Liedson fires Sporting to cup glory

Belenenses 0-1 Sporting

Sporting won the Portuguese Cup for the 14th time in their history after beating Belenenses 1-0 in a tightly fought final at Jamor on Sunday.

Star striker Liedson was the hero for the Lions, scoring a late winner to break Belenenses hearts and spark euphoric celebrations among the Sporting fans.

It was Sporting’s first piece of silverware for five years and fans will be hoping it heralds the dawn of a golden era for a team laden with exciting and talented youngsters.

Any thoughts of a repeat of last week’s 4-0 thrashing for Sporting in the final match of the league season were quickly dispelled as a well-organised and determined Belenenses team soon showed they would be fighting to take the Cup home with them every inch of the way.

Sporting started well and Moutinho had a decent shout for a penalty waved away in the very first minute when he appeared to be brought down by Nivaldo, before Nani tested Costinha with a shot from outside the area.

Early Belenenses pressure

But Belenenses came roaring back and Dady also claimed a spot kick when he fell in the box under a heavy Caneira challenge, before the burly striker then shot over the bar. Belenenses were now applying heavy pressure on the Sporting rearguard and Amaral was not far away with a rasping cross-shot.

Back came Sporting and some good passing movements created shooting opportunities for Tello, Miguel Veloso and Abel, but the efforts came to nothing.

On 30 minutes Sporting came close to breaking the deadlock, as first Romagnoli forced Costinha into an instinctive save, and as the ball fell to Alecsandro the Brazilian striker inexplicably crossed into no man’s land when a shot on goal would surely have found the target.

Belenenses refused to be overrun however, and some excellent footwork from Silas got him past Abel and into a good scoring position, but his firmly hit shot was well stopped by Ricardo.

The interval arrived with the match finely poised and the pattern remained the same in the second period. On 54 minutes Liedson headed towards goal and goalkeeper Costinha, despite slipping to the floor, just managed to keep the ball out with an outstretched arm.

Dady hits bar

Belenenses’ Cape Verdean striker Dady was proving a handful for the Sporting back line, and shortly after the hour mark the front man beat two markers to head goalwards and send the ball crashing off the top of the bar, with Ricardo getting the slightest of touches.

Play then switched to the other end and the excellent Romagnoli played a smart one-two with Liedson before firing at goal, only for Costinha to shine again with a sharp save. Nani was next to threaten with a powerful effort from distance that Costinha again repelled, with Liedson inches away from turning in the rebound.

Liedson strikes

As the clock ticked down and chances dried up extra time looked inevitable, but Liedson had other ideas. Miguel Veloso picked up an overstruck corner and sent a low cross toward the six-yard box where the ever-alert Liedson was on hand to knock the ball past the keeper into the net.

With the green and white half of the capacity crowd in ecstasy, Sporting played out the final few minutes without alarm to bring the curtain down on a highly positive season for the Lions. The final whistle triggered huge celebrations, both in the stadium itself and at the Lisbon club’s Alvalade home where tens of thousands of supporters had gathered to watch the final on giant screens.

Belenenses showed they had reached the final on merit and the remarkable job done by their coach Jorge Jesus bodes well for another good season next term.

Belenenses:
Costinha, Amaral (Carlitos, 88), Nivaldo, Rolando, Rodrigo Alvim, Sandro Gaucho, Ruben Amorim (Fernando, 72), Candido Costa, Ze Pedro, Silas (Garces, 75), Dady
Yellow Cards: Garces (95)

Sporting:
Ricardo, Abel, Polga, Caneira, Tello (Tonel, 66), Miguel Veloso, Nani, Joao Moutinho, Romagnoli (Custodio, 92), Alecsandro (Yannick Djalo, 70), Liedson
Yellow Cards: Nani (74)

Goals:
[0-1] Liedson, 88