FC Arouca 1 Sporting CP 2

FC Arouca v Sporting CP

Saturday January 24th, 2026

Estádio Municipal de Arouca 

Matchday 19

I have a soft spot for the fans of Arouca. I am somewhat niche it's safe to say. For the longest time my most read posts were always Arouca games so I've always been left with the impression that some of their fans were the ones bumping up the miniscule readership numbers. I'm always grateful that anyone reads them so thank you to all of those of you that do, it is genuinely appreciated. Somewhere along the way lots more people have begun to read them and it still blows my mind when I look at the countries where they're being ready which is a list that pretty much covers the globe for everywhere except Portugal. Now that's irony if you're looking for some Alanis, you can have that one for free. I could have taken the easy route to promote the blog and used the colloquial term for Sporting CP but showing respect is important to me so if you're new to these posts, welcome, if you're a repeat offender, obrigado. Surely you've better things to do with your time. To those in Portugal, I'll let you off for choosing to read posts in your native tongue. 

The warm up

The two sides met on Matchday 2 at the José Alvalade and the lions imposed Arouca’s heaviest defeat of the campaign on them to date as they routed them 6-0 with a brace for each of Suárez, Trincão and Ricardo Mangas. The warning bells must have been going off that night that this was potentially going to be a long drawn out season when you're conceding two goals to the Quaver haired, moustachioed Mangas. Things haven't gotten much better for them since. 

At the time of writing going into the weekends fixtures ahead of this fixture against the lions they sit third bottom, though they do play everyone's favourite opponents AVS before they face Sporting and given they've not won a game all season there's no better place to try to look to pick up three points in their bid to avoid the drop. 

Since the two sides met in August they've strengthened their side in both transfer windows. 

Additional summer signings 

Romualdas Jasonas from FC Kauno Zalgiris for £166,000

Espen van Ee from SC Heerenveen for free

Well WiFi quality will have improved if nothing else.

Winter window signings

Bas Kuipers from FC Twente on loan

Javí Sanchez - free agent 

Yellu Santiago from Hellas Verona 

Named after his illiterate father's favourite colour 

Ignacio de Arrauabarrena from Barcelona SC for free

They might have made a few euros at the club shop with the amount of letters in his surname in shirt printing had it not been for the fact he's a goalkeeper and let's face it no one buys replica keeper kits. 

Outgoing 

Summer window 

Morlaye Sylla to Damac FC for free

Vladislav Morozov to Kolding IF on loan

Arouca season to date

To recap from my last head to head post they'd beaten AVS at home 3-1 through a Trezza brace and a goal from Djouahara before succumbing to the aforementioned 6-0 away loss to Sporting. 

Matchday 3 - Rio Ave (H) Fontán opened the scoring to give Arouca the lead. They found themselves 2-1 down just after the hour mark. Trezza equalised, only for Ave to make it 3-2 within a minute. Djouahara rescued a point scoring 2 minutes into additional time to make it 3-3. Their XG just 0.65 to 1.54. Both guilty of missing their 2 big chances.

Matchday 4 - Vitória SC (A) The sides shared a point in a 1-1 draw with the goals coming just after the half hour mark. Djouahara equalising for the visitors to maintain his good start to the campaign. XG maybe unsurprisingly low with 0.35 to 0.46. A game for the purists. Arouca missed their 1 big chance but didn't allow any to be created.

Matchday 5 - Casa Pia (H) A second defeat of the season, this time just the 2-0. Visitors XG 1.36 to 0.48. They missed 3 of 5 big chances and Arouca missed their 1.

Matchday 6 - Nacional (A) Despite conceding a penalty in the 65 th minute and going a goal behind, Arouca flew back with all 3 points courtesy of goals from Popovic and van Ee who scored the winner in the 88th minute. A valuable 2-1 win, their XG a reminder it's only as good as the chances you take, 1.22 to the islanders 2.70. Arouca converting both their big chances into goals, Nacional scored 1 of their 3.

Matchday 7 - FC Porto (H) No joy against the league leaders as they lost 4-0. XG 0.67 to 2.97, Porto scored 3 of their 4 big chances whilst the home side failed to create a single one. 

Matchday 8 - Famalicão (H) Trezza gave Arouca the lead in the second half but the were unable to hold on and the game finished 1-1. XG 0.72 to 1.75. Arouca scored their 1 big chance, Famalicão missed both of theirs. 

Taça de Portugal 3rd Round - Portimonense (A) A Puche brace sees Arouca secure a place in the 4th round with a 2-1 victory. 

