Sporting CP 3 FC Alverca 1
Sporting CP v FC Alverca
Sunday August 23rd, 2026
Estádio José Alvalade
Matchday 3
Referee: Fábio Veríssimo
The warm up
After a decade plus of following Portuguese football, even
now I still find myself amazed by the disparity in the size of their countries football
clubs. Now of course disparity in football is clearly nothing new, for example the chasm
between a top Premier League side and a club in the lowest English footballing tier - League 2 is now wider than
ever. This is also generally replicated worldwide from the top division through to
the lower tiers, however in Portugal the chasm just in the top flight is incredibly
stark in itself alone. Sporting and Alverca are separated by just 22.5 kilometres in
distance from each others respective stadia, but in terms of size and stature in the Portuguese
footballing landscape they’re worlds apart. The lions have a reported 179,208 sócios
(registered members) and those are just a fraction of the millions of fans said
to follow the lions worldwide ranking them among the top ten largest football
club memberships worldwide. FC Alverca by comparison have a reported 6,000
registered members. As one of the 18 top flight clubs in the 2025/26
season, Alverca held the tenth highest average attendance in the league which as
a statement in isolation would read as being quite impressive, especially for a
side who were only promoted from Liga 2 in the summer. However when you quote
the figures involved you get a sense of how small the Portuguese top flight
really is outside of Os Três Grandes consisting of Benfica, Porto and Sporting.
Their average attendance was just 2,752 across their 17 home league games. Note the
average attendance for the league wasn't much better either in fairnes and was just 11,980. The lions average attendance
for the basis of comparison was 42,408. Given their proximity to Lisbon, they’ll
have certainly benefited from large travelling support for their games against
Benfica and Sporting and it will come as no surprise to learn that Benfica, who
are Portugal’s largest and biggest supported club by a considerable distance, provided Alverca with
their highest matchday attendance last season. So in truth even that average of
2,752 is artificially inflated by the large travelling support of the two
Lisbon giants. Benfica’s average attendance at Da Luz by the way was a whopping
58,690 in a season that despite going unbeaten across all 34 league games, saw
them win nothing. Benfica have more than double the registered sócios of
Sporting with 400,000 plus. They’re also believed to benefit from more than 14
million supporters worldwide. Taking all these figures into account, there are some
stark and obvious reasons why Portugal has only ever had five winners of the
top flight and of all those titles won, only two seasons have ever been won by
a club outside of Os Três Grandes since its inception in the 1934/35 season –
Belenenses and the now defunct Boavista. In eight years’ time when it
celebrates its centenary year it’s pretty safe to assume that only five clubs
will still have only been crowned Portuguese champions. This isn’t a league
where fans of any other club outside the big 3 start the campaign with dreams of winning the
league, but ironically it’s Sporting last season who may have at least given
smaller clubs some hope of glory in the countries two cup competitions having
lost the final of the Taça de Portugal to Liga 2 side Torreense and being
knocked out of the semi finals by the eventual Taça da Liga winners Vitória SC
even if the latter competition is not open to all member clubs. All told even
the most ardent and optimistic of Alverca fans would admit that a win in the Taça
de Portugal would be just a pipe dream I'm sure.
Alverca’s budget is believed to be approximately €12 to €15 million annually. Their
revenues generated sit around the €5m mark with about €3.6m of that coming from TV
rights. The short gap in funds is being plugged by the clubs ownership. Despite what some reports online suggest their owner is not Vinícius Júnior, the Real Madrid star. I've seen it quoted that he owns between 70 and 80% of the share holding. In fact it's Thassilo Soares, his agent more commonly known as Tata, who is the majority shareholder. Now FIFA regulations prevent agents from holding stakes in football clubs which begs the question of how he would be allowed to have an involvement. From what I can ascertain Vinícius Júnior has two agents. Fred Peña, the other of the two, is a FIFA licensed agent and therefore would be unable to have any share holding in Alverca, whereas one assumes Tata is involved in the commercial side of the players interests seperate from those football related. Alongside Tata it's believed that his father Vinícius José Paixão de Oliveira also runs the holding company behind the players investments.
