Sporting CP 1 FC Porto 0 (Taça de Portugal Semi Final 1st leg)
Tuesday March 3rd, 2026
Taça de Portugal Semis final first leg
Estádio José Alvalade
The warm up
“When plan A doesn't work you need a better plan A.”
Those the words of the then Nice coach Francesco Farioli in March of 2024 prior to a Ligue 1 match with Toulouse.
As the coach of Nice, Farioli had built upon the defensive work of the previous mister Christophe Galtier whose side had finished the previous season with the joint best defensive record in Ligue 1 along with the French Champions PSG. A month earlier Nice were sat in second place and whilst they weren't exactly challenging to win the French title, they were in with a decent shout of claiming a Champions League place for the following season. But then - then the wheels started to come off. Even in March Nice still laid claim to the best defensive record in France and only Bayer Leverkusen and Internazionale could boast a better record in Europe's top five leagues. Whilst they may have boasted the best defensive record in Ligue 1, at that juncture only Metz and Clermont Foot had scored fewer goals than the Italians side. They'd won 8 times by a single goal margin. Now they'd lost 3 of the last 5 games by a 1 goal margin.
Farioli at this moment in time is described by one journalist at as a puppeteer of a limited system highly predicated on defence. Did he have a better plan A for Toulouse? No, they lost the game 2-1 and Farioli refused to acknowledge they were in “crisis,” but did acknowledge his side needed to “wake up.”
Between February 11th and March 16th, Nice would lose to Monaco, Lyon, Toulouse, Montpellier and then PSG in the Coupe de France. A 0-0 draw at home to strugglers Clermont Foot the only game in which they avoided defeat. They subsequently won 4 and drew 3 of the last 9 but by that time the damage was done and Nice finished the season in fifth, six points off a Champions League place. In the end they maintained their record as having the best defence in France but you don't get a trophy for that and Farioli’s side scored the sixth lowest total of goals in the division. Farioli said au revoir to Ligue 1 after just one season deciding it wasn't that nice in Nice afterall and packed his bags for the Nederland's with Ajax Amsterdam with the blessing of his previous employers apparently satisfied with qualification into the Europa League. Whether the fans and players of Nice felt the same is another question?
Playing the role of puppeteer with your foundations built on defence at Nice is one thing. Would the Italian try the same in the Eredivisie with Ajax? De Godenzoden (Sons of the God's)? Ajax that gave the world Johan Cruyff and along with the Dutch national team in the 1970s were the main proponents of what would become known as ‘total football.’ The only thing really going in the Italians favour was that since the 2021/22 season when they were crowned Champions, their form had dropped off a cliff. When only finishing third in the following season it would have been considered sacrosanct for the Dutch masters. Finishing fifth in 2022/23 and hiring a coach from outside the Ajax system and one renowned for defensive football will have been like taking a massive dump in your own bed and the ultimate betrayal of a club's philosophy. Ajax, home of the 4-3-3 and promoting coaches from within hiring the Italian defensive puppeteer, what could possibly go wrong?
Ajax finished 35 points off champions PSV the season before the Italians arrival. After they lost 5-2 to PSV on October 29th the Amsterdam side were bottom of the table in 18th. After 8 matches they were still only 17th. That they eventually climbed to finish 5th and secure a place in Europe should be considered a minor miracle but this is the Nederland's richest and most successful top flight side. It is also the Dutch league. I don't think anyone really considered that there was a threat of them being relegated. But maybe it was time to try something different and maybe Farioli could be that mister?
It may be worth noting at this juncture how Farioli, who turns 37 in April, got his start in football. He never played the game professionally and was originally studying philosophy at the University of Florence before later transitioning to sports science at the same educational facility. His coaching career began with lowly Margine Coperta in Italy where he held the position of goalkeeping coach from 2009 to 2011. He would then hold the same role with Fortis Juventus and Lucchese in Italy before moving to Qatar to coach the U16s national teams keepers and it was here where he met Roberto de Zerbi. When de Zerbi took over at Benevento in the 2017/18 season he took Farioli with him and again at Sassuolo between 2018 and 2020.
In 2020/21 he joined Alanyaspor as assistant manager before being appointed on March 21st, 2021 at the age of just 31 as head coach of Fatih Karagümrük. His tenure ended on December 31st, 2021 when he returned back to Alanyaspor to take up the role of head coach. In the following season he was in charge for the first 22 games in which they recorded 6 wins, 7 draws and 9 losses and he departed under his own steam on February 27th, 2023.
Appointed Nice manager on a two year contract on June 30th, 2023 he would gain his UEFA Pro licence three months later and as we already know left after just 12 months noting Ajax paid a fee of €1m in compensation and employed him on a three year contract. His appointment marked the first time since the 1997/98 season that the Dutch side had appointed a foreign coach.
How far could the Italian coach take a side labelled by many Dutch football experts as one of their worst squads in the clubs history? For the mister himself, could he avoid a repeat of the collapse of his Nice side in France and importantly put into place the foundations for possible success in seasons 2 and 3 of his contract, after all PSV were once more heavy favourites to retain their title?
