Sporting CP Interim Report

2024/25 - 2025/26 Comparison 

Trying to draw a direct comparison between two league campaigns is not a straightforward task, one which is complicated by a multitude of variables; Teams are promoted and relegated, playing and coaching staff change, fixtures are played in a different order which can at points be both beneficial and detrimental to any side. In turn what markers quantify as progression or regression and similarly what is deemed to be success and what as failure?

Note this post follows on from one specifically focusing on the mister Rui Borges which can be found on the link below. (Note - if you're not already aware you can hold your thumb down on the link if reading this on a phone and open in a new tab to read later if you've not already done so.)👇

https://outsideofthepride.blogspot.com/2026/03/rui-borges-casio-king.html

It’s March 26th as I write and we’ve a lull in domestic and European football competition with the international break so I thought I would look through the data between this season for Sporting CP and the 2024/25 campaign up until the same points and see if I can find some answers to questions of which I’m not yet sure of so please bear with me. I’ve taken the same amount of games played between the two campaigns as my initial marker just to make life easier though note the total games in each competition is skewed by the lions having reached the Final of the Taça da Liga last season, whereas this they were knocked out by SC Vitória in the semi-finals, and this season they’ve played one game less in the Liga owing to the postponement of the league game against Tondela.

Note Farense and Boavista were relegated after the 2024/25 season, I will use Tondela in lieu of the former and Alverca in lieu of the latter.

A simple question to start with, have we improved our points tally season on season?

I say simple, it should be simple enough, but as we’ve already ascertained we’ve played one game less in the league than we did last time. For me the fairest way to work out progression or regression is to overlay the same fixtures for comparison. 21 fixtures had exactly the same outcome. The 2-2 draw at home to Arouca was improved with a 6-0 win (+2 points). The 4-4 draw away to Vitória was again improved, with a 4-1 win (+2). The 4-2 away win to Braga on Amorim’s last game saw a 2-2 draw (-2). At home to FC Porto a 2-0 win turned to a 2-1 loss (-3) however that was offset by the 2-1 loss away to Moreirense turning into a 3-0 win (+3). So all told the lions are two points better off.

Have either Porto or Benfica improved after 27 games played?

Clearly the former have with a record of played 27, won 23, drawn 3 and lost 1. Their equivalent points total last season was 56. The lions and Benfica both had 65 in turn. So whilst Benfica have exactly the same total as this, Porto have improved by a massive 16 points. If we assume that the lions had beaten newly promoted Tondela (something we’d done in the past 7 meetings having not lost to them since 2019) then we’d have been 3 points better off than last time around. So from either of the first two ways of looking at the same question, the lions have either improved by 2 points or potentially 3 taking into account a hypothetical win against Tondela.

How important should total goals scored be as a metric?

I guess that depends on your point of view. The lions have scored 109 goals combined in this seasons competitions which is the third highest total in all of European football behind only Bayern München and Barcelona. One ahead of Sporting’s next Champions League opponents Arsenal who’ve played 6 games more than the lions. That figure is up from 102 goals scored last campaign, that despite having lost the clubs top goalscorer Viktor Gyökeres after his summer move to Arsenal. I think adding that point in alone would suggest progression given we've scored more goals.

Last season’s biggest wins were 6-1 away to Nacional, 6-0 at home to Amarante in the Taça de Portugal, 5-1 at home to Estrela and 5-0 to Farense. Be it 6 goals scored or a 1-0 the points for a win remains at 3 so I’m never sure it’s that valuable a metric personally, but all things considered if it is important to you then I would suggest it’s a progression simply by having scored 7 more times.

How important should total goals conceded be as a metric?

I would suggest unlike the total goals scored that goals conceded is the more important of the two sets of numbers. You can’t win games in any competition if you can’t keep the ball out of the net. Last season Sporting had recorded 16 clean sheets and conceded a combined total of 47 goals across all competitions. This time out 17 clean sheets and just 39 goals conceded. So again progression with both sets of numbers. Last season clearly not helped by the 5-1 thumping by Arsenal or the 4 conceded to Porto in the Supertaça and away to SC Vitória. The blame for those 15 goals conceded over just 270 minutes of football can at least have the blame squarely be laid at the doors of all three misters – Amorim, Pereira and Borges. Sporting’s biggest defeat this campaign the 3-0 away at Bodø/Glimt or the 3-1 at home to Bayern München.

How many defeats have there been across all competitions?