Including loan signings, Alverca brought in a staggering 34 players
over the course of their first season back to the top flight which included the
ex-lion Gonçalo Esteves who joined on loan from Udinese. Of those signings only
3 are believed to have come with a fee attached; Figueiredo €750,000, Steven
Baseya €400,000 and Amorim €310,000. Portugal is the land of transfers with zero
cost attached in terms of fees paid so this is not exclusive to Alverca, free
transfers pretty much rule supreme. Yes, you might have a higher additional
cost than it actually being ‘free’ with the savings been passed onto the player
in some form of signing on bonus, but we’re not talking about Premier League
levels of benefits to the players in terms of renumeration.
Traditionally in Portugal the Competition Regulations assigns clubs individual ownership rights to broadcast each of their 17 home league matches every season. This is the clear reason for the disparity in Portuguese football. Os Três Grandes have the largest fan bases of all Portuguese clubs and therefore it stands to reason that they are able to negotiate the largest TV broadcast rights deals which means any competitive balance in the league has always been undermined. Ask for an example of a shock title win in the history of football and the obvious example that comes to mind for most fans would be Leicester City winning the Premier League title. However I would argue that the title wins of Belenenses and Boavista in Portugal both outweigh the achievement of Leicester in winning the Premier League. They were after all backed by billionaire owners even if they were competing against some of the giants in European and World football. For Portuguese minnows they really are like Sisyphus rolling the rock up a hill every season just waiting to get flattened by the big boys at some point during their 34 game season. Occasionally you get a shock result, relegated AVS beat last seasons title winners FC Porto, but that didn’t help them avoid the drop or stop the Dragoes from being crowned Champions. TV revenues are set to switch to a central commercialised system from 2028/29 onwards. That should in theory help close the gap between the clubs in the top flight but in reality the largest three are so far ahead, it will most likely mean a tightening and bunching together of the clubs below. If the TV income of the big 3 is drastically reduced it will just force them to have to sell more of their top talent every season to balance their books. A slightly increased parity for smaller clubs will most likely mean a bigger disparity for Portuguese clubs when they compete in European competition and also mean a lesser product domestically for the TV companies with the league best talent being sold on an even more frequent basis. It’s rare clubs don’t get at least a couple of seasons out of a player before being sold onto a bigger league but I envisage that the bigger boys may be forced to sell one or two every summer now if the reduction in TV revenues is that vast. We’ll watch that space and see what happens as and when the time comes.
I think if my memory serves me correctly Alverca changed their entire playing squad bar one or two players following promotion so it's no surprise to learn they've been a lot less active in the markets this summer twelve months on. I'm sure their owners would have been thrilled with their eventual eleventh place finish in the table. They missed out on tenth place to Estoril by virtue of their head to head record finishing on 39 points apiece. Portugal only has two confirmed relegation places with the side finishing third from bottom going into an end of season play off against the side who finishes third in Liga 2. Alverca and Estoril finished 9 points above Casa Pia in 16th place who secured another season in the top flight as they managed to beat Torreense in the play offs which in fairness was something that the lions didn't manage to do in the final of the Taça de Portugal in May meaning Portugal will have a Liga 2 side playing in Europe this campaign. Lord help the Portuguese co-efficient.
Alverca’s final overall league record read; played 34, won 10, drawn 9, lost 15, GF 35, GA 52 giving them a goal difference of -17. In truth it was a poor league last season so Alverca cannot rest on their laurels this campaign. At one stage AVS were on course to be relegated with the fewest points ever of any top flight side. CD Tondela who came up as Champions went straight back down finishing second bottom. Santa Clara, who finished in the European places the previous summer, were sixth bottom last time out. Estrela are in huge financial difficulties and expected to struggle. Académico Viseu will surely have their work cut out for them following their promotion. Given the size and support of Marítimo who came up as champions I'd suggest that of the two promoted sides that they'd be better placed to survive but we'll see. The surprises come from 5th to 18th places in Portugal not from 1st to 4th.
Their home record read; played 17, won 7, drawn 5, lost 5, GF 18, GA 23. I'll repeat one of my favourite arguments in football that a 1-0 win will get you as many points as a 5-0 win will. Whilst playing for a draw is beneficial for smaller sides, going unbeaten across an entire season for Benfica didn't help them with too many dropped points from drawn games. Away from home, again played 17, winning just 3 times, drawing 4, losing 10, GF 17, GA 29. Only Estrela and AVS had a worst away record so they'll have been thankful they had the tenth best home record to balance out their season. They clearly need to replicate that same home form and find ways of at least turning some of those losses into draws.
