Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 2 (Taça da Liga Semi Final)

Sporting CP v Vitória SC 

Tuesday January 6th, 2026

Taça da Liga Semi Final

Estádio Dr. Magalhães Pessoa

The warm up

Two weeks after their league fixture in Guimarães the two sides meet again a fortnight later, this time on neutral territory in the Taça da Liga as Luis Pinto’s men will look to extract revenge on their heavy 4-1 defeat. For those of you with a short memory, goals from Trincão, Ioaniddis, Araújo and an own goal gave Sporting all three points, whilst Vitória finished the game with ten men after the 86th minute dismissal of Nélson Oliveira. VSC followed that defeat with a disappointing 0-0 draw away to struggling Casa Pia who at the time of writing remain one of three topflight Portuguese clubs still to register a home win. Casa failed to register a solitary big chance in the game, VSC missed all 3 of theirs, the final XG 0.33 to 1.38. They face Nacional on Friday night at home looking to improve on their home record of 3 wins, 3 draws and 2 defeats. 

A lot has been made in the Portuguese press and on social media of late about Luis Suárez’s start to the season in comparison to Viktor Gyökeres’ first season in the Liga in 2023/24. Personally, I cannot help but think that certain parties are desperate to fill the void left by the Swede and that they’re happily painting over the cracks in the Colombian's game and avoiding the obvious flaws. According to Opta data (noting this is before the Gil Vicente game on Friday night) no player in Portugal has missed more big chances than Suárez in the Liga with 14 to his name. Compare that to Pavlidis at Benfica who has missed 7 and has a shot conversion rate of 29.2% or Aghehowa at Porto who has missed just 6 with a SCR of 22.5% or even our own Pedro Gonçalves who has missed 6 with an SCR of 18.8% compared to the Colombians 18.7%. He has had 75 attempts in total scoring 14 times (joint top scorer with Pavlidis). 

Now any good accountant can make a set of figures read however they like to fit their narrative. Maybe the Colombian is doing better than the Swede over the first half of the season, after all he’s scored 3 more goals, but that doesn't make him the second coming and personally I'm yet to be truly convinced by him. Whilst we’ve not yet played Gil Vicente as I write, Gyökeres only played 16 games in the opening 17 of his first campaign so it’s as good a point as any for a like for like comparison with Suárez having played in all 16 games to date.

At the halfway stage in the 2023/24 season the player with the most attempts on goal was actually Pedro Gonçalves with 53 and if he’d stayed fit this season it’s fair to say that Suárez’s total of 75 attempts to date would have been greatly reduced and thus there’s a fair chance he’d have scored less goals. Suárez has been presented with more opportunities to score, as Gyökeres by comparison had a total 49 attempts from which he scored 11 times. Whilst he only really kicked on in the second half of that 23/24 season it would be hard to make the case that had he been given an extra 26 attempts on goal that he wouldn’t have scored an additional 3 times to have the same total. Suárez has benefited from being the main focal point of attack especially since the injury to Pote. Gyökeres not only had less attempts presented to him because of the ever-present Gonçalves, he also had to compete with Paulinho for opportunities in what was his best ever campaign in a green and white jersey. 

Now 28 years of age after his birthday at the start of the month, I’ve seen nothing to suggest that we haven't massively overpaid Almería for his services in the summer and I do genuinely mean massively overpaid as well, plus there are add on’s aplenty to his basic fee which have already begun to be invoiced. This is a player whose last decent season before the last one in the Spanish Segunda came all the way back in 2019/20 playing for Real Zaragoza when he scored 19 goals in 39 matches. In the interim he failed to hit double figures and his time at Marseille in Ligue 1 was a complete disaster scoring just 3 times in 11 matches. This is only his 4th season since his debut with Leones in 2015 that he has reached double figures for goals. No offence to Almería by which I clearly mean every offence, but playing for them realistically only ever allowed for the opportunity of being the leagues top scorer. No one is going to pat Suárez on the back if he were to finish top scorer in Portugal and yet they don't win anything, especially if it costs the club an additional half a million euros in bonuses to Almería. At his age he's realistically not going to deliver a profit in the transfer market, he's a signing for the here and now and he really needs to wise up to the reality to that it's a team game. Gyökeres understood that in spades and yet still achieved personal glory two seasons on the spin as well as two league titles and turned a profit for the club. I'm sure the Colombian always knew he had big boots to fill but in the next few months he's going to really find out how big. 