Incredibly Ajax were top of the table come the March of 2025 and not only that, were nine points above PSV, the side lest we forget who they finished 35 points behind the previous season. Once again the Italians coaching methods were predicated on a solid defensive base. Any grumblings from the club's fan base about the departure from the club's footballing DNA would surely be forgotten once they had regained their perceived rightful place as the Nederland's top club and won the title. It must be noted that they were at this junction helped by the fact that PSV were having an off season in comparison to the 2023/24 campaign in which they lost only once, scored 111 goals, conceded 21 giving them a goal difference of plus 90. Ajax by comparison had drawn 11, lost 8 and conceded 61 times. It was an incredible turn around in fortunes for the two sides and unlike 13 months earlier where his Nice sides form had dropped off a cliff, Farioli was en route to picking up his first ever title as a coach. That is until the point he wasn't.
March 30th and it was a 2-0 win over second placed PSV that left them 9 points clear with one hand firmly on the title. PSV captain Luuk de Jong, latterly of FC Porto, conceded that with seven games of the season remaining their focus was on securing second place. “Nine points is too much. I don't think it's ever been made up with so few games left.”
By the time PSV completed a routine 4-1 win over Heracles a month and a half later, a 98th minute equaliser by ten men FC Groningen against Ajax had seen those 9 points vanish and remarkably PSV now found themselves a point ahead and top of the table. Ajax would need Sparta Rotterdam to win on the last day of the season to stand any chance of now winning the title. But let's rewind back a month first and note that at this juncture six points from their remaining five final fixtures would be enough to win them the title.
April started well enough with a 3-1 home win against NAC Breda followed up with a 2-1 away win at Willem II. Then the wheels started to come off in spectacular fashion. FC Utrecht hammered Farioli's side 4-0. An Ajax side that until that result had conceded just 21 times all season. That was followed by two more dropped points following a 1-1 draw at home to Sparta Rotterdam. A 3-0 defeat at home to NEC Nijmegen followed by throwing away the 2-1 lead away to Groningen deep into additional time. And so whilst Ajax signed off their season with a 2-0 win against FC Twente, PSVs 3-1 win over Sparta Rotterdam saw them crowned Champions and a Farioli side had bottled it for the second successive campaign. What made the 9 point capitulation even more unbelievable was the fact that PSV had themselves thrown away a 9 point lead in December to Ajax. Yes you read that right, Ajax made up the nine points, gained nine points and threw them all away. And you thought the Portuguese top flight was bat shit crazy last season.
The Italian left the pitch after the season finale in tears and then left the club altogether. On May 19th the Italian gave an interview to ESPN in which he's quoted as saying on his departure “It’s not what I want, but I think it's necessary for the club.” He went on to add “It was difficult to change everything at once, so I thought it was better to change one thing. And that was me.” He further added “The management and I have the same goals for the future of Ajax, but we have different visions and timeframes about the way we should work and operate to achieve those goals,” and with that the most unlikely marriage of mister and club ended as most suspected it probably would - in divorce. They finished once more with the league's best defensive record conceding just 32 times. Their record of 67 scored was 36 goals behind that of title winning PSVs 103. Again you don't win a trophy for having the best defence.
Rumours were abound that the mister would return home to Italy to take over the reigns of AS Roma but that vacancy was filled by the more experienced head and shoulders of Gasperini who finally departed ways with Atalanta. Instead it was André Villas-Boas who came knocking for his services and he was hired as the FC Porto mister on July 6th, 2025 on an initial two year contract.
Last month after an impressive start to the campaign, Villas-Boas agreed a contract extension with the Italian until June 30th, 2028. Prior to the game away to Casa Pia on February 2nd, his Porto side had won all games bar the Clássico against Benfica which finished 0-0 and had secured a 2-1 win against Sporting at the José Alvalade. They were seven points clear of the lions in second place and had conceded just 4 times in 20 games. To give the defensive puppeteer his credit, conceding an average of a goal every five games, twenty games into a league campaign in a league you've never coached in with a set of players unknown to you in the main and with no pre-season is frankly fucking obscene.
What followed was their first defeat and the struggling Lisboa minnows had managed to do what city rivals Sporting and Benfica had both failed to achieve. The lions knew a win at the Dragão would take them to within a point of the leaders and yet it seemed that Porto would extend their lead back to seven points when leading 1-0 going into additional time at the end of the 90 and Sporting were awarded a penalty which Suárez would take with the clock showing 99 minutes. Costa saved a poor effort but could only parry it back to Colombian who slammed it home to salvage an unlikely 1-1 draw. Whilst the four point gap was maintained and more importantly Porto hold the better head to head record should the two sides finish level on points, the cracks have at last started to show on the pitch. Off the pitch they've been showing them since before a ball was even kicked.
The wheels on the Porto bus fall off, off, off.
Off, off, off.
Off, off, off…
No one can know how this season will finish and who will be crowned Champions. Will Sporting get their three-peat? Will Farioli finally see one of his teams overcome capitulation at the business end of the season? Will Benfica currently sat in third leapfrog both clubs to win an unlikely title? Anything is possible especially given they are yet to play their second games against both Porto and Sporting. What is known is that Porto have had their cages rattled by the lions every single day and we've been treated to a propaganda war that Joseph Goebbels and President Trump would both be proud of. Not a week has gone by without Porto putting out statements to the media about decisions given to Sporting or how the referees are all in the pocket of the lions. You could well believe they employ someone whose sole job is to track what happens on and off the pitch at Sporting. Those are just two examples at the tip of a very large 2025/26 shaped iceberg.