Matchday 9 - Benfica (A) Os Três Grandes is not a set you want to complete as a smaller team in your first nine matches it must be said especially having already succumbed to a 6-0 and 4-0 defeat. Well it got no better here going down 5-0. They managed 5 attempts for their XG of 0.44 to 3.84. 0 big chances, the dirty pigeons scored 4 of their 5. Safe to say Arouca’s ambitions now starting to look more and more focused on survival even this early into the campaign.

Matchday 10 - Moreirense (H) Arouca found themselves 2-0 down at half time and were left kicking themselves as they missed all 3 of their big chances and the scoreline remained the same at the full time whistle. The visitors scored their 1 big chance. XG 0.59 to 0.68. 

Matchday 11 - Estoril (A) Their aren't many occasions when you score 3 goals away from home and still end up on the losing side. To compound their misery they twice took the lead through goals from Fukui and Djouahara, whose second would draw them level at 3-3 having gone behind for the first time. The winner coming 5 minutes from time and Arouca somehow contrived to lose their third straight game. Estoril scored 2 of their 3 big chances, the visitors missed their only 1. XG 2.06 to 1.13. 

Taça de Portugal Round 4 - AD Fafe (A) What better way to arrest your slide and get back to winning ways than a 4th round tie to Liga 3 opponents? Seems easy when you type it. Djouahara gave them the lead and things were looking good until their weren't and then they really weren't as 1-0 became 1-1 and in the 91st minute 2-1 and after that their name wouldn't be going into the hat for round 5. 

Matchday 12 - Braga (H) If Os Três Grandes has a plus one it's Braga and clearly keen not to miss out on an opportunity to boost their goal difference the northerners won 4-0 and it could have been so much worse as they actually missed 5 of their 6 big chances. So bad were Arouca that they created 3 attempts all night for an XG of just 0.06. One of those 3 came from a shot just inside the Braga half. Their XG 2.84.

Matchday 13 - Estrela (A) With confidence rock bottom maybe it came as no surprise when Arouca lost their sixth straight game in all competitions. 2-0 down Fukui gave them a glimmer of hope scoring just before the hour mark but the Star Boys made it 3-1 with 2 minutes to go and put paid to any ideas of a late comeback and stealing a point. Estrela with 24 attempts to 9, an XG of 3.33 to 0.59. They scored and missed 2 big chances apiece. Arouca didn't create a single one. 

Matchday 14 - Alverca (H) If ever there was a time to play a newly promoted side this was it for Arouca. The visitors must have been confident however of making it a seventh straight defeat. The footballing Gods shone on the side of Arouca though as they finally stopped the slide with a Lee goal giving them all three points in a narrow 1-0 win. They won't have cared. Just 5 attempts for the visitors to 18. They left with the oppositions worst XG of 0.22 to 1.61. No big chances created for them, Arouca missed 2 of their 3. 

Matchday 15 - Santa Clara (A) A valuable point and 4 from a possible 6 on the islands isn't a bad return. The game finished 0-0. XG 0.46 to 0.36, 0 big chances in the game and another for the purists.

Matchday 16 - Gil Vicente (H) Arouca raced to a 2-0 lead inside 11 minutes with goals from Lee and Trezza. Unfortunately goals either side of half time from the visitors saw their lead evaporate and the game finished 2-2. XG 1.31 to 1.81, Arouca scored 2 of their 3 big chances, GV missed 1 of their 2.

Matchday 17 - Tondela (A) New Year, New Arouca? Maybe not as they faced off against the other newly promoted side. They got off to a flier though as Trezza scored after 7 minutes. By the hour mark they were 3-1 down and that's how it stayed. XG 0.45 to 0.77. Tondela scored their 1 big chance, Arouca 1 of their 3.

So at the half way mark of the campaign they'd played 17, won 3, drawn 5, lost 9, GF 18, GA 42. The 18 scored, 13 from open play and 5 from set pieces. Top scorer Trezza with 6, Djouahara with 5 and 5 other scorers. The 42 conceded the worst defensive record in the division although clearly not helped by big scorelines in 5 of their 17 games where 4 or more were conceded. Their home record played 9, won 2, drawn 3, lost 4, GF 10, GA 19. Just 2 clean sheets to date the joint worst record in the division with 5 teams.

Their XG the leagues lowest with 12.4. 

Lowest average shots on target jointly with Casa Pia on 2.9 but their conversion rate the lowest at 11.1%.