I don’t have complete data for his season to date because it isn’t always available for the two Taça competitions in the early stages but where it is available Suárez has had a total of 94 attempts, 43 of which have been on target (45.74%) which have resulted in 18 goals in all competitions from 26 matches. He’s scored in 14 of those games, 12 with no goal so roughly a goal every other game. He's certainly industrious I will give him that but his spacial awareness is severely lacking and I'm not sure I'd let him park my car anytime soon. Gyökeres had an incredible second half to his debut season and maybe after Suárez scored his first hat-trick last time against out Rio Ave he'll kick on and make me eat my words. It won't be the first time and I certainly won't be complaining if it does happen. To his credit in recent weeks the penny seems to have dropped that this is a team game and he's finally started to pass inside the box realising there are other players in better positions. A hat-trick against Rio Ave is all well and good but he needs to deliver in the big matches - in the Clássico, in the Dérbi or even against Braga would be a good starting place. Gyökeres played a large part of the end of his first season on one leg and yet he rose to levels which will take some matching and to be fair I don't expect Suárez to match them. However we would have gotten the same amount of points from Araújo’s goal in a 1-0 win against Rio Ave that we did for winning 4-0. It's just gloss and will count for nothing if we cannot overturn the 5 point deficit at the top of the table.

Porto have so far overcome a lack of pre-season and a summer spent at the World Club Cup finals to date and credit to them. However I cannot be the only person looking on as this season unfolds with an opinion that this is one of the worst Portuguese leagues for a good number of years. AVS have yet to win a game after 16 rounds of matches and are well on course to be relegated with the lowest ever points total. This compared to last season where even Boavista and their failure to pay players for large parts of it brought better results on the field. With them, Casa Pia and Tondela you've three sides yet to win at home. Estoril, Santa Clara and Arouca have won once apiece away. I hope the lad who who went away to see Arouca draw 0-0 with Santa Clara by himself at least got to see their one away win against Nacional. Mind you that would have been another fair round trip in itself. Maybe he did and that's why he island hopped a second time. Anyways this isn't an Arouca blog. With the overall lack of quality, Gyökeres would think all his Christmas’ had come at once had he stayed. Hindsight is a wonderful thing if only it could have been foresight. So in the comparison of debut seasons it's safe to suggest that in addition to the points already raised that Suárez is benefitting from playing in a poorer standard of league than it was two seasons previous.

If Suárez is benefitting from a drop on quality then again so are Porto and the lions in turn. Importantly despite being second, after Matchday 16 we do have one more point than we did last season at the same stage. If you do a direct comparison of all the games played season to season the one single fixture we've not either matched or improved upon the result of is the reversal in the Clássico at the José Alvalade which swung from a win to a loss. All other results have been matched apart from the away draw at Vitória swinging from a 4-4 draw to a 4-1 win and the draw at home to Arouca which again improved to a win by just the odd goal in 6. 

I get the argument that Borges' record against Porto, Benfica and Braga could be improved but let's be fair, Mourinho has drawn 0-0 with Porto, 1-1 with Sporting and 2-2 with Braga and he's vastly more experienced and managing the side with the leagues biggest budget. As for Farioli at Porto, what happens if and when their campaign catches up with them? They've already been knocked out of the Taça by Vitória. That said there's of course a real danger we also fall victim to them in this game. Every dog has their day. I don't mind losing this game to Vitória but only if they go on to lift the trophy in the final. Truth be told, Portugal needs another club outside Os Três Grandes and Braga to win something if it's ever going to grow in popularity. 