We've had the Clássico which started the night before with fireworks being set off twice to try and disturb the visiting players' sleep. Clearly their fans don't believe they can win the title on merit on the pitch and are shitting it as much as the club hierarchy are. Having taken a 1-0 lead their ball boys were instructed to remove all the spare balls from the side of the pitch and Rui Silva had his towel stolen. The temperature in the away dressing room was tampered with, Hjulmand had an Atlético Madrid jersey thrown at him, posters of Porto's old triumphs lined the walls of the changing room and above the urinals. As always their players threw themselves to the floor under any contact, all to try to gain those three magical points. Yet karma first decreed that top scorer Aghehowa would go off injured at halftime with an ACL injury that would end his season and then the penalty that saw them drop two points. Even when Suárez was booked for passing the ball back to Bednarek and thus receiving a ban against Famalicão for an accumulation of bookings, karma guided Sporting to a 1-0 win. Before Porto host Rio Ave on Sunday night, the gap went down to one point after Sporting beat Moreirense 3-0 on Saturday night.
Yet Porto weren't done, they put in complaints against Varandas for inciting the home fans when he blew them kisses at them ignoring the fact the president was being subjected to dog's abuse from their fans. Varandas replied something to the effect that his mother taught him love was stronger than hate. Check mate. So they came back with an attack on Rui Borges and called him a liar about his use of tablets on the sidelines to review in game footage. The mister simply replied that he grew up kicking a football until his mother called him home, a son of poor parents who didn't have the money for such luxuries. Two simple replies that make the leadership of the grape crushers look like incompetent bullies.
Porto are clearly worried enough to try every underhand tactic they can in the book. Everything they have is being thrown at the lions and with the noise off the pitch attracting attention it's no surprise that things on the pitch aren't going too well. Farioli as we've established above knows this is the point in the season where someone starts to cut the strings from the puppeteers grasp and his sides drop to the ground unable to move and all their hopes and dreams are lost.
OK so that might not happen this season. FC Porto may hold on to win the title but if they do so it will have been in a manner that won't draw any praise from anywhere outside of Porto. They could equally knock the lions out of the Taça de Portugal over two legs and few would then bet against them not going on to beat either AD Fafe or Torreense in the final. Yet Sporting won't give up either title without a fight. If the lions win nothing this season I for will be satisfied that at least we lost with our heads held high and that we haven't had to wage a propaganda war through the media or sink so low as to have to hide spare footballs during a game. It's frankly embarrassing and it will severely tarnish any success that they do go onto achieve.
At the start of the campaign I posed the question of how playing in the club world cup finals and a lack of pre-season would potentially affect both Porto and Benfica? Well up until the start of the month there were very little signs of it having any affect at all at least in terms of results. They didn't suffer unduly from the loss of Luuk de Jong at the end of November. Yes that same Luuk de Jong who claimed whilst at PSV that they couldn't overturn a 9 point gap to Farioli's Ajax to win the title. How I'd loved to have been a fly on the wall the day Farioli was introduced to his new signing back in August. His only goal of the campaign had come against Sporting in the 2-1 loss and after that game he'd been out injured until November 27th where his comeback lasted all of 3 days with appearances against Nice and Estoril. Maybe Hjulmand should have said a seven point gap was too much to overturn and played mind games with Farioli.
Kiwior picked up a muscle injury in the Clássico as did Martim Fernandes. Aghehowa I've already mentioned. Now the suspensions are kicking in, quite literally in the case of William Gomes who tried to decapitate one of the Casa Pia players and was given a straight red card which saw him miss the Clássico. Francisco Moura banned for the win against Nacional for his fifth booking of the campaign. So in truth lots of little things adding up and one major thing with the loss of top scorer Aghehowa. We've seen already with Nice and Ajax that it's not their defence that costs Farioli sides, it's ultimately their inability to put the ball in the other net from February onwards that ends up costing them. As I say though, maybe it doesn't this time around. Porto could do the double. Time will tell. But they say in life things come in threes. So will it be the three-peat? Will Farioli see a third side in three seasons snatch defeat from the jaws of success? I think that sentence just about makes sense. Watch this space.
One question I keep coming back to in my head - is Farioli the Italian Mikel Arteta? Destined always to be the bridesmaid and never the bride as the infamous banner held aloft at Anfield posed the question last season. Of Arteta of course, I'm just adding Farioli given his sides capitulation in the previous two campaigns. Maybe one day someone will do a banner of him too wearing a bridesmaid dress holding a posy of flowers.
