AVS Futebol SAD v Sporting CP

AVS Futebol SAD v Sporting CP

Sunday April 26th, 2026

Estádio do CD Aves

Matchday 30

The warm up 

I thought we'd begin this post a little differently and wind the clock back twenty years and look at the 2005/06 season of FC Penafiel for reasons that will soon become apparent and relevant to Sportings next opponents. Founded in the February of 1951 they are based in the town with which they share their name. The town itself is located in the north of Portugal in the district of Porto and has now grown to a population of fifteen and a half thousand although that figure was probably less at the time they were in the top flight of Portuguese football, then known as the Liga BWin owing to the three year sponsorship deal between 2006 and 2008 with betting operator BWin. Nicknamed the Rubro-Negros (red and black) their home is the Estádio Municipal 25 de Abril. Currently they ply their trade in Liga 2 along with Sporting B and are 3 points above the relegation places. 

Rewinding back once more, they won promotion from Liga 2 in the 2003/04 season and managed to stay up with a record of played 34, winning 13, drawing 4 but losing 17 times. GF 39 GA 53. All things considered a win ratio of above 1:3 was an impressive feet for a side whose ground holds just 5,230 and expectations to repeat that relative level of success must have been relatively high going into the next season under the then mister Luís Castro 

Their 2005/06 season began in late August with back to back losses, first at home to Rio Ave 2-0 and then away to Braga 1-0. 

P2 L2 GF 0 GA 3

The month of September was hardly an improvement as they lost 3-0 at home to Belenense, but at least secured their first point in a 2-2 draw away to Marítimo. The final game of the month saw a 3-1 loss away to Benfica. 

P3 D1 L2 GF 3 GA 7

October started with a 2-0 away loss to Nacional and a 1-0 loss at home to Vitória Setúbal. They secured their second point of the season with a 2-2 draw away to Paços de Ferreira before finally they secured their first win of the season on October 30th coming at home to Académica. Bruno Sousa scored the winning goal 15 minutes before the end of the 90 in a 1-0 win.

P4 W 1 D1 L2 GF 3 GA 5

At the start of November they secured a third 2-2 draw of the season away to Gil Vicente to stretch their unbeaten run to 3 games. However Sporting brought that mini revival to an end as they lost that game 1-0. Another point won in a 1-1 draw with União de Leiria away from home, took their points tally to 7 from a possible 36. 

P3 D2 L1 GF 3 GA 4

December saw four straight losses for FCP, first 2-1 away to Boavista, then 1-0 at home to Vitória, 3-1 away to Porto and finally 1-0 to Estrela at home. I imagine there were a few kids telling Santa to go fuck himself if he left Penafiel kits under the tree that particular Christmas. 

P4 L4 GF 2 GA 7

January wasn’t much better and commenced with back to back losses away to Naval 4-1 and Rio Ave 2-0 to make it six losses on the spin. Their 0-0 home draw on January 19th to Braga was their first point won since November 27th. They rounded out another dismal month with a 5-0 away loss to Belenense.

P 4 D1 L3 GF 1 GA 11

February begins with another win, this came at home to Marítimo finishing 3-2. Despite Kanú opening the scoring on 15 minutes for the islanders, Penafiel levelled through Roberto Ballesteros on 31 minutes. A Dill goal on the hour gave them a 2-1 lead which lasted all of 3 minutes before Lomba turned into his own net to make it 2-2. It was Bruno Sousa, the player who secured their first win of the season way back in October who scored the winner 15 minutes from the end of time and coincidentally that was also in the 75th minute. Sadly the rest of the month reverted to type. A 4-0 thumping away to Benfica was followed by a 2-1 loss at home to Nacional and a 2-0 loss to Vitória Setúbal. Yet if nothing else they'd won their second game after 21 rounds played. 

P4 W1 L3 GF4 GA10.

March started with another 2-2 draw, this coming at home to Paços de Ferreira but was followed by a 1-0 loss to Académica away. A 1-1 draw at home to Gil Vicente at least added another point to their total before losing 2-0 to Sporting at the José Alvalade.

P4 D2 L2 GF 3 GA 6

Each start of a new month for some reason brings a better result. They draw at home to União de Leiria 1-1 and 0-0, again at home, to Boavista. That was on April 10th and took their points tally up to 15 of the 90 that had been on offer. That point was to be the last won of their campaign with 4 rounds still remaining. They rounded off the month of April with a 3-1 away loss to Vitória and a 1-0 home loss to Porto.

