The lion sharpens its claws to hold champions

The outbreak this Saturday allowed Sporting CP to an easy win over Santa Clara (3-0) with two goals in the first 22 minutes, thus launching an attack on the places of entry (2nd and 3rd) to the Champions League in next season.

Faced with more and more going down in the League, Reuben Amorim gave Coats, Morita and St. Louis a rest. Fair. Artur was right back and Pote linked up with Ugarte in the center. And Sporting came with everything. The team was in a hurry to decide the outcome of the match. Santa Clara’s disorientation and successive errors helped, but there was credit for how the lion’s team pressed high and reacted quickly to the loss of the ball. The first part was one-sided. Paulinho made it 1-0 with a header from Pote’s free kick. And the second did not have to wait long. Edwards picked up the ball in midfield and sent Trincao, who scored after the cross. Everything was so easy.

Two balls hit the net, but it could have been five or six, as was the case with the failures of Edwards and Paulinho when they were isolated. Gonzalo Inácio continued to lead the post.

In the second half, the lion massacre continued. Edwards set the tone. The first time he missed, but the second time he threw an unprotected bomb. When the game was completely under control, Amorim even brought in Neto, who had not played since September. The best thing the Azorean team did was Andrezinho hit the post in stoppage time. Undisputed triumph.

Positive
Lion’s Entrance… Paulinho
Sporting started well and scored two goals before the 22nd minute, and could have done more. Credit to Paulinho, who scored for his first time in the game. Mark for three consecutive rounds.

Negative
disoriented Santa Clara
The Red Lantern is disoriented, and this only adds to the difficulty. Weak in defense and without offensive abilities. Everyone complains, and no one is right … The division’s relegation is not far off.

Arbitration
game without cases
In a one-way game and no cases, Andre Narciso had a good night. There were no serious cases, and there was no need to resort to a video arbitrator.

Varandash loses appeal for insulting Pinto da Costa
Frederico Varandas lost an appeal in the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAD) for calling Jorge Nuno Pinto da Costa “active bribery”. The President of Sporting was suspended in August for 70 days and appealed against this punishment, but the decision of the TAJ was unfavorable for him. He will serve his sentence and pay a fine of 5,819 euros. “You don’t need justice for us to know that Pinto da Costa is an active corrupt official,” Varandash said at the time about the president of FC Porto.

“We’re back in action”
“We started well, we didn’t let Santa Clara get the ball. We created chances and after the first two goals the game was calm, we slowed down a bit,” said Ruben Amorim this Saturday, pleased that the team kept a goal at zero: “We didn’t concede a goal again, we returned to the usual path, which we have always been.”