22 big chances created the worst record in the division. They've missed the fewest big chances which has to be a positive right? Right? 50% success rate…anyone? Look I'm trying OK. 

Their XG conceded of 30.5 the second worst in the division. 

7 penalties conceded, joint worst record with Moreirense and AVS. 

Most red cards with 6, Fontán with 3 of those. 

Average attendance second worst with 1,804 above AVS on 1,733. By the time you've read this they'll most likely have played tomorrow and I'm going to wager that the attendance didn't help AVS average by the end of 90 minutes played. 

Arouca’s last win against the lions came back on Matchday 11 of the 2022/23 season when they won 1-0 at home. That however their only win in the last 20 in all competitions. The record standing at Won 1, drawn 2, lost 17. The 6-0 thumping in August their biggest loss in this fixture though they have also been on the end of two 5-1 thumpings amongst those 17 defeats. 

They won't be under illusions that their top flight status hangs in the balance as they enter the second half of the season and whilst a win against the lions may not be realistic they have to secure all three points tomorrow. Baring a miracle of epic proportions AVS are down and a win against them not only gives them a perfect head to head record should they somehow contrive to finish level on points but will give them an 11 point advantage for now. They need to hang onto Trezza and Djouahara which might be easier said than done when you have to sell to survive. It's the cancer that eats every Portuguese club whether you're Arouca, Sporting or Benfica at the top of the tree. 

Saturday update

Arouca secured a 1-0 win which after the lions victory at home to Casa Pia on Friday night saw the two swap places and climb out of the relegation places. They were helped when Devenish was shown a red card for what was an appalling tackle studs up with both feet off the ground after 3 minutes reducing the home side to ten men. Babero scored the only goal of the game just before half time. The home side were denied a point when a second half equaliser was judged to have been offside. AVS still without a win missed their sole big chance, Arouca scored one of their 2. XG 0.58 to 1.15. 

Sporting B

Sporting B v Torreense

Matchday 18

Monday January 19th, 2026

Starting XI

F. Silva, J.Silva, Muniz, Rômulo, Dias, Rayan, Justo, Mendonca, Anjos, Cardoso, G.Silva

Substitutes Used

Tanlongo, Besugo, Oliveira, Ferreira and Taibo

The lions slipped to third in the table suffering their fifth straight defeat. They fell behind three minutes before half time when an attempted headed clearance inside the box fell to Dany Jean unmarked a yard outside of the D and he smashed it home past Silva to give the visitors a 1-0 lead at half time. The lions were on level terms when Lucas Anjos scored what proved to be their only shot on target of the entire game in the 55th minute. They conceded a penalty midway through the half with a clumsy challenge and were given a lifeline when Manuel Pozo slipped during his run up and his effort hit the crossbar and away to safety. The lions hadn't learned their lesson however giving away a second penalty a minute from full time which was converted by Musa Drammeh to give the visitors all 3 points.  

Sporting CP Feminino 

Damaiense v Sporting CP 

January 16th, 2026

Taça da Liga Matchday 3

Starting XI 

Wozniak, Fonseca, Cherry, Barron, Cancelinha, Bravo, Neto, Arques, Hernandez Gray, Santiago and Raphino 

Substitutes Used 

Capeta, Bonseguendo, Nave, Armengol and Livo

The lionesses sit second in the Group B table behind Rio Ave who've played a game more after a devastating away win. Damaiense rooted to the bottom on 0 points having scored just once and conceded eleven. 

Sporting went ahead on 19 minutes following the award of a penalty for a foul on Fonseca on the edge of the box coolly converted by Raphino who sent the keeper the wrong way. Confusion from a nearside corner on 31 minutes saw Wabena Djiatio head past her own keeper from a yard to double the advantage. A minute from half time Bravo smashed home from 12 yards to make it 3-0 from a clever Santiago flicked lay off. Cruz cut the deficit on 61 minutes with the goal of the game smashing home past the Pole Julia Wozniak on a rare start for the lionesses from 30 yards which flew into the top left hand corner. In the 81st minute a 26 yard strike could only be parried into the path of Ana Capeta who marked her 200th appearance by slotting home from 7 yards. In the 89th minute Bonseguendo struck a 32 yard shot that bounced in front of their hapless keeper and past her into the net to make it 5. Their misery was competed a minute later as Armengol lobbed their keeper from the edge of the D for the sixth goal. Full time - Damaiense 1 Sporting CP 6

Wednesday update 

Sporting have finally announced the signing of Faye from Granada. They've also parted ways with St Juste whose contract has been mutually terminated following a time with the club that will sadly be remembered for his time in the treatment room rather than his time on the pitch. We wish the Dutchman and the medical staff of his future club well. 