Something that has maybe been flying under the radar this campaign is the success of the defence especially given all the focus on the success at the other end of the pitch. In eight games at the José Alvalade, the lions have only allowed the opposition to create big chances in 2 of those 8 with Arouca, Moreirense, Alverca, Estrela, AVS and Rio Ave those who didn't create a single one. Of those six interestingly only AVS created an XG higher than 0.50 with 0.67. Estrela and Rio Ave both had 0.11, Moreirense 0.16, Arouca 0.22, and Alverca 0.31. Total attempts for the opponents 61 compared to a whopping 170 for the lions. Just the 3 big chances which came from Porto and Braga combined, 35 created for the lions albeit far too many of those not converted into goals with 17 missed. However that being said they've scored 27 and only conceded 3 times. Compare that to Porto who've only conceded 2 at home but scored 11 goals less. Most attempts in any one fixture was Alverca with 27. Biggest scorelines the 6-0 wins against AVS and Arouca. 

On the road six straight games ahead of Gil Vicente on Friday where the opponents haven't created a single big chance. Like at the José Alvalade only 3 big chances given up in total. 33 big chances created on the road but Sporting guilty of missing 2 of every 3 which is a trend that needs to be reversed. 143 attempts prior to Gil Vicente, 29 against Tondela, 27 against both Casa Pia and Nacional. Biggest wins coming against Nacional and Vitória both finishing 4-1. 

In all competitions where data is available, Sporting have created 83 big chances from those 23 matches and missed 51 (61.45%). They've had a staggering 486 attempts in all competitions from the Supertaça through to Rio Ave, 190 of which have been on target (39.1%) and resulted in 72 goals being scored which is 1 goal for every 6.75 attempts. 

Importantly for me we've shown our constant ability to adapt to new systems and tactics especially in recent weeks. We're again managing to overcome injuries. For example, Debast hasn't featured since Marseille in the Champions League so that's 14 games out and counting. Gonçalves has already missed 7 through injury, Quenda with 5 and he'll be out until March. Geny and Diomande have missed 3 apiece and counting owing to the African Cup of Nations. Nuno Santos and Bragança still to even return from their injuries sustained last campaign. Thankfully suspensions have so far been to a minimum with one game each for Fresneda (accumulation of five bookings) and Araújo (dismissed against Santa Clara). 

We've had debuts for players from Sporting B and more impressively debuts that came with goals in the form of Salvador Blopa with a brace against Alverca in the Taça da Liga. Flávio Gonçalves made his league debut, Rayan Lucas, João Muniz and Chris Grombhai all made theirs in the Taça da Liga and Ribeiro has also featured in three games. Overall it's hard to have any complaints given we're ahead of where we were last time out. Where we finish and what trophies we'll win if any remains to be seen. 

If you want to read more about Vitória’s campaign to date you can do so from the recent match post found here;

https://outsideofthepride.blogspot.com/2025/12/vitoria-sc-v-sporting-cp.html

How we got here

With the reformatted competition both sides have played just the one game previous to the semi-final. Previously the sides would have had to come through a group phase to have qualified.

For the lions a 5-1 thumping of newly promoted Alverca. Match report 👇 

https://outsideofthepride.blogspot.com/2025/10/sporting-cp-v-fc-alverca-taca-da-liga.html

For Vitória a highly impressive 3-1 away win at the Dragão and they remain the only domestic side to have beaten Porto in any competition this current campaign. The winners of this tie will meet either Benfica or Braga in the final who play their game 24 hours later with the final to be played on the 10th so whoever progresses in this tie will have the benefit of the additional days rest. Let's hope it doesn't go into additional time. 

Vitória it should be noted last won a knockout game against Sporting way back in 1976 when even I wasn't born.

