Sporting CP v CD Nacional

Sporting CP v CD Nacional
Sunday September 6th, 2026
Estádio José Alvalade 
Matchday 5

The warm up

The day before their season opener away to CD Santa Clara confirmation of the transfer of Jesús Ramírez to the Turkish side Çorum FK was announced. Fotmob have it listed as a free transfer which seemed an appalling piece of business but I've found a report in Türkiye that suggests actually the fee was €2.5 million with a sell on clause of 50%. Still it feels incredibly cheap given he scored 18 times in the Liga last season. Maybe if Ramírez replicates the same success in the Turkish Super League then they'll profit more off the back end in addition with a secondary transfer. It certainly won't have been good news for the Ex-Sporting mister and new boss of Nacional João Giao. The islanders struggled for goals as it was last season and were heavily reliant on their talismanic forward. Many fans of Portuguese top flight football have them favourites to be relegated. It'll be interesting to see how Giao transitions to life in the top flight. He certainly got off to a sensational first half of last season with the lions youngsters but they went from 1st down to 13th and finished out of the bottom 3 by just 2 points eventually losing 18 games in total. They lost just 2 of their first 13 games then suffered six straight defeats. A mini recovery saw them win 3 straight but that was followed by another four straight defeats. One win, then six defeats arrested by a draw to the eventual runners up Académico de Viseu on the final day. So from the last 36 points on offer they collected just 4. I don't think it's rude to suggest that had he not gotten the Nacional job he'd not have been the Sporting B coach for much longer anyway.

CD Nacional 2026/27 Season to Date

Matchday 1 - Santa Clara (H) 2-2 D

The last of matchday 1 fixtures in Portugal the two island sides faced each other in the Monday evening game. A defensive error by Silva was capitalised upon by Vinícius whose shot was saved but went straight to Paciência who bundled the ball home from 13 yards to give Santa Clara the lead with 18 minutes gone. Just two minutes later a corner nearside was headed home by Paciência from 5 yards out to complete his brace and make it 2-0. 

On 34 minutes Nacional were awarded a penalty after a Romão was adjudged to have fouled new boy Markus Jensen in the 6 yard box. A minute later Liziero stepped up to put the ball into the bottom right hand corner for 2-1. A minute before half time the scores were level once more as a hopeful punt from Ruan back into the area appears to come bouncing back off Romão straight to Baeza who volleyed it first time into the net from 15 yards out with a smart finish. 

So a point apiece for the islanders from the Azores and Madeira. The home side definitely had the better chances to have put the game to bed especially when you consider Nacional's Xg would have included 0.79 for the penalty. That's four 2-2 draws on Matchday 1, set in motion by Estrela's comeback Saturday night. 

Xg 1.43 to 1.23
Total Attempts 19 - 10
Shots on target 7 - 4
Big chances 4 - 1
Big chances missed 2 - 0