suárez 

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Reis, Fresneda, Quaresma, Hjulmand, Simões, Alisson, Blopa and Ioannidis 

After the season's two biggest games to date the Mister Rui Borges takes advantage of the opposition to ring the changes. Out go Fresneda, Quaresma, Reis, Simões, Hjulmand and Alisson. In Vagiannidis, Inácio, Mangas, Kochorashvili, Morita and Trincão. All six who drop out of the starting XI are named amongst the substitutes. Callai, Felicíssimo, Gonçalves and Ribeiro return to Sporting B.

AVS Starting XI

99 Gonçalves, 26 Ponck, 35 Semedo, 42 Devenish, 21 Neiva, 27 Algobia, 8 Lima, 24 Afonso, 6 Assuncao, 7 Tomané and 14 Perea 

First Half 

Sporting in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes. AVS get us underway, the lions attack right to left 

1 Mangas has started as the option furthest forward on the left 

2 Corner far side to Sporting. Trincão swings a ball to the back post which eventually fell to Suárez whose shot from 7 yards is easily dealt with by Gonçalves 

4 Penalty as Mangas fouled in the box. From the wing he played the ball to Araújo inside the box who with audacious flick returned the pass, Mangas then taken out as he drove forward. Referee has gone to the monitor. Decision overturned 

8 Lima tries from distance with a low shot centrally that Silva collects easily 

11 Yellow shown to Mangas for a foul on Lima. He holds his hand up in acknowledgement. That was a poor challenge 

13 Trincão turns inside the area but misses the ball completely and gives his face a rub as if to reminder himself to wake up 

14 Trincão fires wide of the left hand post from a couple of inches inside the edge of the 18 yard box. Superb crisp passing move in the buildup. That would have made one hell of a goal had it gone in 

17 Araújo goes down in the box after contact from behind by Neiva. Referee not interested. I'm not sure how that's not a penalty. Suárez with a blocked shot from 17 yards which deflected left, the Uruguayan chased it down and got in front of the midfielder who took the player down and didn't make contact with the ball 

20 Trincão whips a shot in from 20 yards. That seemed to catch Gonçalves unawares as he punched clear but unconvincingly 

22 You can always tell how interesting the game is by the amount of time the editor spends on shots of fans in the crowd and so far we've seen an awful lot 

24 Shades of Bayern from midweek where you're asking yourself how the game is still 0-0 although to be fair that was how the Germans hadn't scored 

24 Corner near side to the lions 

25 Poor from the lions. The initial ball into the box headed as far as Kochorashvili. The Georgian with a raking pass wide right to Geny, his cross plucked out the air by Gonçalves 

26 Shots of Hjulmand and Quaresma on the bench, Gonçalves, Bragança and Nuno Santos in the stands, the mister Rui Borges. Anything but what's on the pitch. Now we've gone to spider cam. 

27 Araújo misplaces his pass in the final third and puts the defence in danger. Algobia fires well wide from 16 yards 

28 Geny brings a save low from Gonçalves 

29 Best chance of the game for the visitors as Perea brings a diving save from Silva. He was wide open on the left and that's a fine save from the keeper 

30 Replays of an AVS player handling in the box. Not sure when that was but again nothing given even though he leant towards the ball 

32 GOAL Sporting CP 1 AVS 0. Finally the deadlock is broken. Poor first touch from Suárez outside the area which then caused the ball to bobble not once but twice and somehow he manages to rifle it into the net from 20 yards. I won't lie I was waiting for that the nestle into row Z

34 GOAL Sporting CP 2 AVS 0. Araújo with the easiest of finishes doubles the lions lead in the space of two minutes. Vagiannidis cross low from the right, the Uruguayan turned his body and directs the ball between a defender's legs and past Gonçalves from 8 yards 

36 Vagiannidis cross from the right, Semedo gets his lines all wrong and diverts the ball looping up and Gonçalves has to concede a corner 

37 GOAL Sporting CP 3 AVS 0. 3 goals in five minutes as Geny drives the ball into the bottom left hand corner through a sea of blue shirts from 20 yards. The initial corner header clear came as far as Kochorashvili and the Georgian with a powerful header picked out the Mozambique winger free to his left. 