I've long given up watching Premier League football but it's well reported that Arsenal are trained in the dark arts, if you're being polite, but let's call it what it is - shit housery. Players feigning injury and attempting to get opponents booked or sent off. A side built on defence rather than attacking prowess. You'd be better off watching the NFL given it sounds to me like they're a special teams unit and there are so many breaks in play. There's the ubiquitous questioning of referees decisions. Any of this reading familiar with a certain club in Portugal? Now in fairness to Farioli this could well be something engrained into the DNA and fabric of FC Porto and maybe it's something he's taken upon himself to try eradicate. If true however we've seen no signs of it in the two Clássico's under Farioli this season. If Sporting acted in the same manner then I'd have no interest in watching them play. I'm not a subscriber to winning at any costs. I never thought I'd see Sporting win one title let alone three and if it was the case we don't win a third straight title and did so to a team who'd played the better football and not resulted to the tactics they have already done then I'd take it on the chin. As it is even if it's the neighbours that overtake us both to win I'd take anyone winning it over them. Same goes if we lose the semi final over two legs. I can't be the only one that feels like that. If it happens you can guarantee that Villas-Boas will cry foul in the same way that Benfica did and still continue to do since they lost this competition back in May of last year. Clearly Frozen wasn't a big hit in Portugal - let it go.
So let's revisit how the two sides made it to the semi final, starting with the lions.
Round 3 started with a hard fought 3-2 win after extra time away to Liga 2 side Paços de Ferreira. Despite being from a league lower they twice took the lead, Gonçalves and Ioaniddis equalising each time to force extra time where an own goal eventually saw the lions qualify. 39 attempts registered over the course of 120 minutes for Sporting. They made lighter work of AC Marinhense at home in round 4 winning 3-0 with a Trincão brace and a goal from Luis Suárez.
Round 5 and we avoided any further controversy in the Azores as we beat Santa Clara 3-2. Oh no wait my bad. More controversy followed against Santa Clara. Simões gave the lions the lead after 11 minutes. A Silva goal five minutes from time looked to have knocked Sporting out 2-1 after Soares had equalised on 27. Fourteen short minutes for VAR to award a penalty taken by Suárez to make it 2-2 15 minutes into additional time. Technically depending on how you read the goal times, Ioannidis scores the winner before Suárez scores the equaliser with it coming in the 96th minute. As you'd imagine after the corner that never was leading to the winning Hjulmand goal that should never have been in the 2-1 league defeat, the islanders were less than happy. Sporting on the other hand were jubilant and keen to avoid a third game in four going to extra time.
Round 6 saw the lions welcome bottom side AVS whose only two previous wins all campaign had come in this competition. What could possibly go wrong? Guilherme with a Golazzo scored his first goal as a lion and own goal 3 minutes into the second half seemed to have secured passage into the semi finals. Feet up, job done. Oh no wait the referee has awarded a penalty, AVS have scored a penalty. No need to worry. Ninety minutes are up just don't do anything stupid. Like what? Like concede another penalty. I said don't do anything stupid. Second penalty awarded. Nene equalised to make it 2-2 and we were off to extra time again the game before the Clássico. Yet Porto claim we have the referees in our pockets. Not sure the evidence here backs that one up. With penalties looking all the more likely Geny scored four minutes short of the end of the match and we'd at least avoided those and had booked ourselves a double header against FC Porto.
As for Porto -
Taça de Portugal Round 3 – Celoricense (A) Porto took advantage of lower league opposition to run up a 4-0 win. Bednarek with the opener and Aghehowa with a hat-trick booking their place in Round 4.
Taça de Portugal Round 4 – Sintrense (H) The draw for the cup kind once more for Porto ahead of their next European tie against lower league opposition. Goals from Sainz, Güi and Mora secured a comfortable 3-0 win and their place in Round 5.
Taca de Portugal Round 5 – Famalicão (H) A 5th minute Gomes goal gave Porto the lead, De Haas equalised 7 minutes later to give the visitors hope. Froholdt made it 2-1 before goals in the last 10 minutes from Aghehowa and Pepe put the tie out of reach as Porto booked their place in the quarter finals with a comfortable 4-1 win.
Taça de Portugal Quarter Final – Benfica (H) Porto booked a place in the semi-finals to face either Sporting or AVS with a 1-0 win. Jan Bednarek with the game's only goal coming after 14 minutes. Each side missed their 1 solitary big chance. XG 0.76 to 1.65.
The last time the two sides met in a cup game was in January of last year when Gyökeres goal on 56 minutes booked their place in the final of the Taça da Liga. That followed the infamous 4-3 loss in the Supertaça where goals from Inácio, Gonçalves and Quenda put Sporting 3-0 up after just 23 minutes. I won't bother with rest, you've just read the final score. The last time the two sides met in this competition was in the May 2024 final where St Juste opened the scoring after 19 minutes and was promptly dismissed 9 minutes later to leave the lions down to ten men. Sandwiched in between that Evanilson had made it 1-1. Despite having to field Diogo Pinto in goal and being down to ten men for more than an hour and a half the lions finally came unstuck and lost 2-1 when Taremi was given a penalty in extra time. Conçeicão who'd been given a red card and sent to the stands still able to give a talk to his players before extra time. Because yes as we know it's Sporting who control the referees. As they say though, some shit you really just couldn't make up.