They were guilty of underperforming their XG of 40.1. Of the 35 goals scored 21 were from open play, 8 from set pieces, 5 penalties and 1 own goal. Top scorer was Marezi with 9, Figueiredo got 6, Lima with 5 and the remaining goals were shared by 11 players on 2 or 1 goal apiece. According to Fotmob Marezi was picked up as a free agent by Championship side Portsmouth at the end of July so that's 9 goals they'll need to replace from somewhere. According to the internet however Portsmouth paid £6m to Almería for his services which is why ladies and gentlemen when something doesn't read right you double check the information shown. Sandro Lima has also left for Aarat on a free transfer so that's 2 of their 3 top scorers gone and it's not like either were exactly prolific.
Summer transfer Window
Incoming
Lucca Giuntini from SC Mirandela (Free)
Marco Essimi from Dunkerque (Free)
Toni Tamrit from Villarreal B (Free)
Samy Jr. Merheg from Braga (Free)
Vivaldo Semedo from Watford (Loan)
Tiago Octavia - Leça (Free)
Jhonatan - Athletic Club £155,000
Yaya Bojang - OB (Free)
Noah Raveyre - Paul (Free)
Francisco Chissumba - Braga (loan)
Orest Lenedenko - Vitória €400,000
Ian Luccas - Cruzeiro €1m
Rayan Lucas – Flamengo (Undisclosed)
André Vidigal (Free agent)
Mofe Jemide - Crystal Palace (Free)
Signed after Matchday 3
Zé Rafael - Santos FC (Free)
Gabriel Carioca - Athletic Club (Free)
Dawda Camara - Girona £129,000
Matheus França - Crystal Palace (Loan)
Sandro Lima - Ararat (Free)
Felipe Lima - Benfica B (Loan)
Lincoln - Bursaspor £1.7m
Marezi - Loan spell ended
Léo Chú - Avai (Loan)
Outgoing after matchday 3
Marco Essimi - Rodez (assumed free)
Stéphane Diarra - Santarém (Loan)
Note any future business between the time the two sides meet on Matchday 3 will be updated below in time along with how they performed on Matchdays 1 and 2.
Last season Alverca had the misfortune of having to go to the José Alvalade twice in the space of just four days. They were routed 5-1 in the Taça da Liga with goals from Quenda (2), Blopa (2) and Ioannidis. Despite scoring five the lions registered only 10 attempts for an XG of just 1.65. High goal tally with a low Xg normally is suggestive that a goalkeeper has had a complete mare. Matheus Mendes' rating was a lowly 3.7 which supports that theory perfectly . They did at least improve to only lose 2-0 in the league, holding out until the 67th minute when Ioannidis scored again against them breaking the deadlock and Pedro Gonçalves added the second. Ironically for that game Sporting had 27 attempts for 2 goals and an Xg of 2.34. Fast forward to March and Marezi’s goal on 82 was scant consolation in a 4-1 loss. Pedro Gonçalves scored a brace, Suárez and Geny scored the other two goals. So three games, three wins for Sporting at an aggregate scoreline of 11-2. As I wrote at the start, they are separated by just 22.5 kilometres but in reality for now they're miles apart in terms of size and quality on the pitch.
So fundamentally for the season ahead they need someone capable of putting the ball in the net and where possible someone to also keep the ball from going in at the other end. Let's face it football at its basic fundamental principle is not a complicated game is it? Estoril scored 19 more goals than Alverca to finish level on points with them and interestingly they actually conceded five more goals in addition. It is however fair to suggest that at one stage towards the back end of last season Estoril's games were probably some of the most entertaining played in Portugal. Certainly better than the shit being served up every week by the eventual league champions under their new mister Farioli.
At the top their mister Custódio has been replaced by Sérgio Ferreira who was previously coach of FC Porto’s U19s. Custódio had only taken over from Vasco Botelho da Costa the summer previous though in fairness did at least last twelve months in post which is more than Sousa managed at Braga and Vitória. da Costa went to Moreirense and at the time of writing at least is still their mister.
8th August - Alverca have signed ex-Sporting B player Rayan Lucas on a four year deal from Flamengo. The lions decided against taking up the option on the Brazilian youngster at the end of his loan period last season. The Brazilians retain 50% of his pass for future sales.
