Sporting CP v Manchester United

 

Sporting CP v Manchester United
Wednesday November 25th, 2026

Estádio José Alvalade

UEFA Champions League Matchday 5

The Warm Up

It struck me very quickly after the Champions League draw was made that this matchday post was going to be one that wrote itself. Having opened a word document up a couple of weeks ago and left it, it transpires that no, I still have to write the bloody thing.

The Jogo bonito is littered with sliding doors moments throughout its history, how one decision can cause seismic impacts on a clubs future outcomes. On May 4th, 1949 Torino were traveling back from Lisbon for a testimonial match for the Benfica captain Francisco Ferreira when their plane struck the Basilica of Superga tragically killing all 31 passengers on board. The tragedy came at the end of a decade where they'd won five Italian league titles and their team provided the backbone of the Italian national team in turn. How Italian football could have had a very different historical landscape had they turned down the offer to play in Portugal. 

Fast forward 4 years to 1953 when Alfredo Di Stéfano found himself playing in Colombia for Millonarios owing to a strike by players in his native Argentina. FC Barcelona had struck a deal with River Plate for his services where he had previously been playing before the strike. Real Madrid struck the same deal with Millonarios. The question was which club held the players registration given the Colombian competition was a pirate league, which is to say one not sanctioned officially by FIFA. The Argentinian would go to Madrid where he turned around their ailing fortunes to such an extent that they would win five European Cups, 8 La Liga titles and he'd personally win 2 Ballon d’Ors and 1 Super Ballon d’Or. Clearly both clubs could have had a very different history had Barcelona been allowed to conclude their deal original deal struck first. 

Tonight's opponents suffered their own tragedy on February 6th, 1958 when the plane carrying the Busby Babes crashed at Munich Airport killing 23, 8 of whom were players including the prodigal Duncan Edwards. He initially survived the crash but would tragically die 15 days later of the injuries sustained in the accident. Returning from a European tie they were aiming to win a third consecutive first division title. Unlike Torino in Italy they would go on latterly to achieve great success but again the world was robbed of seeing how a side would have grown and developed and what additional titles they'd have won. The tragedy did however have the affect of turning United into one of the largest supported clubs in world football, so deeply touched were many so many people by the tragedy. 

Two years previous to the Munich air disaster, Sporting had opened the Estádio José Alvalade on June 10th, 1956. It would remain their home for the next 47 years until it's closure in 2003. Here we find ourselves in another sliding doors moment, this time thankfully with no tragic consequences but instead with a football game that would see the futures of Sporting CP and Manchester United entwined from that point all the way up to the present day. 

The present Estádio José Alvalade was opened on August 6th, 2023, it's building coincided with Portugal hosting Euro 2004. The choice of opponents for their very first match - Manchester United. The lions won 3-1, Luís Felipe scored the first ever goal there and included in the team that day a spotty, buck toothed 18 year old by the name of Cristiano Ronaldo. He clearly made a big impression on the United boss Alex Ferguson because it was his last ever appearance in the green and white and just 6 days later he was a United player having signed for £12 million. Imagine if the club hierarchy had decided to play arch rivals Benfica instead or any number of different clubs from around Europe. The lions lose a generational talent, the Red Devils gain one. CR7 as he rebrands himself has a similar domestic impact for United that Di Stéfano at Real Madrid decades before. He helped them to three consecutive Premier League titles in 2006/07, 2007/08 and 2008/09 collecting the 2008 Ballon d’Or along the way. He becomes the clubs first ever Portuguese player. So enamored were they by his success, United returned to Lisboa in the June of 2007 to sign Nani for a fee of €25.5m. He would help United to two further Premier League titles in 2010/11 and 2012/13 alongside the two won playing alongside Ronaldo who had by then departed for Real Madrid and established himself as a true global football star. Oh and pointless fact - Ronaldo wanted the number 28 shirt as he'd work at Sporting but the club gave him the number 7 instead made famous by the likes of George Best. Does CR28 work better than CR7? Somewhere in a parallel universe it exists. 

Marcus Rojo signs in 2014 for around €20m and helps Unites win the Europa League, FA Cup and League Cup. Peter Schmeichel and Manuel Ugarte have played for both clubs in addition. 

Clearly we're missing some more names connected to both clubs and I'm not talking about Carlos Quieroz who was the former Sporting mister and Fergies right hand man at one stage. 

In January of 2020 Bruno Fernandes transferred to Manchester United in a deal that saved Sporting from complete and utter financial meltdown. Once more United got a generational talent from the lions but more importantly the lions secured their immediate financial security and without the sale one can only take a guess at the depths the club would have sunk to. Instead under the leadership of Club President Frederico Varandas they go onto win the Portuguese title three times in subsequent years, two of which come under the mister Ruben Amorim who of course ends up as the new mister at United taking with him all his backroom team and so we end up with Rui Borges via João Pereira’s brief tenure and as for Amorim…well he gets the sack and rocks up this season with AC Milano with a bumper pay off in his back pocket. Plenty of sliding doors moments between the two sides I'm sure you'll agree. All, bar the fateful decision to hire Amorim mid season rather than wait, paid off for United to some degree or another. It could have cost Sporting their third title win in recent history but fortunately from our point of view it worked out well with a league and cup double. 