Friday update

Diomande has put pen to paper and signed a contract extension until 2030 which personally I'm thrilled with but with a deep degree of cynicism that he'll still be off sooner rather than later and that they were merely protecting the players value. Still at least his salary is now where it deserves to be for a player of his quality and stature. 

In the markets 

Arouca 11/1

Draw 9/2

Sporting CP 2/9

Team News 

Starting XI 

Silva, Araújo, Reis, Inácio, Fresneda, Hjulmand, Simões, Guilherme, Trincão, Geny and Suárez 

Substitutes 

Virgínia, Debast, Vagiannidis, Diomande, Mangas, Morita, Bragança, Gonçalves and Alisson 

The return of the suspended and walking wounded. Pedro Gonçalves and Diomande back in the matchday squad. Captain Hjulmand returns after a double suspension in both the league and Champions League to take the place of Morita in midfield. 

A return to left back for Araújo in place of Mangas. Guilherme takes his place further up front on the left from the side who beat PSG having been eligible for the Champions League following his transfer from West Ham at the start of the window unable to yet be registered in the competition. Out go the youngsters which presumably may begin to kickstart their season once more in Liga 2. 

Arouca starting XI 

12 de Arrauabarrena, 28 Esgaio, 4 Rocha,15 Sanchéz, 3 Fontán, 22 van Ee, 21 Fukui, 19 Trezza, 14 Lee, 7 Djouahara and 17 Barbero

First Half 

Alisson clearly not fully adapted to the cold of European winters sits with a snood pulled across his face looking on from the bench. The snow may not have come but the rain has in abundance. The lions in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes. The visitors set to line up in a 4-3-3, their captain Esgaio, brother of the departed Ricardo. Arouca get us underway, Sporting attack right to left. 

1 A long ball forward from Reis searching for the run of Araújo is safely collected by de Arrauabarrena in the home goal

3 Suárez tries to cut the ball back from the goal line but it's cut out for a corner nearside 

4 Geny gets on the end of a flick on the far side of the penalty area and from a tight angle can only fire the ball at the keeper 

6 Tuesday night they were watchers of the guardians of the ball but tonight it's the turn of the lobos to watch on passively as they've barely had a kick in the opening salvo

7 First chance for the home side. Barbero turned and fires his shot from the D wide of the right post 

8 Geny drives a low cross in from the right into the six yard box and deflected away

11 A cross from the left headed up high in the air by Inácio and Silva claims to nullify any danger. The close up on the replay shows the relentlessness of the rain 

12 Trincão's pull back causes issues for the Arouca defence. The ball fell to Araújo who couldn't get the ball under control initially but he heads it back and a chance fell to Guilherme who gets his feet all wrong again. His second appearance not going much better than the first with his efforts 

14 Late challenge on Araújo by Esgaio. Free kick awarded but nothing more as came from his blindside 

15 Simões drives a ball across to Suárez on the edge of the six yard box. Goal kick indicated to the disgust of Suárez who claims not to have gotten the final touch. However it has been recorded as a chance on goal missed by the Colombian. 

17 Two old gentlemen in Rain Mac's raise their arms in disappointment as we're treated to a replay of the chance before 

18 Araújo on his backside in the area thumps the ground in frustration as he slipped in the wet conditions having been wide open 14 yards out 

20 Suárez rounds the keeper who has come out to the D. He takes an extra touch on the edge of the six yard box and promptly puts the ball past the left hand post like a golf pro with the yips. That was to put it mildly dog shite. Presumably they couldn't show the reaction of the two old men in the crowd that time in case people could lip read 

22 The rain certainly hasn't dampened the spirits of the Sportinguista's as they sing to the rhythm of pounding drums 

23 Replay of the Suárez miss and you'd wished the keeper had made connection with the Colombian and seen his side reduced to ten men. Superb ball from Inácio though to present him with the chance. His second of the week having done the same against Casa Pia

24 Arouca's goal living a charmed life. Trincão's cross from the left parries to safety by the keeper who did a better job than Chavelier for PSG and a defender clears to safety. The pass was intended for Suárez who'd made a run into the six yard box and didn't miss a connection with the ball by much 

27 Where data is available Suárez has had over 100 shots as a lion in all competitions now. His collection of glorious misses grows by the game. I said it after PSG that two goals against the European Champions won't change my mind about him 