Alverca pre-season
July 11th - União de Leiria 1-0 W
July 17th - OS Belenenses 2-1 W
July 22nd - Estoril 2-0 W
July 25th - Mafra 1-0 L
August 1st - Sporting B 1-0 W
2026/27 season
Alverca begin their campaign away to current title holders FC Porto on Matchday 1 and follow that up by hosting near neighbours Estrela da Amadora in what feels like a massive game for both sides even just one full week into the new season.
Matchday 1 – FC Porto (A) 2-0 L
André Silva saw his initial header fly wide but Alverca’s goalkeeper Matheus Mendes made
contact with the Portuguese in the aftermath and referee Luís Godinho was sent
to the monitor by VAR and awarded a penalty which Silva himself stepped up to take slotting
home into the bottom left for 1-0 after just 8 minutes. VAR sent Godinho to the
monitor a second time when Nabil Touaizi was adjudged to have pulled Silva’s
shirt and a second penalty was awarded. This despite the Alverca defender in
front of the cross from the right having gotten a touch on the ball and sent it
out of play for a corner. Neither offence denied a
goalscoring opportunity. Despite this Veiga put the ball in the same place that
Silva had done and on 43’ Porto were two goals to the good which was enough to
give them all 3 points. Note minus the penalty Xg it would have read 1.01 to
1.66 and Alverca were clearly guilty of wasting all three of their big chances.
Xg 2.59 to 1.66
Total attempts 10 – 15
Big Chances 3 – 3
Big Chances Missed 1 - 3
Matchday 2 - Estrela (H) 2-2 D
I turned this game on 11 minutes into the second half just to get eyes on Alverca ahead of next week and they scored within 10 seconds so I wasn't sure whether to take that as a bad omen.
Estrela could have taken the lead on 20 minutes when an acrobatic overhead kick by Robinho was spectacularly pushed onto his own post by Matheus Mendes before a follow up effort was blasted over the bar. The deadlock was broken 5 minutes into the second half. Rafa Soares hung up a cross to the edge of the six yard box headed home by Antonetti despite having 3 blue shirts surrounding him. It didn't take Alverca long to equalise as Luccas headed home a James cross from the left six yards out to make it 1-1. Ex-Sporting B player Rayan Lucas crossed from the same wing past the legs of two stretched Estrela defenders and Semedo slid in to connect again from six yards to force the ball home and make it 2-1. Their lead didn't last long however as on '68 Marcus got on the end of a cross to smash home the ball from the edge of 6 yard box leaving Mendes with no chance. 2-2. Before that I felt Estrela had 2 strong appeals for penalties but neither were awarded, first when a defender stood on a foot and then minutes later when there was a pull in the box. Chiquino was booked on 70 minutes but the referee was sent to the monitor and overturned his decision to a red and the home side were down to ten men. He'll now miss the game against the lions through suspension.
xG 1.75 - 1.29
Total Attempts 14 - 10
Shots on target 4 - 7
Big Chances 3 - 2
Big Chances Missed 1 - 1
In the markets
Sporting CP 17/100
Draw 11/2
FC Alverca 11/1
Double chance 2X 10/3
Full disclaimer I don't normally give the double chance odds but given the histrionics of some fans after two games I've included it this time around as an example. That means Alverca have an implied probability of 23.1% of picking up a result from the José Alvalade on Saturday. Given that includes the bookmakers vig it's a less than 20% chance. To frame it another way, if this fixture was played five times, the probability of Alverca getting a positive result is just once. The implied probability that Sporting win is 85.5%. The average employee in a new job is given 444 hours of probation to prove their worth. We have fans who think after 3 hours their knowledge is so vast that they've been able to identify every fault and which players won't adapt. Please do fuck off. There was less noise made by the passengers when the Titanic sunk.
Team News
Starting XI
Silva, Fresneda, Debast, Ba, Araújo, Altimira, Doumbia, Zalazar, Geny, Gonçalves and Suárez
Substitutes
Virgínia, Vagiannidis, Quaresma, Inácio, Dias, Andersen, Felicíssimo, Lima, Guilherme, Irankunda, Derry and Nel.
The mister Rui Borges rings the changes from the win over Vitória. Fresneda, Debast and Ba in for Vagiannidis, Quaresma and Inácio. Up front the return of Suárez for Ioannidis. A full debut for Ba who played no part during pre-season. The Greek not even part of the matchday squad. Irankunda is amongst the substitutes following his move from Watford.