Regular readers will know I like to fly off on random tangents to then segue neatly into a saliant point. Well that's the theory anyway. My mother only has half a kidney and spent the majority of her childhood in hospital under the care of Catholic Nuns who clearly told her frequently enough that patience is a virtue because that's what I spent my childhood being told too. Clearly like mother like son. United certainly didn't display that same level of patience when it came to Amorim, however Varandas did do with him despite his fourth place finish in 2022/23. This was on the one hand because he'd won the league title in his first full season and on the other Sporting had paid €10m to Braga for his services which ironically brought him the time he wouldn't be afforded with Manchester United. Much is currently being made of Rui Borges’ record of throwing away leads in games. To me that's just part and parcel of being a coach. It's not a reason in my book to sack someone who at the time of writing (ten days into the September international break) who has only ever lost two league games since he took charge in December of 2024. Tottenham Hotspur have in that same period lost 34 league matches by way of comparison. Rewind back to the start of the 2023/24 season and Ruben Amorim saw his side go 2-0 up against Vizela at home before they pulled it back to 2-2. Casa Pia levelled to make it 1-1 as did Braga and Farense with ten men came from 2-0 down to make it 2-2. This isn't a new phenomenon with Sporting CP. We're just really shit at defending and our cause isn't helped by the likes of Inácio scoring own goals or Debast getting sent off or the general psychological wave of terror that seems to sweep over them at certain points when they get punched in the mouth and causes this huge malaise. We invest in youth because that's the business model that will sustain us when Champions League qualification isn't achieved. But for me we could do with an experienced centre half a la Sebastian Coates. Yet we don't have one so what can you do but get on with it in the meantime? Despite those early setbacks for Amorim that season he went onto win the league. He also however had the benefit of a young gentleman by the name of Viktor Gyökeres which let's be fair was a cheat code in Portuguese football. Borges no longer has that same benefit that Amorim had for a season and a quarter at his disposal. Please don't think I'm suggesting that Sporting will win the league this season because I'm not. I'm just drawing the comparison to install that reminder that patience is a virtue. If you don't want the religious version then go with the Guinness one - Good things come to those who wait. 

There was a really good article on the BBC about Manchester City's scouting and analytics department at the start of the international break quoting the Ex-Sporting director Hugo Viana. That has subsequently gotten buried under some different news about City but they've got a post of their own to come so I won't allow them to hijack the red side of Manchester's one. It finished with the line - City's data indicates their current squad will not peak for another two to three years. (Yes fine stop sniggering at the back it would have been valid at the time of writing I'm sure.) The point in me mentioning it is that it resonated with the lions squad and their summer transfer business. In Portugal you couldn't admit such a thing if it were true. It's all about the here and now and that's the price you pay for only having three big teams in one country. Thankfully no one reads these things so I'm safe in pointing out they we really do have some self serving sanctimonious cunts who follow us. What we need is a bit of calm and perspective, maybe the use of a psychologist and as already suggested the purchase of a more experienced centre back to provide a wiser head and guidance. Calling for the misters head is just pure fucking cliché. This belief that the next mister comes in with a magic wand. If you were to read through every minute by minute I've ever published you'd soon realise that we're always the masters of our own downfall. There's this huge literny of errors especially from our centre backs. I've written it before and I'll double down here - Rui Borges is not instructing the likes of Inácio to score own goals or Zeno Debast to have a rush of blood to the head and get sent off. Both of them are missing something between their ears. But both are equally capable of initial passes that eventually lead to goals. It's a Catch 22. In the infamous words of Gatusso - Sometimes maybe good, sometimes maybe shit. Drawing with Estrela, Famalicão and Arouca is not a hanging offence. There are fifteen other clubs in that league that I'm sure would love to have Rui Borges as their mister and I use the Tottenham example above because his name was in the hat for the role last season. 

I want to watch Flávio Gonçalves kick on, I want to see if Mauro Couto can make the step up. I want to João Simões to kick on and fulfill his full potential and not in a Premier League shirt but in the green and white of Sporting. This notion that players don't play for him or respect him is utter fucking codswallop. Similarly that he's not a good coach. He's a man that tries to learn from the mistakes of previous seasons. I've complained for years about how wasteful the lions were in front of goal and this season you're watching that adaptation. We're not watching games with 27 attempts on goal to score maybe two or three times it's more calculated. I wrote that early on in the season so well done Abola for writing the same thing several weeks later. He's learned from all the injuries and player overload and is trying to combat that in the early weeks with squad rotation and yes it's cost us but it could well pay far more dividends come the end of the season. As my mother will tell you - patience is a virtue. 

