Sporting make Portuguese Cup final; Braga almost there

Sporting make Portuguese Cup final; Braga almost there

Sporting booked their place in the Portuguese Cup final with a 1-0 victory over Nacional at the Alvalade tonight to win the semi-final 3-2 on aggregate. 

They will almost certainly meet Braga at the end-of-season showpiece event after the Arsenalistas built a 3-0 lead in the first leg of their semi-final against Rio Ave last night, thanks to a Zé Luís hat-trick. 

The final will be at the Jamor national stadium on the outskirts of Lisbon on 31 May. 

 

 

Sporting 1-0 Nacional 

Sporting came into the game leading on away goals after the first leg had finished 2-2 in Madeira, but a nervy opening half hour in which the hosts failed to create any chances confirmed suspicions that it would not be a straightforward task to complete the win for the Lions. In this period it was Nacional who came closest to scoring from a fiercely struck long-range effort by Marco Matias that skimmed the top of Rui Patrício's bar. 

With William Carvalho, Adrien and Nani all continuing to show evidence of an alarming loss of form, it was left to João Mário and Carrillo to try and get things going for the home team in an attacking sense. As half time approached the Peruvian in particular began to cause Nacional problems, and two inviting crosses directly onto to head of Slimani were wasted by the Algerian - the first headed tamely straight at Gottardi, the second steered horribly wide. 

Just before the half-time whistle Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patrício had to athletically tip away Christian's cross-shot, and the Portugal number one then produced an even better stop, his stunning reflex save preventing what looked like a certain goal as Soares headed powerfully towards goal from a corner. 

A flurry of substitutions followed which had the net effect of blunting Nacional's attack as Sporting ended the match looking far the fresher of the two sides, with André Martins especially lively. And the home team's pressure finally told when centre-back Ewerton headed in Jefferson's free kick to trigger celebrations among the home fans. 

Worryingly for Sporting, a paltry crowd of little over 16,000 turned up to watch the match, mirroring a general feeling of disappointment in relation to how the season has gone. Victory in the Portuguese Cup appears a necessity to re-enfuse the Sporting faithful about which direction the club is heading. 

by Tom Kundert, at the Alvalade

Braga 3-0 Rio Ave

Braga took a huge step towards the Portuguese Cup final with a comprehensive win against ten-man Rio Ave last night in the first leg of the semi-final played at the Quarry.

Rio Ave beat Braga in the semi-finals of both the Portuguese Cup and the Taça da Liga (Portuguese League Cup) last season, but Pedro Martins' side need a minor miracle to repeat the feat and overturn such a large deficit when the two teams meet for the second leg on 30 April.  

Braga were without Sérgio Conceição in the dugout - the fiery coach serving yet another touchline ban - but it made no difference as a dominant display of attacking football completely overpowered the Vilacondenses

Cape Verdean striker Zé Luís scored two early goals in the weekend victory over Gil Vicente, and he repeated the trick last night, benefitting from excellent approach work by Pardo and Rafa - two players who ran rings round Rio Ave all night - to put Braga two goals up by the 27th minute. 

Things got worse for Rio Ave when centre-back André Villas-Boas was sent off at the end of the first half. Zé Luís completed his hat-trick with a thunderous header shortly after the interval, and only some sharp goalkeeping by Ederson and profligate finishing by Braga's players prevented an even bigger margin of victory. 

Braga can surely start preparing for the Jamor showdown against Sporting.