We know that the grape crushers have the upper hand in the league and let's be fair none of us even want to sit through another 90 minutes or turgid Farioli bollocks let alone 180 minutes. Last season's second leg against Rio Ave was a hard enough watch but that owed much to the game all but being over after the first leg. I said it last year, I'll say it again, make it a winner takes all tie. We've enough football as it is. I'll stand by that quote even if we lose this game meaning a second leg would give us hope of turning it around.
Friday update -
Sporting's European opponents now known in both competitions. Real Madrid lies in store away for the under 19s. For the men's first team Bødo/Glimt awaits.
In the markets
Sporting CP 11/10
Draw 21/10
FC Porto 27/10
As a side note the odds for the Portuguese title are now Porto 1/4, Sporting 10/3 and Benfica 10/1. Braga and the rest 1500/1 or greater.
Team News
Starting XI
Silva, Araújo, Inácio, Diomande, Fresneda, Morita, Hjulmand, Guilherme, Trincão, Geny and Suárez
Substitutes
Virgínia, Nuno Santos, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Gonçalves, Bragança, Simões, Faye and Nel
Porto Starting XI
99 Costa, 20 Costa, 5 Bednarek, 13 Rosario, 74 Moura, 22 Varela, 42 Fofana, 86 Mora, 11 Pepê, 7 William and 29 Moffi
First Half
Sporting in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes. The José Alvalade a sea of green and white flags waving. Personally I'd have given away towels and then watched them sail down behind Costa in the Porto goal. Villas-Boas chicken shit not sat next to Varandas in the seat customarily reserved for the visiting president. Perhaps his Pinocchio nose couldn't fit?
Will we finally see the handbrake released in a Clássico? Were about to find out.
Porto get us underway, the lions attack right to left.
1 Early scare as a William cross come shot from wide right just creeps past Silva's far post. Whether he meant that or not only he will now. Shades of the last game at the José Alvalade where Sainz could have put the visitors 1-0 up in the blink of an eye
2 The ground might not be full but those in attendance are creating a cracking atmosphere
3 Coming together in the penalty box. Rui Silva gets to the ball first and punches a Porto player in the head in the follow through and takes a whack to his sides for good measure. Alberto Costa the player who said he only wanted Sporting, then went to Juventus.
6 Fresneda on the overlap with Geny. Good move but the Spaniards pass could only find a Porto shirt
6 Mistake from Morita in midfield as he stretches to regain possession and passes straight to a Porto player who spreads it wide to William. Thankfully his cross over hit
7 Costa down again still struggling with his side
9 Costa gives a thumbs up as he makes his way back on the sidelines
10 Good defensive work from Fresneda clears a danger on the right
11 Porto have definitely had the better of the opening ten minutes but the lions just starting to now feel their way into this game
11 Morita loses possession, then regains it and drives forward. He picks out Trincão who dances past his marker and shoots from 19 yards. Not sure who blocked the shot but it was one of our boys
13 Inácio with his pitching wedge out tries to find Luis Suárez but the ball goes into the arms of Costa. Right idea wrong execution
14 Williams shoots from 23 yards centrally straight at Hjulmand. Neither side troubling the Xg so far in the opening third of the half
15 Geny with a great turn outside the box but dispossessed at the last moment. Ball fell to Fresneda who slowed the game down to allow the space to develop and shoot from 19 yards towards the far post and it didn't miss by much. That must have trouble the Xg. Closest either side have come
17 Strong challenge from Hjulmand who sends the Porto player up in the air for good measure to the joy of the home fans
18 Everything good is coming down the right wing through Geny and Fresneda
18 Trincão and Araújo try to combine on the left and the ball is out for a corner nearside
19 Head on hands from Geny as Guilherme found him from the corner and he possibly slipped as he struck the ball from 16 yards and it flew into the stands
19 William down as Araújo shoulder barges him flat. The assistant couldn't wait to get his flag up and his feet were off the floor like a schoolboy going sir, sir, sir
21 Pepê le pew rolling around. Ain't shit change
22 If Porto had the better of the opening ten then the lions have claimed the second ten
24 Whistles as Fresneda left in a heap far right hand corner and play allowed to continue. Replay shows Pepê catches his foot. Luis Suárez takes retribution in the centre and does the same to Bednarek
26 Referee is having a word with Suárez who's grinning like a schoolboy
26 The home fans are bouncing. I'd like to tell you what they're singing. Kochorashvili clearly finds it amusing smiling on from the executive box, Debast films on his phone alongside him whilst Bednarek continues his treatment. We're looking at a good five minutes added on. Mathieu in the box looking nonplussed head in hand. Roberto Martinez also watching on. No Sydney Sweeney tonight. I've still no idea who she is
29 Finally back underway. Geny penalised for a foul on Pepê who makes a meal of it and the physio is on again. Fuck me we'll still be here at Christmas. He's literally ten inches from the touchline. Get him off and let the game restart
31 After another two minute stoppage we're back again.
32 William gets the better of Araújo but can't get past Inácio. Inácio charges forward and passes the ball back to Porto. They do the same to Diomande and it's all a bit - shit
33 Corner nearside to Porto. Punch from Silva fell to Pepê unmarked whose effort from 16 yards comes off the head of Morita for a corner far side.
34 Silva punches clear this time
35 Fresneda plays the ball off Moura for a throw and guess what… he picked up another ball within a second. Don't see that shit at the Dragão do you?