P5 D2 L3 GF2 GA6

Their final game of the season came on May 7th, 2006 a 1-0 home loss to Naval. It was a fitting way to end a campaign which remains as the worst ever from a Portuguese top flight team. They finished bottom 19 points off both Rio Ave and SC Vitória. All three clubs however were relegated. Their final record reads played 34, won 2, drawn 9, lost 23. GF 21, GA 61. 

So let's briefly recap and remind you that their first win came in October, however it remains important to stress that by the end of their campaign in early May 2006 they had at least won twice. 

So let's fast forward 20 years back to the present day. The lions opponents for Matchday 30 AVS Futebol SAD have 5 games to surpass FC Penafiel’s record for the worst ever points tally in the Portuguese top flight which will begin tonight away to Rio Ave. At present their record reads played 29, won 1, drawn 9, lost 19. GF 19, GA 62. So even with 5 games remaining they've already conceded 1 more than the 2005/06 Penafiel campaign. Their first win finally came on Matchday 22 on February 15th so someone must have gotten a belated Valentine's Day treat. Penafiel by February were at least on their second win of the campaign. It's fair to say it's been a painful season for the club which Google helpfully automatically translates from Portuguese to English into SAD Birds whenever I look at the league table online. Never has a club name seemed more apt. Rival supporters of Deportivo Wanka might take umbrage with that statement but I'm pretty sure they won't be reading this so we should be OK. 

I'm writing this two days after our exit to Arsenal in the Champions League, two days in advance of the Dérbi on Sunday and five days out from the Clássico away at the Dragão. I'm reminded of the Boavista post at the tail end of last season where the club had just had their electricity cut off at the stadium and weren't just on the brink of relegation but of going out of business altogether so it feels crass to moan about anything at all with our campaign by comparison so I'll try avoid the ire of any fans of AVS who might be reading this. I'll keep everything crossed that you get your win to at least level the 15 points total before you're relegated but you'll forgive me if I don't keep things crossed that you get it against Sporting for obvious reasons. I can however confirm all of Sporting's fans will be fully behind you on May 10th at home to Porto. 

So of their total of 19 goals scored, 15 have been from open play, 2 from set pieces and 2 from penalties. Not even our old friend own goal has thought to lend them a hand the miserable bastard. They've not helped their case by underperforming their XG which stands at 24.7 before the Rio Ave game. Their home record is played 15, won 1, drawn 5, lost 9, GF 11, GA 25 accounting for two thirds of their overall points tally. 

Top scorer Nene with 4 (he's just a mere 42 years of age by the way), Duarte and Tomané have 3 apiece and I might as well throw in Perea with his 2. Six players share the remaining six goals. 

What follows I'm sure will not be a surprise. Fewest goals scored of any team at an average of 0.7 per game. Most goals conceded at an average of 2.1 per game. Fewest clean sheets with 4. Casa Pia do have a lower XG by 0.1 but have scored 9 times more. An average of 2.9 shots on target per game with a conversion rate of 6%. Higher than Casa Pia’s total again mind. Lowest number of big chances created with 37. Ahead of the Dérbi Sporting have created the most with 102. Big chances missed totals 24. 

11th for average crosses per game which I only included because it's the first where they're not bottom or a sliver above Casa Pia on second bottom. Four penalties awarded to them with a converstion rate of just 50%. Worst of all Xg conceded with the total of 52.5 which makes them having conceded 62 times all the worse. Eleventh for average interceptions. Worst record in the league for that metric? Step forward Rui Borges men. Second for most clearances on average with 32.1 behind Casa Pia. Get it launched gentlemen. Seven penalties conceded, six of which have been scored. Ninth for average fouls per game with 14.1. Fourth lowest total of bookings with 62, third highest total of sending's off with 5. Har, how about those last two as a contradiction?

This will be the third meeting between the two sides this campaign. They met in the Taça de Portugal in February when Sporting needed extra time to advance having gifted AVS two second half penalties. Guilherme scored his first and only goal for the club after 28 minutes. A Vitor own goal 3 minutes after the restart made it 2-0 and I, like most I'm sure, imagined it was job done against the leagues bottom side. Lima made it 2-1 on 62 and Nene at the age of 97 made it 2-2 a minute into additional time. Finally Geny broke the deadlock with the winner 4 minutes before the end of extra time to avoid the need for penalties. 