Head to Head

The two sides have met in Europe before first in 1964 and latterly in 2007. In the UEFA European Cup Winners Cup United won 4-1 at Old Trafford in the first leg to take to Lisboa an almost unassailable lead into the return leg. However the lions clearly hadn't bothered to read the script as they ran riot. Osvaldo da Silva made it 4-2 on aggregate from the penalty spot with just 2 minutes played and added his second on 13 minutes to make it 4-3. Geo Carvalho made the tie all square a minute into the second half swiflty followed 5 minutes later with a goal from João Morais to put the lions in the lead 5-4. da Silva made it 6-4 on 54' minutes with a free kick which must have been fully 35 yards out from goal. Sporting won 5-0 and sensationally progressed 6-4 on aggregate. That result might just throw shade on last seasons epid comeback in the Champions League against Bodø/Glimt.

No such issues for the United side in 2007 when the two sides were drawn in the same Champions League group. They won 1-0 in Lisboa with a goal from Ronaldo. Did he celebrate? You'd have to check because I really can't be arsed. In Manchester Abel Ferreira put the lions 1-0 up before goals from Tevez and Ronaldo (again) turned the game around to see the red devils win 2-1. 

Matchday 1 - Sabah FK (H) 4-0 W

Michael Carrick's side took on the champions of Azerbaijan on matchday 1 and as expected made light work of their return to Europe's Premier Competition. Cunha opened the scoring from 5 yards on 26' slotting home a low cross from the left wing in at the near post. On 41' the reds doubled their lead, Tielemans pulled the ball back from the left hand side again, this time for Bruno Fernandes to slot home from 8 yards. On 44' Šeško was sent clear down the centre and left one on one with Pokatilov, rounded the keeper to the left and tapped in from almost the same position as Fernandes 3 minutes before. 60' Cunha came close to his second of the game as he struck a low shot centrally from half a yard outside the area which was saved low to Pokatilov's left. 62' Puchacz put a 27 yard free kick half a yard wide of the top of the right hand post. Five minutes later Sabah had conceded again in a moment their keeper will want to forget. He handled the ball down onto the ground almost like a basketball player starting to dribble the ball, between his legs, spins around in confusion and appears to then nutmeg himself, all the time unaware of the presence of Martinez who pokes it home from a yard.  

xG 3.67 - 0.92
Total Attempts 21 - 11
Shots on target 10 - 0

Big Chances 5 - 2
Big Chances Missed 1 - 2

Atlético de Madrid (A) 2-0 L

The pressure continues to build on United's coach Michael Carrick with another defeat in the club's worst start in over 40 years. You imagine a large section of the fanbase must now be thinking maybe it wasn't Amorim at all. 

The reds didn't help their own cause when they conceded with just 50 seconds on the clock. Barrios' shot from 14 yards struck Heaven and snuck under the young defender before creeping over the line. 26' Grimaldo's free kick from 23 yards struck the cross bar. 43' Cardoso was denied a goal after he swept home quite brilliantly from 20 yards into the left hand corner. Llorente penalised for handball in the initial play and the goal disallowed. 54' Alvarez saw his first time volley from 12 yards strike the left hand post. 69' Bruno Fernandes' saw his whipped effort from a yard outside the left of the 18 yard box hit the bar and away to safety. 73' After a VAR review Yoro was sent off for a foul on Lookman. Ten man United fell 2 behind when Lookman forced the ball home from 6 yards on 78' after David's initial attempt was saved and parried to the former Atalanta player. Former Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand introduced from the subs bench on 71'. 

xG 1.42 - 0.98

Total attempts 11 - 9

Shots on target 5 - 4

Big chances 2 - 4

Big Chances missed 1 - 4

Matchday 3 - Como (A) 4-1 L

The pressure continues to build on Ruben Amorim's replacement Michael Carrick as the former European Champions got thumped away in Italy to Champions League debutants Como. Last week Lisandro Martínez through members of the United hierarchy under the bus in his post match interview. This week they maybe thought they were in safer hands nominating former lion Bruno Fernandes to face the media but instead he threw Carrick under the bus. Manchester is a city in crisis right now in terms of its football teams.

Just 1’59 on the clock when Nico Paz curled the ball into the top left hand corner from half a yard inside the United area. Similar range but a different style of finish as Douvikas clipped the ball over United's keeper on 48’ to make it 2-0. 56’ An error in midfield led to goal number 3 on 56’ and it was that man Nico Paz who capitalised running in from the right wing into the United box and slotting home from just outside the far edge of the six yard box. All too easy for Como as Ramón headed home a cross from the left six yards out to make it 4-0 on 75’. Zirkee’s consolation goal on 90’ knocking home unmarked from 7 yards really was scant consolation. 

xG 2.11 - 0.99

Total Attempts 11 - 13

Shots on target 8 - 4

Big chances 4 - 1

Big chances missed 1 - 0