38 Mangas fires wide from ten yards. The substitutes warming up all with their hands on their heads. That was a huge chance to make it 4-0

41 You fear for AVS, the lions could justifiably have had three penalties this half on top of scoring three in the space of five minutes 

Plus two shown 

+1 Deliberate shirt pull on Geny. Foul given but no booking. 

+1 AVS with their back line of 5 some 30 yards out. Give them their dues they don't change from their principles but at some stage they need to at least attempt to tighten up at the back. They are sleep walking towards Liga 2

Half time 

Sporting CP 3 AVS 0

The gulf in quality is all too apparent even with a second string XI against the league's bottom club. If you think Wolves are bad in the Premier League they've got nothing on AVS. They lost 4-0 at Vitória, you can see the lions surpassing that if they're in the mood tonight. Even ably assisted by the referee they still go in three goals behind. If I finally bothered to learn Portuguese I'd tell you why the Mangas penalty was overturned. He jumps before contact but if it was simulation then he should have been shown the yellow card and he takes the impact from the defender Ponck onto his hip. The Neiva challenge on Araújo is clumsy and he takes the Uruguayan down and again with the handball whilst his arm is down by his side he clearly leans into it. I can't say the referee has covered himself in glory with his decisions so far. Still it doesn't matter going into half time. Plenty of positives on the pitch in all areas but in truth this AVS side will make any eleven they face off against look great. The question right now is how many Sporting will score before the end of the match?

Second Half 

AVS haven't even bothered to come out for the second half. Oh now they have. 

➡️⬅️ Reis for Inácio 

45 Sporting get us back underway 

45 In North London Gyökeres has completed 3 of 6 passes and recorded 0 attempts. Wonder if he regrets that move yet?

46 GOAL Sporting CP 4 AVS 0. Well that didn't take long. Vagiannidis rolls the ball across the six yard box for Araújo to send the ball into the roof of the net from 3 yards

47 Vicious shot from wide left 16 yards out punched clear by Gonçalves. Corner Sporting 

49 Yellow to Assunção for a late challenge on Geny

50 I had us down to win 5-0 today. I think I might have needed to go higher 

51 Mangas cross from the left diverted goalwards by Suárez and Gonçalves claims. Not sure if that will go down as an attempt 

51 Quaresma readied on the sidelines 

52 Semedo with the go go gadget legs stops the ball from connecting with Suárez in the centre. He really needs to score … his first hat-trick tonight…

53 GOAL Sporting CP 5 AVS 0. Just as I was about to finish that sentence about needing to score his hat-trick, Reis flicks on a header to the back post and from two yards Suárez scores. Some shit you couldn't make up. That's two down one to go for the Colombian 

54 ➡️⬅️ Araújo for Quaresma and Mangas for Ioannidis. Huge round of applause for the Uruguayan as he leaves the pitch 

56 ➡️⬅️ Tiago Galetto for Algobia and Rivas for Afonso

59 Semedo body checks Kochorashvili to the ground. Again how is that not a booking? Actually the replay suggests that's a clear elbow into the face, how is that not a red?

61 Free kick 24 yards out struck by the Georgian round the wall but wide of the right hand post by some distance 

63 Superb from Trincão, picks up the ball deep and found Ioannidis’ run into the box but his first touch too heavy and the move breaks down 

64 This game feels like someone let the air out of it after the fifth goal went in 

64 AVS with every outfield player across the half way line. Toe poked effort from the edge of the six yard box straight at Silva from Lima 

66 ➡️⬅️ Neiva for Spencer. The former went down off the ball needing treatment and was taken off the far side on the halfway line. That's going to be the longest of walks back to the bench 

68 Corner near side found Diomande who couldn't direct his header on target from 3 yards and it flies out for a goal kick on the far side 