Alverca Starting XI
31 Mendes, 14 Baseya, 4 Bojang, 12 James, 2 Touaizi, 6 Gui, 25 Luccas, 35 Rayan, 55 Chissumba, 22 Figueiredo and 9 Semedo
Two changes from the XI that drew with Estrela. Ex-lion Rayan makes his full debut. Meupiyou and Chiquinho the two that miss out. Chissumba also comes into the starting XI
Substitutes
8 Moreira, 21 Gómez, 19 Essimi, 17 Mehreg, 23 Paulo, 9 Jhonatan, 20 Spencer, 15 Julian, 27 Tamarit, 18 Kassary, 11 Nuozzi and 7 Vidigal
First Half
Sporting in their traditional green and white horizontal stripes. Tickets started at just €10 for tonight's contest. Alverca in blue with red and white trim. Araújo is captain after Inácio relegated to the bench. 4-2-3-1 for Sporting, the visitors line up in a 3-4-3. Did Maxi forget the pendant or can we not afford them now?
Alverca kick us off. Sporting attack right to left. The visitors straight onto the attack but the cross from the right out for a goal kick as the hymn rings out.
1 Golazzo. The captain's armband clearly suits Maxi Araújo. He pings the ball into the bottom left hand corner with the most audacious curling effort from 20 yards. That was top drawer. Sporting CP 1 Alverca 0
3 Clearly one of the substitutes for Alverca said something the coach didn't like as he turns round and gives them a mouthful and they're sat like naughty schoolboys looking sheepish
4 Debast is right and Ba left of the centre back pairing
5 Debast reminding us what a wand of a foot he has as he looked to set Maxi free down the left. He wins a free kick outside the area after the defender handled
6 Zalazar to take. 7 yards from the goal line and half a yard outside the box near side. He drills it towards the near post cleared for a throw
7 Geny threads a smart pass through the centre for Suárez to chase cutting the defence open but too much pace on the ball
8 Debast with a poor pass out gave possession away. Semedo sees an effort blocked from 12 yards and then gives away a free kick for a foul on Ba
9 Another mistake from Debast who kicked the ball from the free kick and it moved about an inch and then with an Alverca player closing him down he kicked it again. Fortunately for the Belgian the cross from the resulting free kick went behind for a goal kick
10 We've got megaphones back in the José Alvalade
12 Araújo with a back heel on the byline almost sets Doumbia clear
12 Better from Debast who just wellied it to touch. Why take any chances?
13 Suárez down clutching his head. Offside flag was up against him as he tried to go past Bojang who definitely raised an arm to stop the Colombians progress
15 Yellow to Bojang for a blatant shirt pull on Suárez
16 Howls from the home fans after a foul not awarded for a push on Geny
17 The Hitler's only got one ball chant is back albeit with different words of course
18 Ba tests to see how Debast’s bowels are working with a dangerous ball across the edge of the 18 yard box
20 Beautiful football from Sporting down the left hand side with a series of intricate passes and flicks. Somehow Alverca deal with the danger
21 Geny penalised for a foul on Figueiredo not sure what he was complaining about. The Alverca player was out of touch and does the famous roll back onto the pitch
23 Magic from Geny with a switch pass. Gonçalves back heal, Fresneda found Zalazar who couldn't control it
23 Whistles from the home fans who felt Mendes' goal kick had gone straight out for a corner. That was bizarre from the edge of his six yard box. Part of the ball was definitely out
24 Fresneda wins a corner off Baseya far side
25 Alverca defending in a 6-4 before finally breaking out. Different
26 Alverca happy to sit around the 30 yard mark when defending initially and then slowly dropping back as possession advances
27 Gonçalves twists and turns to lose his marker but seeing a sea of blue shirts knocks it off a defender for a throw in
33 Geny flattened with a clumsy challenge a yard outside the Alverca area
34 Free kick 19 yards out to the right of the area. Gonçalves over the ball. He goes for goal and gets it over the five man wall but it's half a yard over the bar. He caused some serious chaos with his free kicks at B level
35 Alverca throw given to Sporting for not being taken quickly enough
36 Doumbia penalised for a challenge from behind despite winning the ball
37 Alverca are just 12 yards inside their own half. Why we aren't firing more balls over the top to chase is anyone's guess given they drop into a six when around their own area