28 Trincão fires a shot into the no man's land behind the goal from 16 yards 

29 Araújo takes the brunt of a challenge from Barbero who suggests he made a meal of it. He didn't in fairness to him as he gets up clutching the arm of his drenched under shirt covered in grass clippings

33 The ball bounces off the knee of Barbero and past the far post to safety. Offside flag was up so wouldn't have mattered 

34 GOAL FC Arouca 0 Sporting CP 1. Araújo collects a cross from Hjulmand and pulls it back to Suárez. The Colombian has four defenders in his way but this time gets it on target even with the crowd of yellow shirts in his way as he smashes home from 14 yards into the bottom left hand corner to give the lions the lead

35 Smoke from a flare floats across the pitch as the Sporting fans sing the name of Luis Suárez. It's rare that a player ever gets a song at Sporting. Gyökeres only ever had his name chanted 

40 Close up of Araújo still with his dodgy braids presumably now not allowed to not play in them after perceived to have been lucky against PSG. There's no such thing as luck gentlemen

41 Simões fouls Fukui in the centre. That was naughty by the youngster who knew exactly what he was doing 

42 Fukui gains retribution for the Simões foul as he smashes into Reis who was carrying the ball out of the area having turned the Japanese with an air of calm and authority. Give the man a new contract!!!

Plus one shown 

Half time  

FC Arouca 0 Sporting CP 1 

The lions go into half time with a slender lead in conditions akin to playing football in a new born baby's bath. I guess that makes Arouca in yellow the rubber ducks. In truth it's been a comfortable display for the lions and they should have gone in at least two goals up if it weren't for the Suárez miss having done the hard work and rounded de Arrauabarrena to leave the goal open at his mercy. I've said it before, I'll say it again, his spatial awareness is atrocious and I'd not let him park my car. Amazingly though with no space and four yellow shirts in front of him he cuts the ball back and fires it into the net. Go figure. Does that make him an enigma? It certainly makes him infuriating. 

Most of the play has been centred down the left wing for the lions with Araújo frequently the furthest player forward. You imagine it's an area they've deliberately targeted as a weakness. The lions managed six goals last time out between the two sides at the José Alvalade. I don't think we'll see five tonight in the second half but like a broken record, at some point the home side will need to get bodies further forward in the second half and their should be plenty of space for Sporting's forward players to utilise. I'd shank Guilherme off for Alisson at half time. Half time XG for the lobos 0.04 with just Barberos shot that went well wide their solitary chance. 

Second Half 

The camera trains on the Sportinguista's who wear a mixture of waterproofs and woolly hats to guard them against the appalling weather conditions. Both sets of players you imagine will be happy to hear the sound of the full time whistle. It is absolutely miserable out there tonight in Portugal. Alisson has at least ditched the snood and looks less likely to go mug some poor unexpecting old dear as he takes his place next to Diomande on the bench. Hjulmand adjusts the captains armband ever the perfectionist as the players run through their warmup. Araújo adjusts the arm of his fresh dry kit.

Sporting get us back underway. No changes from either side. Reis does his laces up on his boots as an afterthought. 

45 Sliding challenge from Reis on Esgaio sends the ball out for a throw 

45 Djouahara sends the ball straight at Silva from 16 yards. He should have done better there as his tame shot bounced up through the legs of Fresneda's legs and up into the hands of the Portuguese. 

47 Someone has done a roaring trade in waterproofs before the game it's fair to say 

47 GOAL FC Arouca 1 Sporting CP 1. Disastrous start to the second half for the lions. Their marking was non-existent. Floated cross to the back post from the right headed back by Fontán to Barbero who controlled the ball with his chest and fired home unmarked from 7 yards. He probably won't score an easier goal all season 

50 Esgaio pokes a shot from 18 yards straight at Silva who cannot the hide the disdain from his face at his teammates inability to defend since the restart. Arouca producing more in four minutes than they did in the entire opening forty five

51 Lee tries from 25 yards but his shot is blocked 

53 Silva keeps the score at 1-1 as Arouca broke from the halfway line. Djouahara ran between two defenders who were chasing shadows and the low shot from 18 yards saved one handed low to Silva's left and out for a corner 

54 Sporting suffering a PSG handover of epic proportions in the opening 9 minutes of the half, they've not come out at all this second period

54 An Arouca player goes down clutching his face from the minimal contact from Reis who tells him to get up in no uncertain terms. Referee wasn't buying it for a second 

55 Geny tries a shot from 18 yards which is blocked. He ran past a line of 7 yellow shirts from right to left which indicates how they intend to defend this second half 