69 Two more changes coming from the lions. The mister rolls his arms to Alisson as if to say more momentum, higher tempo and he nods 

70 Geny tries to bend the ball from 20 yards but Gonçalves in the right place. Surely his last meaningful involvement in tonight's game 

71 Sliding challenge from Morita wins the ball back. I'd forgotten he was playing 

71 ➡️ ⬅️ Suárez and Morita for Alisson and Simões. Really? I'm starting to think the Colombian is destined never to score a hat-trick for the lions. I'd be super pissed if I was him. Just before that change Perea had a shot blocked by Diomande from 8 yards wide left. Clearly I had expected Geny to be replaced I'll hold my hands up there 

74 Trincão fouled by Ponck who is booked for the pull back which was probably the first challenge that wasn't a yellow but ironically was shown a yellow for 

75 Tremendous diving save from Gonçalves, that was top drawer to keep a goal bound effort from Kochorashvili out from 22 yards 

76 Semedo with last ditch defending again clears on the edge of the six yard box for a corner 

76 Alisson smashes a shot straight from 20 yards. Had that been six feet to the left when he struck it the keeper was in trouble. It wasn't, he wasn't  

77 Shot from 30 yards strikes the head of Diomande in the centre. File that under ambitious from Tomané

79 Tomané header from 8 yards into the arms of Silva 

80 Thunder claps from the home fans as they try to make their own entertainment 

80 Ioaniddis draws a foul from Ponck in the corner far side 

81 Clearance from the free kick dropped to Alisson who fires wide from twenty yards 

83 Double chance as Alisson's effort from 13 yards saved from Gonçalves, the ball landed at the feet of Vagiannidis who blasted over from 17 yards 

86 Can the lions find that elusive sixth goal? Not with a pass like that straight to Gonçalves 

87 Not with a pass like that from Reis either. Semedo down pretending to be injured in the area. 

88 ➡️⬅️ Semedo with the miraculous recovery to get up and walk off. This is like Lordes for miracles. Aderllan on. Perea off for Tunde

Plus three shown 

Not sure how you can have ten substitutions and only 3 minutes additional time shown 

+1 Another save from Gonçalves low to his right from an Alisson shot from range 

+1 Geny shot from the edge of the six yard box blocked by Gonçalves 

+2 GOAL Sporting CP 6 AVS 0. Well that fucked my 5-0 prediction. Geny makes no mistakes as he rifles in from 16 yards into the bottom right hand corner 

Full time 

Sporting CP 6 AVS 0

The final word 

So the lions come away from a trip to the orthodontist with three players sporting braces. Rui Borges' side equal their best result of the campaign. AVS are staring relegation in the face and we're not even at the half way mark of the season. On that performance you can't see them even making it into double figures by the end of May. Paços de Ferreira and AC Marinhense made it harder work on the lions in the Taça than AVS did tonight. They were woeful and Sporting rarely made it out of second gear it was that comfortable. If Sporting went to the orthodontist then AVS went to the dentist some time in the week because that was a toothless display. You imagine their fans ask the question what time do we kick off? 830, 832, 834, 837…

As you'd imagine against a side rock bottom the attendance well below par and even with six goals the atmosphere never really got going as they were treated to something that resembled a training game on the pitch. If it wasn't for Gonçalves and some bizarre officiating it could have finished 10-0 because it really was that one sided. I felt sorry for Suárez and I get with a raft of injuries his withdrawal is down to game management but he won't have had a better chance to come away with his first Liga hat-trick than tonight. 

Silva when tested on the rare occasion was equal to anything thrown at him. Diomande, Inácio, Quaresma and Reis didn't have to break a sweat between the four of them at the back. I'd forgotten Morita was even playing at points during the game he had so little to do with the ball being played out on either of the channels and Kochorashvili left as the conductor when the ball did come through the central area. We were treated to the odd moment of genius from Trincão but he was largely allowed to watch the game go by and not have to overly exert himself. 