35 Jeers and whistles from the home fans as another Sporting player down in centre. Guilherme it was who looked like he was caught 20 yards out from goal
37 Lovely from Morita who turned like a London taxi to lose his man there.
39 Fresneda cross from the right flicks up off the foot of a defender high into the air. Costa claims and takes out Bednarek who's down again. This is getting farcical now even by Porto standards. He's off the pitch and comes back on and thankfully the referee wise to it and tells him to get off again
40 Substitute stripping off as Bednarek looks like his night is done. Porto down to ten men temporarily. Can Sporting capitalise noting it was their keeper who took him out
42 Sporting player down in the box. Referee unmoved. Suárez it is who went down
43 William wrestles Araújo to the floor at the other end of the pitch and no yellow shown.
43 Referee waves his hands to say no penalty
44 ➡️⬅️ Bednarek for Kiwior and Porto back to their full compliment of eleven
Plus ten shown
+2 Finally a yellow shown. Goes to Alberto Costa for a foul on Araújo
+2 Trincão shot from 20 yards blocked
+2 Alberto fouls Geny in the corner. Hjulmand shown a yellow card presumably for his protestations. Morita having to be held back
+4 After all that corner nearside to the lions. Trincão shot blocked from 20 yards
+6 Costa beats Geny in a footrace and clears to touch
+7 We've two balls on the pitch. Another problem you don't get at the Dragão
+8 Wow. It's good. Fofana should consider a future in Gaelic football as he converts from the best part of 40 yards. That's why we have giant nets behind the goal in Ireland
Half time
Sporting CP 0 FC Porto 0
Christ alive that was a hard watch at times. The referee hasn't helped at all and neither have the opposition players but when do they ever? Is it Easter yet? Feels like it. Not sure that half was ever going to end. Five attempts apiece for a combined total Xg of 0.44. The best of the chances falling to Fresneda although that being said Williams effort with less than a minute on the clock whistles past the post by about an equal distance but at least you knew the Spaniard meant his one. It's been bitty, gritty, the referee has let too much go but at least if nothing else he's suggesting he's not trying to make it all about him which as we know is always a danger in the Clássico’s. Everything good for Sporting has come down the right hand side. Morita has at points looked like he's got a split personality, giving the ball away one moment and then looking incredible the next. I said it last season and I'll say it again we don't need a second leg. This time last season because the tie was over against Rio Ave before the second leg even kicked off. This time around because we're going to be served up more of this dribble. Sporting have 97 goals to their name this campaign, they need to make it at least 98 before the end of the 90.
Second Half
I've just seen the reverse replay of the challenge on Geny by Alberto Costa and it really does beggar belief how he's still on the pitch.
2204 and we're back underway. Sporting kick off
46 Pepê clears a cross from Geny to the far post out for a corner
46 Shot from 20 yards straight into the arms of Costa. Geny with the effort. The lions clearly had enough after the shenanigans of the first 45 55 and keen to punch Porto in the mouth
47 Post. Varela smashes a shot onto the far post and Silva was scrambling. That must have been from fully 30 yards. Would have been a Golazzo and the lions got away with one there
49 Shove in the back of Trincão and free kick awarded 32 yards out
50 Fuck me we've started again where we left off in the opening half as another Porto player down inside their box
51 Huge cheers as Guilherme with three Porto players giving him their attention wins a corner far side. Diomande heads goalwards from 8 yards but never going to trouble Costa who claims
52 Mora sends a shot behind from 20 yards and in fairness I'd forgotten he was even playing. Having spent all of last season saying he's going to be Portugal's next big talent I might revise that opinion for now
54 Close up of Gonçalves warming up although no signs the lions going to make an imminent change
56 Mora making friends with a photographer behind the goal line who stops him flying into the hoardings. We're much friendlier in Lisboa
56 Trincão finding himself surrounded by four blue and white shirts tries to play in Araújo. Pepê dives on the ball and free kick actually awarded to Sporting presumably for hand ball as he tried to simulate a foul
57 Praying hands in the crowd from a Sportinguista. Clearly didn't work as a header from Diomande can only go to the edge of the six yard box and Geny's low pass back into the centre is cleared
58 Penalty. Somehow Porto kept out a Fresneda shot before Hjulmand was fouled. How that stayed out is anyone's guess. The Porto player was on the line and the right man in the right place to block the Spaniards shot
60 VAR check ongoing presumably for a reason not to give the penalty. Varela was the man who somehow kept the ball out of the net. Fofana committee the foul
60 Suárez with ball in hand. Let's hope it's better than the penalty at the Dragão
61 GOAL Sporting CP 1 FC Porto 0. I think I might have just thrown my right arm out. Costa went the same way as in the Dragão, Luis Suárez didn't, he went left and the lions have the advantage as the name of Luis Suárez echoes round the José Alvalade
62 William down in the box. Same old Porto always cheating
63 The worst thing Sporting can do is try to settle for 1-0
63 Yellow to Varela who goes through the back part Suárez
64 ➡️⬅️ Simões and Gonçalves for Morita and Guilherme
66 Inácio down as he takes a whack from William inside the box. Unlike Porto's players the game restarts in record time
67 Geny wrongly flagged offside as Sporting looked to break with the entire Porto half opened up. One you can't be offside in your own half and two the foot of the last Porto player would have played him on. Dog shit officiating there. There's fuck all chance you could have seen that correctly in real time. Absolute bollocks
67 Free kick to Porto outside the area is played straight into the two man wall and the ball goes all the way back to Costa via a giant horseshoe shape
68 Fofana shanks another shot into the stands from 26 yards
69 Lot of beard touching from Farioli on the sidelines
69 Geny takes the piss, Hjulmand squares up to someone. Number 10. Who the fuck is that and when did they come on? More drama than EastEnders. Veiga it is.