Both seasons we lost the Supertaça. Technically according to the laws that govern football we didn’t lose the Taça da Liga final last season which ended in a draw but defeat on penalties. You can argue that point amongst yourselves, where as clearly we lost to SC Vitória in this seasons semi-final so there is no disputing that fact. In the league just the one loss to FC Porto at home, an improvement on the losses suffered to Santa Clara at home and Moreirense away. In the Champions League there were defeats against Arsenal, Club Brugge, RB Leipzig and BVB. This time out defeats to Napoli, Bayern and Bodø but of course the key factor in that equation is a place in the quarter finals awaiting against Arsenal instead of defeat in the play offs to BVB last time out 3-0 on aggregate. We also remain in the Taça de Portugal, last season being the eventual winners after extra time against Benfica and carry a 1-0 lead into the second leg against Porto to be played next month. So all in all other than finishing runner-up in the Taça da Liga versus defeat in the semi-finals, again a progression under Rui Borges in terms of games lost.

The importance of Opta defined big chances shown against the lions defence

Data for both the Taça competitions isn’t always available whereas it is for the league and the Champions League. Last season 8 times the lions managed to see the game out without the opponents having created a single big chance over the course of the game. In only 2 of those games did the fact that the opposition failed to create a big chance result in them scoring (the Moreirense 2-1 defeat and the Estoril 3-1 home win being the outliers). 20 times this campaign the lions have managed to stop their opponents creating a single big chance, which you cannot argue that this isn’t a huge progression. That being said on 6 occasions despite having not created a single Opta defined big chance the opponents have managed to score.

Have the lions improved offensively?

If you take the simple metric of total goals scored then as we’ve already ascertained they’ve already improved from one campaign to the next. Again with the Taça competitions data is always complete but where it is the lions had registered a total of 737 attempts on goal this time last campaign and 764 this. Total blocked attempts has fallen from 202 to 178 which you can argue is a sign that the lions are using the ball better in the final third. 279 attempts off target has risen slightly by 2 to 281. Shots on target rising from 268 to 291. Percentage of total attempts on target was 36.36% and has risen to 38.09% this. So more goals, more attempts, less blocked shots and a higher percentage of shots on target. I'm marking that down as a progression. 

Have the lions improved defensively?

Again if you take the simple metric of total goals conceded than yes. In terms of the total attempts against this has risen from 409 to 420. That figure is inflated by the 51 attempts combined from Bayern and PSG in the Champions League. Against Manchester City and Arsenal there were only 33 accorded attempts combined. City’s 20 was the largest total of any opponents across all competitions last season. Let’s caveat that PSG are the current Champions League champions and that Bayern have scored more goals in Europe than anyone else with 143 in total so the lions won’t be the only side to have been on the receiving end of an avalanche of attempts from their forward line. Domestically Gil Vicente registered 19 attempts and Vitória 17 which I’m happy to concede is more than we should have allowed either team. The high from last season was Porto away with 17, and Arouca with 15, both games incidentally finishing in draws. The Gil Vicente game this finished in a draw and the Vitória one a 4-1 win. Total attempts of course not being anywhere near an important marker as big chances created given 100% of them in theory could have been a combination in any given 90 minutes of blocked efforts and shots to that ended on row Z. I guess I should also add that despite the season high total in any competition by PSG of 28 attempts, we won the game 2-1 and there can’t be many times if any at all where Sporting have beaten the current European Cup or Champions League holders. Couple that with the fact they became only the fourth side ever to overturn a 3-0 deficit going into the second leg of a Champions League tie, the automatic qualification in the top 8 of the Champions League group phase for the knockouts and you can find plenty of progression. Last time out they needed the benefit of other results on matchday 8 to even progress to the playoffs having finished 23rd compared to 7th this time around.

So far I’ve outlined both examples of progression and regression but in the main I’d argue that at least in terms of the underlying numbers at least, that the lions have progressed. I’ll caveat that statement with pointing out the obvious that; this time last season the lions were onto their third coach of the season; they were suffering from a huge injury crisis which followed their mid-campaign crisis of confidence; Yes, as things stand in the league table they are seven points off Porto but as we’ve established already they have massively improved even if Benfica find themselves on the same points total as last after 27 games played. I’ll caveat that further by pointing out that had the lions played their game against Tondela and won and had not conceded two late penalties in additional time to Braga causing them to lose 4 points from a winning position, then Rui Borges side would be level on top with Porto. 

I don't want to lead you like a horse to drink, I'm not trying to sugarcoat the data, you can read it however you wish to interpret it. Mine is certainly not the word of God and as always merely an opinion and interpretation for which I thank you for reading. To save your brains from overloading on numbers I'll be back with another post with a detailed breakdown from the players point of view in my next post.