Last season I wrote Debast was the answer in midfield before the mister went on to pick him in that exact role and this week I suggested Vagiannidis was the answer on the right wing and if this was an audition then he passed it with flying colours in his best game in a Sporting shirt to date capped with two assists. Based on his season overall he definitely looks better offensively than he does defensively although no complaints in regards to the latter tonight. The only black mark against his performance was the poor finish late on the second half. 

Same goes for the Georgian Kochorashvili as he too enjoyed his best performance to date. Here his long range of passing on full display albeit those should be caveated by a lack of closing down from any of the AVS back line. The only black mark of his performance was again his effort on goal from the free kick. For me the forearm into his face that led to the free kick was a sending off and typical of a really poor job from the referee who got all the big calls wrong and that's the worst official we've seen all season. His header for Geny's first goal was wonderful though. Incredibly simple but incredibly effective nonetheless. His shot from outside the area that brought the save of the night from Gonçalves would have been a contender for goal of the season and would have capped a great performance.

I don't doubt Alisson's talent but he's been off the boil for a few weeks now and what I originally really liked about his game play was the ability to slow things down whereas of late he's playing like a podcast stuck on 1.5 and someone needs to adjust his settings back again. It'll come though at some point I'm sure. As for Mangas, he certainly enjoyed himself out on the left linking up with Araújo to good effect but he's not good enough for this level even if he's good enough against AVS which isn't saying much on tonight's evidence. His two best games have now come in 6-0 home wins against two of the worst teams in Portugal. I thought the penalty overturn was harsh. If you're watching on a monitor then you have to watch it in real time for me because what's he supposed to do there? If a car was coming at you at speed then you'd have the sense to try jump out the way and lessen the impact. Anyways I'm sure at some point it'll become apparent why it wasn't given. Apologies again for having no Portuguese in my locker other than the months and a few swear words. Simões and Ioaniddis didn't have much to do in fairness coming on either. 

Man of the match time and four to choose from. I could go five with Kochorashvili knocking on the door but I'll stick with the four. Vagiannidis gets my first vote for the reasons already mentioned above. Suárez gets my second vote. I genuinely was waiting for him to pie his first effort into the stand. Piss poor first touch and if you watch the slowed down replay from behind you'll see the double bobble so for him to connect as well as he did I doth my cap to him. Probably his most complete performance for me overall and as I've already written I felt sorry for him getting shanked because I was entirely convinced this was the night for his first hat-trick. Je ne sais quoi is very apt for Suárez, I don't know what it is about him, but he just does not convince me on any level and I think at present we fully had our pants pulled down by Almería over the transfer fee. Maybe he'll prove me wrong second half of the season but on the showing of the first half of the campaign he needs five or six opportunities for every goal and that's not sustainable. Geny gets my third vote, hard not to when you've got three players scoring a brace. Two great finishes for both goals, brought plenty out on the right flank and linked up neatly with Vagiannidis. He'll be a big miss away at the African cup of nations but he leaves smiling and when Geny is smiling this old man smiles too. Final vote clearly goes to Araújo who I think it's safe to say is now well on his way to cementing himself as Sporting's player of the season. The kid is box office he really is, the flick that led to the penalty, the link up play down the left with Mangas and a brace to boot. No wonder he got such a great reception as he left the pitch. If the club aren't in talks to offer him an improved contract then someone at the top needs firing, there's going to be a queue for his services and another one of those players you need to enjoy before he leaves for big money in the future. Three displays in the Dérbi, against Bayern and here tonight. I was originally going to give it to Araújo but having only been on the pitch 55 minutes maybe that's unfair to the other three. Can I mark Suárez down for not scoring a hat-trick? Sure why not. I don't think anyone reads to this point anyways. Fuck it I'm going to give it to Geny by a cat's whisker over Vagiannidis. It was close. Very, very close. 

All eyes on Thursday for the Taça da Liga as the lions fly to the Azores.