70 Simões is winding William up in the corner. Pepê is down like he'd been shot
* Coughs - might have missed some substitutions.
46 ➡️⬅️ Costa replaced by Froholdt
63 ➡️ ⬅️ Güi for Moffi and Veiga for Mora
72 ➡️ ⬅️ Fofana for Pietuszewski
73 How I can miss three substitutions is anyone's guess? Saw the Fofana one if that counts?
73 Trincão shot from 9 yards blocked for a corner far side
74 Porto head clear but the home fans behind Costa's goal are still bouncing
75 Apparently Geny booked in the 30th minute. Really? Ah for the foul on Pepê. Help if they show the referee showing the yellow. Maybe they did, maybe I was typing
76 Marvelous play acting from Araújo under pressure from William. He looked back at the referee before going down. How has the referee brought that one? And the Oscar nominations are...
76 Fresneda penalised for a foul and the Porto players face was a picture full of annoyance. Kodak moments you love to see
78 Geny with head in hands again as his shot ends in the stands from 17 yards and our for a corner
78 Fireworks going off behind Costa's goal as the corner cleared
80 Kiwior leaves one in on the kidneys of Suárez but that's ok apparently
81 So Sporting are 1-0 up and I've just checked and all the balls are still around the side of the pitch and I imagine Costa towel is too.
82 Geny picks out the wrong pass inside the area. That second goal just won't come
83 My heart rate is up. I'm waiting for that sucker punch
84 Won't come like that as Kiwior smashes into the stand from 26 yards
84 ➡️ ⬅️ Geny and Trincão for Bragança and Nuno Santos. Repeat of Saturday please gentlemen.
84 Nuno Santos straight into the action down the right wing. I don't think I can ever remember seeing him on the right
85 Diomande goes through the back of Gül who demands a card and the referee ignores him
86 Four minutes and some change as a lul washes over the José Alvalade
86 Loose pass came off Diomande and Gül connects with Silva on the goal line who plays Porto at their own game but again soon back on his feet and play resumes.
87 Ball back in the Porto box and the volume rises slightly but not by much. You can cut the tension even from 1,000 miles away
88 Shake of the head from Rosario as Pietuszewski puts it straight out of play. Fofana says his prayers on the bench
89 What a fucking surprise to see William throw himself to the ground and Araújo walks the ball out of play. You silly cunt
Plus five shown
90 How on earth has Suárez still got the ball there? It looked like it was glued to his foot inside the box. Eventually he found Bragança who got it back to the Colombian but his shot off target from 12 yards wide left. Bragança makes contact with the foot of Pepê and Porn Hub football at its best and he's straight down looking for it
91 Yellow to Veiga for pushing Hjulmand off the pitch
+2 Diomande rises highest to head over from 7 yards but penalised for using his marker as a step ladder
+3 Pietuszewski shot from 20 yards looped up and towards Silva who did that wonderful new keeper trick of falling to the floor with the ball to waste time whilst my heart went the opposite direction
+3 Calm from Hjulmand who chests into the hands of Rui Silva
+4 Fresneda down rubbing his shins after contact eeks out another few seconds
+4 Costa inside the Sporting half launches it down field
+5 Break for the lions with ten seconds of the five remaining. Bragança bears down on goal but is beaten to the ball by Pepê and the final whistle blows. First touch like a trampoline killed him there and allowed for the Porto man to get back in the nick of time.
Full time
Sporting CP 1 FC Porto 0
The final word
Half time in the tie and I've not changed my mind that we don't need two legs but at least I wrote it above to say even if we lost I'd stand by that opinion.
I might have missed most of the Porto substitutions but what I definitely didn't miss is the looks on the faces of the Porto players on the pitch, on the bench and that of Farioli tugging at his beard all of which suggested to the any onlooker that they didn't think they were going to find a way back into that game. Finally Borges game plan has paid off in a Clássico and the numbers back that up to boot. Porto failed to create a single big chance in 105 minutes of football. The Xg 2.20 to 0.30. I started this post by pointing out how both Nice and Ajax ran out of steam around this time of year for the last two seasons and it's worth posing the question based on the reaction of his Porto players in that last segment of the game whether it's about to happen again? At times like those you need experience and you need a conductor on the pitch where they had none and on the sidelines Farioli looked like he was unravelling. No cards up the sleeve to cheat your way to a winning hand. No hiding the balls, hiding the keepers towels, changing the temperature in the dressing rooms. No fans setting off fireworks the night before. Frankly their fans must be shitting it if they weren't already before. This tie still has a long way to go but we've seen the lions overcome adversity at this stage of the campaign for two straight seasons. This is where it helps to have that experience whatever competition you're playing in.