A brief word on the potential transfer of Luis Guilherme from West Ham United. The Hammers have been abject this season and for the past six games the young Brazilian hasn't even made the matchday squad. If he isn't fancied enough to help a struggling side then ask yourself the serious question of what he'd bring to the table with Sporting? He's not first team ready, his value has already dropped massively from the £25 million the Irons paid for his services just a season before. He's played just two full halves of football since he signed and both times he was pretty abject. Personally I don't get the logic of spending the sort of money it would take the get him out of London. Yes Rui Silva turned out to be a smart bit of business the last winter window but I have no qualms about waiting until the summer window to reinforce when the club will know if it's qualified for the Champions League and realistically what money it has to spend in the markets. We know we'll always see big names depart but we've also seen what happened at Porto and their fall from grace and huge financial issues and we don't need to repeat the same fate in Lisboa. Thursday update - Sporting are said to be close on a deal with West Ham for the Brazilian. Let's hope he's not an Uber expensive Biel, Pontelo, Koindredi, Tanlongo...

Feliz Ano Novo Sportinguista's. Obrigado to all readers from wherever you are in the world, whatever club you support. As always I'm incredibly grateful of anyone who takes time to read my work.

After Friday night's draw away to Gil Vicente, Vitória went one better as they beat Nacional 2-1 with second half goals from Saviolo and Abascal. Labidi scored a consolation for the visitors a minute into additional time. The visitors will have left Guimarães frustrated having missed both their big chances and finishing with the higher XG of 1.46 to 0.84. Vitória missed their sole big chance. 

Sporting B

Sporting B v Academico Viseu

Sunday January 4th, 2025

Matchday 16

Starting XI 

Callai, J Silva, Mota, Taibo, Moreira, Felicíssimo, Oliveira, Couto, Mendonca, Cardoso and Nel

Substitutes Used 

Bragança, Tanlongo, Rayan, Anjos and G Silva

Despite taking a 7th minute lead through Paulo Cardoso assisted by Nel, the youngsters succumbed to another defeat as Kahraman equalised for the visitors just 6 minutes later. Guilherme’s winner on 69 minutes drew them level with the lions in the table albeit having played a game more. The big news the return of Daniel Bragança to action after a lay off of nearly a year entering the field in the 60th minute.

In the markets 

Sporting CP 4/11

Draw 7/2

Vitória SC 8/1

Team News 

Starting XI 

Silva, Fresneda, Quaresma, Reis, Araújo, Hjulmand, Simões, Trincão, Ioannidis, Gonçalves and Suárez

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Vagiannidis, Rómulo, Morita, Kochorashvili, Bragança, Alisson, Ribeiro and Guilherme 

Where to start with the matchday squad? Let's go back to front with the news that Silva retains his place in goal for the semi final ahead of Virginia who has been the cup goalkeeper to date. Flávio Gonçalves makes his full debut up front owing to Inácio's suspension which sees Reis move into centre back and Araujo drop back into the left of the four. 

Still too soon for the return of Debast but he's not far from a return now. The big news the return after 325 days of Daniel Bragança to the matchday squad. He's joined by new signing Luis Guilherme having been given the requisite international clearance following his €13m from West Ham. Rômulo who made his debut Friday again an option from the bench

Vitória Starting XI 

27 Silva, 13 Mendes, 26 Abascal, 3 Nóbrega, 66 Strata, 30 Noguiera, 23 Sousa, 48 Saviolo, 16 Beni, 19 Camara and 7 Oliveira 

First Half 

Hopefully a game whereby we see no new injuries or suspensions come the end of the 90 minutes. Geny Catamo set to return after Mozambique's exit to Nigeria 4-0 last night. Côte d'Ivoire 2-0 up at half time in their game. Sporting in green and white halves. A place in Saturdays final awaits the winner. 

We have a one legged man on crutches kicking us off to warm applause. Didn't have that one on my bingo card. Sporting get us underway for real and will attack right to left. 

1 Early attack down the left from Saviolo shepherded out for a goal kick by Quaresma. Suspicion that should have been a corner. 

1 Robust challenge from Abascal late on Araújo. Free kick awarded 

2 Tonight's referee Luís Godhino. Wonder if Reis gave him a warm embrace for not sending him off in the Taça de Portugal?