38 Gui booked for a foul on Gonçalves
39 Gonçalves so close to Sporting's second as he smashes a shot from 16 yards saved by Mendes. The volume turns up again
40 Zalazar, Doumbia and Geny all contrive to lose the ball within 10 seconds of each other.
40 Figueiredo shoots from 25 yards and brings a comfortable catch low from Rui Silva
43 Altimira not the first time suggest that Figueiredo has taken a tumble. Alverca free kick sees a header flicked wide of the left hand post from ten yards by Touaizi
Plus one shown. Not sure where that came from
Half time
Sporting CP 1 Alverca 0
An opening 45 that lacked any real quality other than Maxi Araújo’s opening goal. xG tells the real tale at 0.24 to 0.06. Five attempts for the lions to the visitors four. You have to feel that Alverca's players have been made to watch last season's 5-1 and 4-1 drubbings quite a few times this week. For all the neat little intricate passes Sporting have had in their locker virtually every outfield player has been guilty of losing possession sloppily and some more than once *coughs Debast.
This is one of those games where I'm going to wind the clock back and say they need a second goal. Not that Alverca have really shown anything in the final third but as we know it only takes one mistake to be punished at this level and drop more points. If the captain's armband is weighing heavy on Araújo then it's not shown at all. Geny has certainly looked good on the right but for everyone else it's been vignettes of their talent but not much more, not helped by having to try break down the low block. Though that being said when the lions have the ball in their own half there is acres of space to be found behind their defence.
Second half
Sporting get us back underway
Big 45 minutes ahead. Just don't do anything stupid gentlemen.
46 Doumbia with a turn on the edge of the Sporting box to lose his marker but then loses possession thankfully for a throw. There's a time and a place and that's not it
48 Appears Geny was booked for the challenge midway through the first half. Perhaps that's why he was complaining. Didn't see him shown the card. Not that I'm saying Fotmob might be wrong but they did say West Ham had drawn 2-2 earlier when they lost 2-1. You had one job!
50 I watched Ricardo Mangas at the Giuseppe Meazza Stadium earlier which felt surreal. Unsurprisingly the Monza coach figured out he's not a left back. Even so Inter thumped them 4-1
50 Suárez almost ran clear of two defenders on the edge of the area. That's the first we've really seen of him in an attacking sense. Bojang just got his foot in front of the Colombian
53 The lions starting to get a grip on this game finally
54 GOAL Brilliant recovery by Zalazar in the centre to somehow find Geny. His turn of pace lost his marker. He fired in a low cross which cannoned off Mendes and into the net. Sporting CP 2 Alverca 0. Wasn't pretty. Shades of the Estrela goal off Rui Silva. They all count.
56 ➡️⬅️ Rayan for Vigidal and Semedo for Merheg
56 Corner far side to Alverca. I'm sure that's their first
57 Altimira clears for another corner near side. The visitors woken up by that goal. Header sent well wide by Bojang ahead of the near post from the corner for a goal kick.
58 Confirmation that the second was a Mendes own goal
59 GOAL Sporting CP 3 Alverca 0. Luis Suárez starts his run inside the Sporting half. Rounded the keeper and slots home from 8 yards. I've seen the Colombian score a one on one. Can I just point out I said there was acres of space to run into?!?! The name of Suárez is sung from all four corners
60 Alverca corner far side
61 The visitors set to make a third change
62 La la la la Mágico Sporting…
63 Finally Sporting have twigged that long balls are key to winning this game. Doumbia almost set free but the pass cut out
64 The goal and the reaction of the fans seems to have energised Suárez
64 As an aside we saw nothing from Rayan before his departure to suggest Sporting made a mistake in not signing him when they had the chance in the summer
65 ➡️⬅️ Essimi for Chissumba
65 Irankunda is set to come on with Guilherme
66 Free kick 38 yards out put into the stands by Figueiredo. File that under incredibly ambitious
67 Oh Doumbia... Slide rule pass from Geny to Zalazar who cut the ball back for the Italian who fired over from 16 yards. That would have been some team goal. Poor execution there from the Italian.