56 Fukui fires a shot over the bar from 20 yards. Again afforded too much time and space at the back by Sporting 

57 Pedro Gonçalves going through his warmup on the touchline as a change looks imminent for the lions 

58 Clever from Esgaio as he uses his strength to move Suárez out the way and the ball collected by the Arouca keeper 

59 Poor from Trincão as his two yard pass finds a yellow shirt on the edge of the box. That came at the end of a neat passing move which moved the ball from left wing to right 

60 Fresneda finds Suárez who shanks the ball wide from ten yards. That was crap. That was like throwing a ball just before the base of a wall and watching as it cannons back high into the air  

61 Fresneda holds his head in his hands as he fires over from the D. 

63 Yellow to Simões for a foul in the centre of the park on Fukui as they renew their acquaintance from the first half 

65 This has to be one of the worst 20 minutes I've seen from the lions in a very, very long time I could easily switch this game off and be doing something better with my life. Arouca look far more likely to win this game as it stands 

66 Trincão sends Guilherme clear on the left and he ends up face first on the advertising mat as the ball nipped off his toes for a corner 

68 Referee has gone to have a word with the home sides substitutes in the corner. Referee blows before the ball has even made its way into the box for a foul from Hjulmand as the corner was finally taken  

68 ➡️ ⬅️ Morita and Gonçalves on for Trincão and Simões 

69 ➡️ ⬅️ Rocha for 44 Dante, van Ee for 46 Flores 

70 Guilherme tries to find Morita who endeavours to keep the ball in sliding towards the goal line but with no success. How the Brazilian is still on the pitch is for Borges to know alone 

71 Suárez tries to flick the ball on inside the box but Arouca clear any danger as it finds the first yellow shirt behind him 

72 Araújo bites first his shirt, then his fist as if trying to control his temper as he's pulled up for a foul on Flores by the far touchline

73 Nonchalant flick from Silva who looks like the only Sporting player capable of passing the ball effectively this half 

74 Flores takes no chances and heads behind a cross for a corner near side 

75 Again the referee blows for a foul again against Hjulmand as Esgaio goes down like he's been shot. Yes there's contact with the back of Hjulmand's left bicep but he's not made an action with his arm 

75 ➡️⬅️ Hyun-Ju for Gozálbez 

77 Araújo slices a cross straight into the arms of the keeper which sums up Sporting's half perfectly 

77 Esgaio concedes a corner far side 

78 Shake of the head from Trincão on the bench. Ball finds Suárez 8 yards out and he can't get it out from under his feet and Arouca clear. The lions couldn't score in a brothel on open day where there's no charge due on this showing 

79 ➡️ ⬅️ Debast replaces Reis and Guilherme finally shanked for Alisson. The Belgian with an odd little hop as he enters the pitch. 

80 Geny slips like Bambi on ice and the ball rolls out for a goal kick 

81 Esgaio goes down in the box and a corner awarded far side. Should have booked him for simulation instead. Debast did nothing more than maintain his line chasing the ball down 

81 Header from Sánchez had Silva scrambling to the far post but it went a yard wide. That being said replay shows he got his fingers tips to it and corner awarded 

82 Yellow to Djouahara for a late challenge on Fresneda 

83 Free kick 24 yards out. Gonçalves over the ball. 

84 Hjulmand heads from 7 yards and punched clear for a corner over the bar. How important will that save prove to be?

85 Suárez turns and fires well wide from 17 yards but has the nerve to try claim a corner. Alisson's face said it all with his hands pointing to the floor where he was wide open and wanted the pass. Reis has his head in his hands on the bench unable to look on

86 ➡️ ⬅️ Puche on for Barbero

86 Esgaio down clutching his face again but the foul given against him on Morita 

87 Yellow shown to no one in particular. Helpful of the TV editor to show the referee only. Sánchez name flashes up on the screen 

88 Corner far side for the lions. Chance falls to Debast at the back and he fires wide from 8 yards. Reis' reaction on the bench once more with head in hands sums it up 

89 Suárez shown the yellow for a foul on Javi Sánchez. Actually probably for the reaction where he smashed the ball away in anger. Had he been booked for the foul he'd have been off 

Plus five shown 

+1 A lot of glum faces in the crowd as we wait for the game to get back underway 

+1 Fresneda cross from the right plucked from the air by the Arouca keeper who needs to get a shorter name 

+2 Hjulmand flattened in the centre 

+2 Esgaio overextends as he cuts out a ball into Alisson and looks in trouble as he gets up and hobbles away

+4 Fresneda tries to find Geny and the ball went out for a goal kick and with it you imagine Sporting's title chances 

+5 Silva saves low to this left from a tame shot by Puche from 16 yards 

+5 GOAL FC Arouca 1 Sporting CP 2. Suárez does a Klinsmann as he flies across the pitch arms wide in celebration skidding across the wet playing surface. He heads home Geny's cross from 6 yards out into the top left hand corner. His second brace of the week, his second headed winner. Where did that come from? 

