A much-rotated Sporting made it 17 straight victories at home in all competitions with a 4-2 victory in an entertaining encounter against Santa Clara.
Sporting coach Rui Borges selected an unfamiliar lineup with injuries, suspensions and some long journeys on the recent international break necessitating changes to the usual starters, especially considering Sporting’s next match is the small matter of a Champions League quarter-final match against Arsenal on Tuesday.
Santa Clara have improved markedly since Emanuel Petit was appointed their new manager, drawing two and winning three of their last five matches. Tom Kundert reports from Alvalade.
Islanders strike first
When Gustavo Klishmahn rifled a firm shot into the roof the net following a corner after just three minutes the Azoreans must have been confident their good run would be extended.
Midway through the first half the hosts equalised when Geny Catamo was fouled by Guilherme Romão for a penalty, which Pedro Gonçalves confidently dispatched.
Sporting were now finding their rhythm, Hidemasa Morita denied when only a fantastic full-length save by goalkeeper Gabriel Batista kept out the Japanese midfielder’s header.
Sporting turn on the style
The home side’s pressure was incessant and two excellent team goals shortly before the interval rewarded their attacking volume.
A swift moved in the 39th minute cut through the centre of the Santa Clara defence, capped by a lovely one-two between Daniel Bragança and Rafael Nel, the former scoring for the third game running at Alvalade.
On the day he turned 21 years old, centre-forward Nel was involved again as Sporting scored their third soon afterwards. The youngster showed good tenacity to win the ball and pass to Morita, who dinked a pass towards Trincão, the Portugal international swivelling brilliantly to shoot low across Batista and into the net.
The first half hour of the second half was something of a non-event as Sporting were happy to manage the result and conserve energy, a raft of substitutions by both teams further disrupting the flow of the game.
Late fireworks
But the match still had some explosive action in store for the big crowd of 46,472 in attendance. On 82 minutes Gonçalo Paciência showed twinkling footwork and his eye for goal by dribbling past his marker and smashing the ball into net from a narrow angle to seemingly put the islanders right back into the game.
The visitors’ celebrations were short-lived, however, as VAR chalked off the goal for a foul on Faye by Vinícius in the buildup.
Tempers frayed with some heavy challenges going in and a flurry of yellow cards shown by the referee, but Paciência was not to be denied. After another piece of clever footwork he scored in the 89th minute to set up a nervy stoppage time period of seven minutes for Sporting’s fans.
Souleymane Faye missed a glaring chance to settle Sporting’s nerves when he blazed a glaring chance over the bar. In the dying seconds Rafael Nel showed him how it’s done, finishing clinically after being found by a superb Eduardo Quaresma pass.
Sporting 4-2 Santa Clara highlights