The league game in December went very much to type even after an early penalty awarded to Sporting after five minutes was overturned. Suárez, Araújo and Geny all scored a brace in a 6-0 win. Let's not count AVS out though. Having been 2-0 up in this fixture last season after 32 minutes, Zé Luis scored a penalty on 70 minutes to make it 2-1. Diomande was shown a red card on 77 minutes and Gustavo Mendonça stole a point five minutes into additional time at the end of the 90 for a 2-2 draw. 

Transfers

Winter window 

Incoming 

Mateus Pivo from Brusque on loan

Andre Green free agent 

Antoine Baroan from FC Rapid for free

Roni from Mirassol for £1.2m

Ariel Ramos from Gremio on loan 

These followed picking up free agents in between the windows; Carlos Ponck, ex-lion and all round plonker Ruben Semedo and Gustavo Assuncao. They managed to get eleven players off their books in January and you'll forgive me for not bothering to list them all. 

Now normally at this junction I break down all the games since the last time the two sides met but it's pretty depressing reading to give you a full picture so you'll forgive an abbreviated format. They beat Vitória away 1-0 in the Taça de Portugal the game directly after the 6-0 thumping at the José Alvalade. That their second win after the 7-0 thumping of Fornos de Algodres in the previous round. They've drawn 2-2 at home to Nacional, 3-3 away with Casa Pia, 0-0 at home to Estrela, 0-0 away to Alverca, 0-0 with Tondela away and last game managed a 1-1 at home to Vitória. Current unbeaten record before Rio Ave? One game. Losses to Porto 2-0 away, Moreirense home 2-0, Arouca home 1-0 and Braga away 4-0 before defeat to Sporting in the Taça. That was followed by the 3-1 loss to Famalicão away. 

Matchday 22 - Estoril (H). You know what's coming don't you. 0-0 at half time Duarte puts them ahead on 53, Tomané made it 2-0 on 74 and Algobia made it 3-0 some five minutes into additional time at the end of the 90 and Ian Cathro's men became the first team and only team to lose to them this season. Xg 1.08 to 1.10. Estoril missed both their big chances. AVS scored both of theirs. 

Their joy didn't last long. A 3-0 loss to Benfica the match after. They've also subsequently lost 1-0 at home to Santa Clara and 3-0 away to Gil Vicente. They gave in fairness, even if they've not won, only lost 2 of their last six games so they're edging ever closer to that tally of 15 points. Will they equal it or better it is the question? I'm fairness knowing my fortune by the time you read this they'll have beaten Rio Ave and I could have saved myself an awful lot of time and research but them's the breaks and I try give you original content. If nothing else we've all learned how bad that FC Penafiel side were back in 2005/06. 

Friday night update - Despite my best efforts in rushing to get this out before the Rio Ave game it still wasn't enough to get AVS an away win. They fell behind in bizarre circumstances on 17 minutes. Pohlmann scuffs a shot from 22 yards, goalkeeper Adriel Ramos bends down to pick it up and misses it with his hands. The ball hits his foot, spins up in slow motion onto the post behind him and spins back into the net for 1-0. They've credited the attacker with the goal because it was on target but it's an own goal all day long. On 31 minutes Tomané makes it 1-1 sweeping home from six yards. Lima almost made it 2-1 to AVS in the 67th minute with an effort from outside the box which strikes the back of a defender, catches the Rio Ave keeper flat footed and somehow rebounds behind for a corner. Thankfully for Lima and AVS Lima then does actually score from 6 yards. So AVS all set to make my research frankly worth the sum total of fuck and all but I needn't have worried. Ntoi swept home from 2 yards on 78 minutes and the points were shared with a 2-2 draw which as we've learned is a very FC Penafiel scoreline from 2005/06. Xg 2.36 to 1.60. Four big chances for Rio Ave, three missed. AVS scored two of their three. So now they have 13 points. Two to level, three to move past FC Penafiel. 

In the markets 

AVS Futebol SAD - TBC

Draw - TBC 

Sporting CP - TBC