3 Corner far side to the lions. Trincão takes. Found Reis who crossed to Simões and his header back round Ioaniddis whose shot from ten yards blocked 

5 Suárez taken out by Nóbrega. Free kick in a decent position. Araújo over the ball. His curled ball to the edge of the area cleared by a Vitória head 

7 Hjulmand dispossessed in midfield and Simões steals the ball off the toes of Camara inside the box and concedes a corner far side 

8 Fresneda gets a firm head on the corner and clears for the lions 

8 Araújo loses possession, wins it back only to lose it again. We saw this Friday night where they weren't fully switched on

9 Ioaniddis on the break passes to a Vitória player. Fatigue, nerves, general lack of concentration?

11 Araújo with a first touch like a trampoline and Sporting lose the ball again 

12 Araújo caught with a late tackle. Play allowed to go on and Trincão's effort from 20 yards saved 

12 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 0. Luis Suárez pokes home from 7 yards with the outstretched left boot. Big minute for goals as Mateus Fernandes’ West Ham went 1-0 up at home to Nottingham Forest

16 Vitórias coach looks like he's auditioning for a role as the Milk Tray man all in black with a rolled turtle neck. Reference for the kids there 

18 Huge block from Reis in the area. That chance came from another loss of possession out on the right flank. Sporting might be leading but it's not convincing. Noguiera with the effort from distance for Vitória 

19 Saviolo has the beating of Fresneda and his cross cleared by Trincão for a corner far side 

20 Shot on the turn from Nóbrega and he gets it all wrong and sends it way over the bar from ten yards. VAR checking for a handball. Godhino waves his arms and says no penalty 

21 Break in play as Ioannidis is down receiving treatment 

22 Alisson quickly puts his matchday shirt on over his head. I said no injuries tonight 

23 ➡️⬅️ Warm applause for the Greek as he makes his way to the touchline. Ioannidis for Alisson 

24 Doris sat in his coat on the bench which I guess is a good sign that it may have been precautionary rather than something serious 

25 Flash shot from 20 yards goes wide of Silva's left hand post and put for a goal kick. Sousa with the effort 

26 Sousa late on Suárez and brings a loud scream from the Colombian. 

27 Ref cam shows it's ugly head again.

28 Yellow to Nóbrega as he challenges Suárez from behind and stands on his foot under the nose of the referee

30 Araújo with a clever flick to Gonçalves whose pass low back towards the Uruguayan in the area is cut out 

31 Clear shirt pull from Araújo concedes a free kick on the touchline but no further punishment 

32 Corner near side for Sporting. Trincão plucked a high ball from Araújo out the air with a great bit of skill initially 

32 Gonçalves shot from inside the D deflects for a corner 

33 Sporting change tact and the ball finds Quaresma unmarked in the centre. His header from 9 yards goes wide of the right hand post 

35 Suárez brings a low save from 19 yards and Nóbrega clears the danger 

36 Alisson smashes a shot from the edge of the right of the six yard box that looks like it really took the wind out of Silva in goal. That was struck with real venom. Corner to come on the far side as the keeper receives treatment. For once I don't think he's putting it on. His kidneys are probably somewhere on their way to Spain 

40 Simões penalised for a pull of the shirt. Free kick centrally from 37 yards 

41 Vitória went short to the left wing and from their eventual cross in the ball went straight out for a goal kick. Waste 

42 Fresneda shown the yellow for a shirt pull on Saviolo. Free kick near the touchline 

43 Saviolo bends the ball straight out of play for another goal kick 

45 Gonçalves with a good turn then ran into trouble and lost the ball and collapsed rolling about and play continued. He finally gets to his feet

Plus five shown 

+1 Strata brings down Gonçalves and again the youngster appeals 

+1 Effort from 5 yards inside the Vitória half brings a save from Silva. Abascal with the quick thinking spotting the keeper off his line a la Pedro Gonçalves v Arsenal 

+1 Reis with an overhead kick to clear 

+2 Corner nearside to Vitória wasted again

Half time 

Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 0

Repeat of Friday night's draw with Gil Vicente. Sporting haven't looked fully at the races and yet go into half time with a 1-0 lead through a Luis Suárez goal. You'll take it as long as they don't shoot themselves on the foot again in the second half of this game. Rui Silva didn't have a save to make until a minute into additional time and even then it was just to ensure he wasn't caught out with the long range effort from downtown by Abascal. Football doesn't have a hail Mary but if they did this would be the closest you'd get to it. 7 attempts for the lions resulting in an XG of 0.93 to 0.26 from the visitors 5 efforts. 