A draw in the return leg will be enough to qualify for the final but you don't want Sporting to rest in their laurels in the Dragão. You want them to kick their other standing leg from beneath them. They may well be about to secure a title win by that point but you just never know. See the Ajax segment above and they had a nine points cushion. There's far too many hurdles to jump before we get to that stage. Yet Sporting have gotten their Porto monkey off their backs and scratched that itch good and proper.
It could have been a very different story had that shot not smashed off the post and back to safety. Sometimes karma takes care of you with a guiding hand you can't see and in the case of Kiwior in the Dragão, those the referee can see. Thankfully Luis Suárez with the foresight to change his hand in the rock, paper, scissors lottery that is a penalty kick. Rock cuts paper, paper wraps stone, stone blunts scissors and Luis Suárez exorcised his demons from the miss in the Dragão. You imagine his heart was probably beating about 50 beats per minute less than it had been at the death in Porto.
Porto's tactics never change. No that's not fair under Vítor Bruno there seemed a lot less of the cheating and diving going on. However you can lay this Farioli team over the blueprint of that of Conçeicão and find an almost perfect match. It's shit to watch quite frankly. Does being top of the table compensate for that? Maybe if they win the title. I imagine not if it all goes to shit between now and May. As Mike Tyson famously said, everyone's got a plan until they get punched in the mouth.
Let's roll with the choices for man of the match given it's already 2325 and we could be here all night otherwise. Mind you if you're reading this at some time in the future it's not like you care. It's an odd night because if you were a film director about to do your final cut you could make a wonderful film out of virtually every player other than maybe Guilherme from the starting XI. I'm hoping he's going to prove the Alisson to Napoli deal makes sense but in the short term I'm still scratching my head. So no he's not made the shortlist. Simões looked like he was in pre-season when he came on. Nuno Santos on the right a fish out of water on the right wing. Bragança with his first touch like a trampoline at the death, Gonçalves I'd forgotten had come on. Rui Silva twice was scrambling and you never want to have to vote a keeper into your final four anyway.
Morita had a Jekyll and Hyde. Twice he lost possession only to win it back within seconds and look a totally different player. So you have to say one cancels the other out. Trincão looked full of purpose, but carried no end product. Inácio looked calm and steady one moment and then did a Morita in reverse and a couple of times got away with it. So yes for regular readers I am playing Guess Who and mentally flapping down the players faces for old times sake. Luis Suárez gets the goal, ruffles a few feathers and took a lump out of Bednarek but still not good enough for my final four which leaves five to choose from so one has to go. So let's cut Diomande but if it was a choice of five he'd have been there though scant consolation as I'm sure he'd have loved a place in my final reckonings. I'm kidding. Or maybe I'm not. So first choice Fresneda who should have opened the scoring a second before the penalty. The boy never stops running, making the overlaps and with Geny was providing all the lions attacking output in the first half. Yes he needs to improve on his final ball but he always impresses me and proof that first impressions can count for very little when I cast my mind back to the game against Atalanta. Second choice Araújo, didn't carry as much attacking threat but for a player whose natural position is either left wing or left of a front three, he sure has an awful lot of people fooled that he's a great left back or left wing back. Tonight he had William Gomes in his pocket and come to think of it if you shook Fresneda’s pockets out Pepê would fall out. Brilliant between the pair of them but defensively Araújo stood out and had more work to do.
Geny was box office at points during the game. I've loved that kid since he first started playing for us and whilst two of his shots left an awful lot to be desired it didn't take away from my enjoyment of his performance at all. Which leaves the captain Hjulmand as the last vote.
Quick tangent, referee Cláudio Filipe Ruivo Pereira. I hope he goes away and studies the footage from that game. How Alberto Costa stayed on the pitch is anyone's guess for his challenge on Geny. He's bottled it there. He didn't cover himself in any glory over the course of the game and yet we won so I'll stop moaning. Fun fact he was also the referee for the 3-2 win over Farense two years ago to this very day. Yes I'm autistic and pay attention to these things.
Anyways back to Hjulmand. He's the player that drops back to keep a three in defence to allow the wing backs to push forward. He was strong to the challenge all night. The man in the right place for the penalty decision. He's been heavily criticised in some quarters the past month and too many forget he's human, he's about to be a father, his future is far from certain about where he'll be next year with a newborn. You can cut the man some slack if you have a brain cell in your head. Sadly not all of them do. I was originally going to give it to Geny but I'm erring between him and Hjulmand. They're two different types of performances, apples and oranges. Whilst Geny was more pleasing on the eye I think overall the skippers contribution more telling. So Hjulmand is my man of the match because he was everywhere and whilst he was everywhere he did everything that counted the most.
Big week ahead. First up Braga away and lose that and we're definitely fucked for any hopes of Porto slipping up in the title run in. Then all eyes on Norway next Wednesday. Wrap up warm you're going to need it up near the arctic circle. Game against Tondela apparently postponed but with no date to re-arrange it into. Some shit you couldn't make up.
Comments
Post a Comment