67 ➡️ ⬅️ The crowd on their feet for Geny as he's replaced by Guilherme. Gonçalves for Irankunda who's gone wide left
70 I think Silva has still to make a save given he caught the effort in the first half
71 Suárez shot blocked by the arm of Bojang from 18 yards. Scramble inside the box, Zalazar cut it back to Doumbia who fired wide from 18 yards
72 Whilst Bojang does handle the ball it struck his arm whilst tucked down by his side so correct call not to award anything
73 Irankunda smashes the ball off the head of Figueiredo’s head after he'd been fouled.
72 Essimi booked for a foul on Guilherme
74 ➡️⬅️ Gui and Kassary for Moreira for Luccas. That's all five changes for the visitor's
74 ⬅️➡️ Suárez for Nel, Quaresma for Debast. They have one option remaining
75 Quaresma has taken the arm band
80 Blocked shot from 20 yards by the visitors
80 Huge shout of Rui from the home fans as he gets his body behind Kassary’s low effort from sixteen yards. That's their best effort of the second half by some distance
81 Sliding tackle from Ba conceded a corner near side
82 Wild effort from 30 yards into the stand from Moreira. Almost as bad as the Figueiredo free kick
83 Alverca's average xG per effort has been 0.03 as an indicator of how bad their finishing has been
85 Do not concede Sporting. Let Rui Silva have his clean sheet for the love of God
85 WOW. Guilherme effort from 17 yards saved. Zalazar effort from 12 yards saved. Nel effort from 8 yards saved and out for a corner far side. He didn't know much about that last one. He's more than made up for his error on the Geny goal there making three straight saves
86 Lima all set to come on
87 ⬅️ ➡️ Zalazar for Lima
88 GOAL Sporting CP 3 Alverca 1. You couldn't let him have it could you? Figueiredo fires over the head of Rui Silva from the tightest of angles on the far side. Be interesting to see the xG on that one. Won't have been high - Our sruvery says - 0.11
Plus four indicated
90 Figueiredo trying to be clever in the box flicks it up for a volley and doesn't even get the shot away. Not sure his mister will be happy about that one
+1 Beautiful turn on the edge of the box from Doumbia but his effort goes half a yard past the left hand post
+3 Rui Borges rubs his head in his hands as Doumbia fires wide from 14 yards. Irankunda was free inside the area on the far side, chose to cut back and unselfishly pass to his teammate rather than take a shot himself. Not been the Italians night. Derry were you watching that?
+3 Lima almost scored at the near post as his effort deflected off a defender. Somehow Mendes got down low to his right to push it out for a corner
Full time
Sporting CP 3 Alverca 1
The final word
Sometimes the statistics give you a clearer picture of a game than the scoreline. The final xG 2.12 to 0.41, 15 attempts from the lions to 10 from the visitors. That means their average xG per shot was 0.041 and that's significant because what chances they did have were in the main hurried, wasteful and wildly off target. Definitely a touch of fortune about their goal as well, that type of finish could have gone just as easily out for a throw in on the far side on another night. It's a shame for Rui Silva because he'd been equal to everything else thrown at him tonight and he deserved a clean sheet. Sometimes it's not meant to be but fingers crossed it builds his confidence back up and clears whatever it is that's been weighing him down for months now.
It was definitely a game where if you only watch the highlights in a 3 or 4 minute package where you could rightly be forgiven for convincing yourself we were quite good. To be fair we were at stages. The problem is it was probably only for about five minutes over the 90 but sometimes that's enough to see off that level of opponent on the night. I've seen worse opponents but they were poor. Even on a six out of ten night for Sporting the gulf in quality was all too evident and with better finishing they should at a minimum added one more to the scoreline if not two.
The difference for me this week was the impact of the substitutes. Irankunda was probably too selfish at the end but you can't knock his awareness for picking out Doumbia centrally. He certainly looks like he's got some chops about the lad. Guilherme played really well when he came on both defensively and offensively and he grows another centimetre with every performance. It might be slow growth but he's growing and that's important. We've not really been able to see anything of Lima but he came so close to adding the gloss on the performance even if we didn't see much more than 7 minutes from him. Quaresma didn't really have much to do in fairness when he came on but I'd put more faith in him keeping the defende together than I would Inácio coming on and taking it off Maxi. Touch of class from the Uruguayan to hand it over by the way. Which leaves Nel who was straight into the action, had one good chance somehow saved by Mendes who didn't know much about it. He just has to grab these opportunities as best he can and whilst Ioannidis' absence is clearly a worry and hopefully just good management on the part of the coaching and medical staff it doesn't worry me that he may be the only reserve option.