Half time they've got the corner view so you can see all the fans in attendance and it's not just the far side which is sparse in numbers. It's been the Sportinguista's in attendance who've been the more vocal though in truth neither set of fans have really had much to cheer apart from the Suárez goal. We've a dancing Super Bock pint to the sound of the Vengaboys and an MC who frankly should be fucking shot. Where do they find these dickheads?

Reis has looked calm and composed in the centre and again you have to wonder why they've not offered the Brazilian an extension to his current deal. The loss of Doris the obvious concern with a busy schedule ahead for the rest of the month although it could get a little less busy if we don't have an extra game on Saturday. We'll see what happens in the second 45.

Second Half 

As the rain comes to take away all the snow in England, the match officials are making their way back onto the pitch and we're treated to a wonky view of the referee's progress on Ref Cam. I've felt steadier on a boat in the middle of the ocean. A young Sporting fan getting his ten seconds of fame as he dances to the sound of do you think you're better off alone. Clearly he does. 

Finally the players are back on the pitch. Vitória get us back underway.

45 Saviolo causing issues down the left again but shanks his cross behind 

48 Alisson away to the races down the right puts in a great cross towards Trincão in the six yard box who gets a touch but puts it wide for a goal kick 

49 Araújo dispossessed inside the box. Ball is laid to Oliveira who shanks it over from the edge of the D

49 Alisson again with time and space on the right. His first cross cut out but straight back to him. He fires it at the near post and Silva looks like the ball is covered in liquid soap as he spills it out for a Sporting corner 

51 Simões comes close to making it 2 as he turns and fires a shot at Silva who makes a smart save down to his right 

53 The lions looking to exploit the space being left behind at the back by Vitória as they chase an equaliser, happy to sit back and soak up the attacks from the opponents 

54 Suárez brings a save having picked up the ball from the half way line. Continued his run into the area, shimmy to the left and fired low from 12 yards wide on the left of the area. See my intro for my comments about his spatial awareness and how I'd not let him park my car

55 Yellow to Camara for a shirt pull on Quaresma 

56 Break in play for treatment to a Vitória player down in the centre. Visitors look like they're about to be forced into a change 

58 ➡️ ⬅️ Sousa’s night is done replaced by Samu. Nóbrega replaced in a double change by someone... Baliero. 

59 It's good!!! Oliveira launches one high from 35 yards for the extra point. Oh no wait wrong game 

60 Corner near side for Vitória. No idea why I was trying to find out the last substitute. Clash inside the box and Quaresma and Samu down. The youngster took the brunt of Samu’s head into his cheek. That looks painful. Not sure why we need to see so many replays of it from all angles 

63 Suárez signals to the bench Quaresma needs to be replaced 

63 Grimace on the face of Varandas watching on. Quaresma is going to look like an ASBO kid again 

64 Adrien Silva watching on in the stands 

64 Godhino calls for a stretcher. Rômulo puts his shirt on ready to come on

65 Applause as Quaresma carried off and straight down the tunnel. Worrying signs 

66 ➡️ ⬅️ Double change as Quaresma replaced by Rômulo and Morita replaces Gonçalves 

67 Corner conceded near side by Fresneda. Cross in cleared and brought out by the dancing feet of Suárez 

68 ➡️ ⬅️ Arcanjo replaces Camara 

69 Noguiera with a cross cum shot smothered by Silva 

70 Late challenge by Morita and the Vitória player call for a booking and puts two fingers up to indicate that's the midfielders second bookable offence in 4 minutes. Referee doesn't agree 

71 This game feels like a ball that's had the air let out of it after Quaresma’s injury 

72 Araújo down in the box, wrapped his foot around the defenders leg. Surprised he's not been booked for simulation there 