+6 Red to Reis who maybe got a little bit too excited and was not only on the pitch but in the centre of the celebrations and was shown the red as he jogged back to the sidelines 

+7 Silva appeared to be booked in a melee that followed. Reis was actually playing peace keeper by the looks of things as it all kicked off. I'll assume Hjulmand has too as he tugs at his captain's armband presumably pointing out I'm the captain I'm supposed to be allowed to talk to you am I not?

+7 Referee has shown another red card no idea who to ask there's a Sporting player down in the far corner of their half. This has turned as farcical as the weather 

+8 Scarves are being waved by the travelling fans. Rocha was shown the red for Arouca. 98’58 and the final whistle is blown. Esgaio is having to be dragged away by one of his players.

Full time 

FC Arouca 1 Sporting CP 2 

The final word 

If you do a search online for what the term getting away with one means it'll flash up an image of the final score of that game. The lions truly have stolen that result. That was as poor a 45 minutes from them as we've probably seen under the tenure of Rui Borges since he came in last December. Incredibly they've come away with all 3 points in a game they at best deserved one from. 

Wow. Ten minutes after the final whistle had blown and I'm still thinking to myself what happened there? and if you're reading this you're probably thinking well we've no idea we're waiting for you to tell us so maybe get on with it. Sorry, fair point. Let's get the excuses out the way first. They had a PSG sized hangover from Tuesday, they'd chased ghosts for 90 minutes against a side who pulled them everywhere so it's no surprise that they hit a brick wall at half time tonight. Maybe they were equally guilty of taking Arouca for granted who in fairness to them went straight for the jugular second half and found it too with a goal that in truth was far too easy. It was a goal they really needed to have scored in the 88th minute 2 from time, not the 47th, 2 just 2 past the restart. Excuse one parked. Excuse two - the weather. Yet Arouca managed to play in it for the entirety of the second half, so I'll quickly park that one and remind you of excuse one. Fatigue. Physical and mental. They were woeful that second half and I mean truly woeful. I cannot find any words that would sugarcoat that performance and neither would I bother to lie to you about it either. It's not like Arouca were great either, but they were soldiers of their own misfortune in the end. You have to play to the final whistle and stay alert to the dangers presented and so often as we've seen from Sporting in the Dérbi's, the Clássico’s and a whole lot more in-between they got caught out. It's not an Arouca or Sporting thing it's pretty universal and when it happens to your side it can feel particularly cruel but when you're the side inflicting the damage it feels so joyous for those next few seconds as you're up out of your seat celebrating wildly. Only later once everything has settled down, if you have any sort of a conscience to you feel guilty at taking away a precious point from a side fighting for their lives at the bottom of the table. To be honest it doesn't last longer than it took to type it. Shit happens. We all move on. We'll only reference it, if it has any type of importance come May. If not, the only time it'll be mentioned is from Arouca fans in years to come. The Hjulmand one in Santa Clara will be different of course because it came from the corner that never was and it'll be the fans of Porto and Benfica that won't let sleeping dogs lie. Here we'll let the sleeping wolves be if it turns out to be worth the sum help of fuck and all. 

Working backwards Matías Rocha I think got sent off in the same manner as Reis because he'd been substituted so couldn't have been the one that had fouled Araújo so let's say his was for dissent. Like prime Arsenal Wenger I didn't see it. I'll need to see it again. The TV people were as much help as a chocolate teapot like when Sánchez was shown the yellow but all we actually saw was the referee close up brandishing the yellow and no replay of what led to the booking. Again I'd really need to see how it was that Reis ended up on the pitch. Was he celebrating or was it as the replay showed when the melee kicked off that he'd run on to act as a peacekeeper? He certainly looked shocked when he turned round to see the red being waved at him. Still it does keep up the fine annual tradition of Sporting players being sent off when not actually playing. Not a tradition I'd like to keep going quite frankly but we're coming up to the anniversary of the Esgaio one so it seems apt to mention it now. Silva and Hjulmand's bookings seemed to be for pointing out something the referee had missed. Suárez booking for his petulance at kicking the ball away was Bruno Fernandes levels with a Colombian spin on it. You can see why he ended up punching the door after the Gil Vicente draw. I don't want to say it's a South American temperament issue but Maxi Araújo did have to bite both his shirt and his fist to stop him talking himself into the book for the foul called against Flores. Being a referee is hard. Being a referee is harder when it is in wet conditions and there's a late goal and emotions running high from both sets of players for very different reasons. It doesn't help when the likes of Esgaio went down clutching their face throughout the game under any contact to the face, it doesn't help when players of any team do it but Arouca were especially guilty tonight and Esgaio the worst culprit. He did it at least four times and the captain leads by example so for me that's a poor example to be setting. All FAs need to start to clamp down on it with retrospective action as it gets worse with every season that passes in every league. The end scenes were farcical as I wrote above but I don't think we can entirely blame the referee in hindsight.

