Sporting lead, letting Luz through

The Sporting team was ready to play a game of patience against an opponent who gave space but lowered the lines. Without losing their composure, but with a clear lack of purpose, the Lions reached the finishing area with some ease, with Edwards, Pote, Braganza and Gyokeres the main characters.

The Lions’ dominance increased after half an hour when Braganca opened the scoring. The Portuguese midfielder took advantage of Gyokeres’ pass and fired a strong shot at António Filipe’s goal.

Faced with the need to act after the defeat, Estrela came out and stepped up the counterattack, and Leo Xaba was close to a draw, but Adan, with excellent defense, won the fight.

Amorim’s team recognized the danger and responded. Edwards headed home Miguel Lopez after some good individual play and Coates even headed home before the referee sent both teams to the break.

At the extra stage, the emergence of Kikas revolutionized the amateur game. While sprinting through the Lions zone, he saw Coates’ arm block the ball. Leo Haba equalized the score from the penalty spot.

Sporting went looking for a goal and ended up losing 2-1 on a counterattack when Kikas controlled the ball and made a great shot.

The Leonin reaction was almost immediate, and it was Edwards who led the rebellion. First he went into action alone in a slalom that crashed through the Tricolor wall that ended 2-2, and then it was he who switched to Paulinho, with class and, as they say in the books, moving from top to bottom and turning the ball. marker around.

Ruben Amorim: “We concede a lot of goals”
“We knew it would be a very difficult game, Estrela planned it very well,” Ruben Amorim said at the end.

“When Estrela scored two goals, I didn’t feel like the team had lost control of the game. After the second goal we felt we could turn the situation around,” said the Sporting coach, admitting that the team performed poorly in attack: “We concede a lot of goals.” “The fact that we are unbeaten creates a different aura than the fact that Porto lost and we go to Luz next.