73 Suárez down in the centre after a hand into the face from Beni. This is all getting a little farcical now 

74 Fresneda penalised for a foul on Saviolo. Samu swings the ball in but plucked out the air by Silva 

77 ➡️ ⬅️ Mitrovic for Beni and Ndoye for Oliveira 

78 Saviolo header from 7 yards into the arms of Silva

80 Fresneda cleared out and receives treatment. We'll still be playing Wednesday with all the time added on 

81 Fresneda hobbles off to the side and finally the game continues 

83 Alisson brings a save from wide left. Again that was struck with real venom 

83 Corner far side to the lions. Alisson to take. Flicked on by Reis towards Suárez at the far post but the ball is cleared 

84 Free kick on the near touchline as Trincão bundled over by Noguiera. Another great save by Silva from a header by Reis from 8 yards which was goal ward bound 

85 Suárez cuts the ball back to... a Vitória player with the lions in a great position inside the area 

87 I predicted 1-1 and extra time and I'm really hoping I'm not right. I don't need to see any more of this game 

87 Kochorashvili readied to come on 

88 Hopeful ball into the Sporting box watched by Silva who falls on the ball and eeks out a few seconds 

89 Trincão puts the brakes on and clips the ball back and lays it off to Morita whose shot from 5 yards is pushed over for a corner. Great skill to lose his marker there on the goal line from the Portuguese 

Plus 11 shown 

90 ➡️ ⬅️ Trincão’s last involvement as he's replaced by new boy Luis Guilherme. Simões replaced by Kochorashvili 

+1 Araújo losses the ball and regains it AGAIN 

+1 GOAL Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 1. Cross from the right comes all the way across the area and slotted home from 7 yards by Ndoye. I think it's Rômulo who's marking him looking at the player with his back to the ball and no idea it's even coming over 

+4 For the first time tonight I think it's the Vitória fans you can hear 

+4 Mixup at the back and Silva only just clears the ball for a throw 

+5 Saviolo over runs the ball and out for a goal kick 

+6 Kochorashvili tries to turn and shoot from 16 yards but Vitória clear 

+6 Suárez shot from 18 yards blocked and balloons up and out for a corner near side 

+7 Shot from outside the area by Fresneda was travelling but hits a Sporting player who's flagged offside. Fuck me 

+7 Whistles for Silva as he takes his time over a goal kick 

+7 Kochorashvili booked for a foul on Arcanjo

+9 Mitrovic free kick from 35 yards beats the wall and out for a goal kick 

+9 Yellow to Abascal who picks the ball up to delay the goal kick 

+10 Flag is up far side as Ndoye puts the ball in the net. Not sure that was offside. Vitória fans are jumping in the stands. Lots of praying hands in black and white shirts. VAR check ongoing. GOAL Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 2. Ndoye slots past Silva from 6 yards. Not sure why the flag even went up he was clearly onside

+14 Vitória break down the right but the referee blows the whistle. 

Full time 

Sporting CP 1 Vitória SC 2

The final word 

I had a feeling this game would come down to who wanted it more and in fairness to the side form Guimarães they did and they got the win. Right now I'm more concerned about Quaresma than I am at losing the semi final of the League Cup. What idiot started with no more injuries please?

The hope with getting older in life is that you become a little wiser. You let go of the anger and dismay you felt in your younger years and more accepting of events. Football is just a game, every team loses at one time or another. So I ask myself the question of whether Vitória had beaten any other team tonight I'd have been happy for them and the answer would be yes so I'll try show dignity in the face of defeat. I'm imagining 20 year old me going - sorry, who are you? 

Like on Friday we had enough chances to have won the game but we didn't and the net result is that it's Vitória who progress. Football is not a complicated game, you just have to put it into the net. We managed once but again we're missing that clinical cutting edge in the final third. How do you replace a forward like Gyökeres? With great, great difficulty sadly. 