Look the result stands, we'll get to the bottom of why exactly everyone was sent off for when the dust settles. Arouca finished with the slightly higher XG of 1.10 to 1.05 and it's hard not to argue that the game probably would have been fair had it finished 1-1. The lions were better in the first half and Arouca the second. Sporting missed their one big chance, Arouca missed one of their two created. 11 attempts for the lobos, 15 for the lions. 

I'm not sure anyone fully impressed me in the green and white so that makes it all the easier to select Silva as my first choice for man of the match playing in different colours and having kept the lions in the game with some vital saves in the second half. In fact his performances over the last 180 minutes have been instrumental to the two wins and maybe I'll give him a special combined player of the week award.

In truth the defence had so little to do first half but the second they were guilty of being too high up the pitch and it was far too easy to knock a long ball over the top of them. It doesn't have to be pretty when you're fighting relegation but it does need to be pretty effective and it was exactly that and were it not for the heroics of Silva in goal and some poor finishing they could have snatched victory for themselves on another night. 

Hjulmand looked off the pace but he's been sat on his arse for the last 180 minutes and whilst a rest is beneficial to some extent, players will tell you they need to play to keep their rhythm and it showed tonight. Not that Simões was much more effective or Morita coming off the bench. So second vote goes to Araújo for it was he that everything good in the first half stemmed from. Not as good a second half but in truth only Silva really had a good second half. Trincão was rightly shanked off second half and Guilherme would have been gone at half time so there's two names off my list already. So I'll go with the obvious in Luis Suárez for my third vote just because he scored the goals. Twice he tried clever flicks that ended up at the feat of a yellow shirt. He did all the hard work to round the keeper for probably the sixth time this campaign in all competitions and once more he failed to finish the chance. It wasn't even as if he'd been pushed wide by the keeper in that instance. He should have drawn the foul but I should write he did the honourable thing and stayed on his feet. Can there be honour amongst thieves when you've stolen three points? I'm not sure you can. The more I criticised Slimani, the first version not the returning version, the more he scored, so the more I'm going to do it now in the hope it produces the same results. We've paid €750,000 to Almería for 25 goal involvements yet negotiated a deal for €500,000 for every twenty for Gyökeres up to €1m capped. Whoever signed that deal should be sent the bill for the difference. I think it's another €500,000 if he finishes top scorer and if it's not with the three-peat that's going to be one hell of an expensive mistake on our part. 

Final vote *puffs cheeks out. I'm going to say Geny. It's not a vast choice to choose from admittedly. He assists the winner. He was effective when he did have the ball first half down the right. Look there's not a lot of options to choose from at the end of it all. Final decision - Again Suárez is just too obvious just because he scored both goals. I'm going to go Rui Silva. Made one diving save, four of his saves from shots inside the area. Goalkeepers rarely get the love they deserve. I'm off for a long lay down in a dark room. The lions four points off Porto in first place ahead of their game at home to Gil Vicente on Monday night. Arouca remain out of the bottom 3 only by virtue of Casa Pia throwing away a 3-0 lead at home to AVS last night. How detrimental could that be to their survival chances come May in the same manner the late winner tonight has cost Arouca valuable points? Time will tell. 

Next up Athletic Club on Wednesday in the final Champions League group game. If Sporting had one eye on that game they'd better have both eyes focused by the time they kick off at 8pm. 

10pm update - Having just finished the final edit I think the penny dropped we'd won the game and my celebrating wilder than when the winner went in. Probably a release of all that nervous energy and tension in the second half. 

Post game addition - Arouca goalkeeper Ignacio de Arrauabarrena was apparently booked for time wasting in the 75th minute.