I thought the whistling of Suárez last week was really poor by a section of the fans and uncalled for based on baseless accusations in the media. I think the fans reaction after his goal seemed to reignite something inside of him. A reminder that the vast majority of fans are behind him and want him to succeed and to block out the minority of idiots who'll believe anything they read in the media or online. The club has to stay together and ignore the outside noise. Roll on the transfer window being shut because the speculation around him and Geny won't be helping either player but both played a pivotal role in the second half and it felt so important the fans gave both their flowers for their contribution. They were superb all night by the way. Cracking atmosphere sorely missed in recent seasons. It felt like the away following turned up to eight. The better the performances the louder it will get and it already felt loud tonight.
Overall it's clear there's much still to be worked on. Too many times we saw sloppy passes in all areas of the field. Hopefully much of it ring rust. Debast especially has had an incredibly long time on the sidelines so I'll forgive him that. What he was doing when he clips the ball on the free kick outside the box Lord only knows but they got away with it.
The benefit of having issues at the start of the season is you have time on the training ground to iron them out. This side is very much a work in progress but they'll have felt the love of the fans tonight and have plenty to build on. They should be on 9 points. 7 is where we're at. You can't change it. Keep picking up the wins, build your confidence up and at some point it will gel into a much more cohesive unit. Well that's the hope. Certain sections of our fan base baffle me when they talk about how we've downgraded players all over the pitch. If your sample size A is several hundred appearances collectively and your sample size B is four and a half hours then what do you expect? Fuck me. At least compare apples to apples and oranges to oranges which means shut the fuck up until the end of the season. You're not helping the situation. Your life is not dependent on you being desperate to be right after 3 league games.
I don't think we've seen anything like the best of Zalazar yet but I'm looking forward to the fully firing version. I did like the unity of him celebrating with Maxi Araújo for the opener like brothers. That can only be of benefit to Sporting. Doumbia looks a different entity than what we saw in pre season. Perhaps the penny has dropped he's at a massive club compared to Venezia and he's now taking in what it means? Perhaps all he needed was for one of his many efforts to drop into the net? Or perhaps he needs a bigger name to lift himself against? Who knows with the psychology of modern players they're all different.
Credit to the mister for ringing the changes though. Vagiannidis may have been enforced after going off on a stretcher and in fairness Fresneda we know is the first choice right back anyway and another coming back to full fitness so the Greek was a stop gap. But benching your captain and your centre back pairing after the collapses against Vitória and Estrela certainly sent out a message. You earn your place. We've four centre backs. You prove to me you show me what you've got to offer. Some sections will use it as a beating stick againsgt Borges you can guarantee it. How can you drop your captain blah blah blah. To that I'd simply say - oh do fuck off and shut the fuck up.
Solid debut from Ba. Certainly looked better than Inácio has the first two games. Cue the rumours about him, Amorim and AC Milan until the window shuts. Debast is clearly a talented footballer but I'm not sure that makes him a talented centre back. The pass to set Araújo off down the left was worth the entrance fee alone albeit I'll caveat that point with a reminder you could get in for as little as €10 but I'll stick with it nonetheless. I feel much more happier with Fresneda and Araújo either side of the centre backs whoever they may be even if both still are short on full match fitness and sharpness.
I'm still not sure about Altimira yet. Touch of the Sotiris about him in both stature and his game. Definitely not afraid of putting himself about.
Let's go with the four votes for man of the match. Credit to Luis Suárez for actually finishing a one on one and Rui Silva for almost keeping a clean sheet. Yes like a maths test I'm showing my working out as always. I'm going to go Geny vote one. Solid game, really good neat interpassing in the final third. Those bursts of pace from him is why Sunderland are dangling a carrot. I'd be gutted if he went. Played a big part in the second goal. Critical piece in the jigsaw. Vote two goes to debutant Ba. One slightly unnerving pass across the box which reminded me my heart is still working but impressive otherwise. He's got big shoes to fill with Diomande but if he puts in performances like that he'll go someway to filling them. Vote three to Fresneda who as always puts a shift in from start to finish and we saw nothing of an attacking threat from his side of the pitch. Final vote goes to Maxi Araújo. I'll happily argue that Maxi at 60-70% is better than pretty much anyone else in the Portuguese league. The quality of the opening goal was something else. He'd be my natural choice for captain anyway and it certainly didn't affect his performance in any way shape of form tonight. He's an enigma because one minute he's snarling and snapping at your heals, the next he's showing true humility and respect like passing the captain's armband over and he looked genuinely thrilled to go up for the coin toss. Anyways we know he's special and he's my man of the match. Rio Ave up next.