More worrying than the defeat is the injury to Quaresma and the health of our players always comes first. It's entirely plausible he's got a broken cheek bone and will be out for a while and when he comes back he'll look like he's auditioning for a role in a remake of the Phantom of the Opera. Ioaniddis clearly less severe but when you're already down to the bare bones it doesn't help matters does it?

Last time we got knocked out by Braga I thought we'd get a weekend off only for them to move our game up so I'm hoping that's not repeated and that we play Casa Pia on Friday week. I think after the last two games players and fans alike could do with a rest from it all for a few days. 

At the end of it all Portuguese football is in a terrible state. This season is one of the worst I can remember and tonight's win is a win for Portuguese football. Vitória haven't lifted the trophy but they've brought themselves a lottery ticket and that feels important that it might be another name going on the trophy other than a Sporting or a Benfica. A Vitória v Braga final would do Portuguese football the world of good and I'm not just saying that because of who is in the other semi finals tomorrow. Vitória are a fan owned club at a time where foreign investment is being pumped into the league. Yes the new Taça format leaves a lot to be desired and it's built in weight of the bigger teams but they've beaten Porto and now Sporting and fair play to them. It wasn't pretty but it was pretty effective. You could see the joy of their fans. I'm not sure Sporting fans would have bounced in the same manner of the goal was scored at the other end. Maybe I'm doing them a disservice but it always felt like it would mean more to them to progress than it would for us. We have to take it in the chin, regroup, count the number of players we have left at our disposal and formulate a plan to get through to the Clássico in better shape than we left tonight. 

There were far too many errors across the pitch from the lions tonight. Far, far too many and so many players culpable. Saviolo was a constant threat from the left hand side all night and Fresneda has to hold his hands up for not being good enough in closing him down. However Araújo was more guilty of losing possession on the right then Fresneda was of not closing down the space. Countless times he lost possession and to make matters worse in dangerous positions. Rômulo is culpable of blame for the opener. I've never met anyone with eyes in the back of their heads and he'll have learned the hard way to watch the flight or the ball and not the back of the man you're trying to mark. But for all those observations the lions as I've already said had their chances. Silva had a good game in goal for them. There's the save from Reis' header, the point blank save from Morita although admittedly the Japanese midfielder should have done better. Suárez should have done better when he ran from the halfway line but we've seen that one three times now not come off this season. Who'd you back to score to save your life in that position, Suárez or Gyökeres? I'm imagining even the Colombian with this life on the line says Gyökeres. We miss him. Which side wouldn't? Well maybe apart from Arsenal. 

Let's go with the positives. A full debut for Gonçalves and whilst the performance was only slightly above average he needs to learn and you can only do that one the pitch. OK maybe skip that I'm struggling after one. 

So four for man of the match. I really enjoyed Alisson's performance tonight. Yes his pass on one run down the right left a lot to be desired but what impressed me other than his pace was his shooting tonight. He really looks like he's gone away and put some real work into it behind the scenes and two of his efforts were struck as hard as I've seen a ball hit in a long time. If we keep seeing that version of him he's got a big future ahead of him. Reis at the back was solid, threw himself at the block in the first half, cleared with overhead kicks, should have scored the winner. As I wrote at half time give the man a new contract especially when every season players drop down like flies. Morita looks like the guy from Japan whose name escapes me but is still playing aged 58 I think and has just earned another new contract. Did it easier than Reis is able to. Just saying! Getting him out the door this window on that form won't be easy, maybe they should have let him go in the summer. Suárez gets my third vote, on the scoresheet again and got back and helped in defence. I've just got to accept he needs five chances to score one goal. Simões impressed again I'm support of the defence and attack and it's a joy to watch his continued growth. He's been the other player in with a shout of the final four but I think Trincão slightly edges it for his contribution in the final third. He created the most chances, claims the assist for the opening goal. In truth you cannot only have half a team turn up in a semi final. My man of the match goes to Reis. Others might have had more telling contributions but he stands tallest for me in the face of defeat. 

A win for the Côte d'Ivoire. That's pissed on my chips. Diomande coming on as a 90th minute substitute. What's the point? Bring him home.