Adan complicates the European dream

Sporting lost to Juventus this Thursday and are at a disadvantage in the quarter-finals of the Europa League. Adana’s huge failure betrayed Leon’s team, who were better and deserved to leave Turin with a different result.

The game started very quickly, the ball is there, the ball is here, which most coaches don’t like. Juventus had the best start and were close to goal thanks to a good move by Chiesa, who had the same resistance as Adana.

But out of 15 minutes of the game, it was only Sporting. With consistent defense and a fast and intense midfield, the lions managed to get to the Juventus zone, which had a blackout with danger. Morita’s shot gave the first sign of danger. He then created two clean chances that Szczesny held with great style.

Juventus, without ideas and without quality, managed to scare Adan only when the central defenders made a mistake. In two moments, St. Juste and Inacio failed, but the Italian forwards were completely uninspired.
Sporting started the second half with the same intensity and desire for a goal. Pedro Gonçalves was close to it again. But the game has changed since then. Not because Juventus did otherwise, but because Sporting lost their minds. Unlike the first half, the match turned out to be uninteresting and almost always poorly played. The Juventus goal was the result of a serious mistake (another one) by Adana. The Spaniard missed and struck Vlahovich’s head. Coates shot, but Gatti came up to break through to the net. Amorim has changed and for the Portuguese team everything has changed again. In stoppage time, first Pot and then Bellerin squandered the draw incredibly.

Everything is open to play in Alvalada. This Juventus is within reach of Sporting, who did not deserve the betrayal of their goalkeeper.

DETAILS
Portugal lose their place in the Champions League
Portugal have clearly lost 6th place in the UEFA rankings to the Netherlands, and in the 2024/25 season they are one place less in the Champions League.

Next Thursday
The second leg of the quarter-final will take place next week (Thursday 20 April, 20:00) at the José Alvalade Stadium.

Sporting keep Malapata
Sporting force Malapata to play away with Italian teams. In 16 games, he has not won a single one, and he has 12 losses and 4 draws.

Thursday results
Results this Thursday for the 1st game of the Conference League quarters: Gent-West Ham, 1-1; Lech-Fiorentina, 1-4; Anderlecht-AZ Alkmaar, 2:0; Basel-Nice, 2-2.

Positive
Double center midfield
Pedro Gonçalves and Morita filled the field. It is their fault that Juventus created little or nothing. His actions allowed Sporting to get even closer to the goal. They defended well and also knew how to attack. Both lacked the efficiency that the team deserved.

Negative
Another account error
Adan was competent until the 73rd minute, but at the decisive moment of the match he failed again loudly. In the Champions League, he has already scored in the game in Marseille. The team lost and then prevented advancement to the group stage. There is hope that history will not repeat itself.

referee
Always close to the stakes
One or the other is badly marked outside the game. In addition, he was always close to bidding. In disciplinary terms, the Turkish referee was also competent. In the end, despite the fact that several seconds of injury time had already passed, this could and should have allowed Sporting to take a corner.

“It’s good that we have another opportunity in our house”
“We controlled the whole game. We didn’t let Juventus create too many chances, we defended well against quality players. After that, we created our chances, several, and did not score a single goal. This is a kind of portrait of our time, and it is good that we have another opportunity at home. We have to be very smart to make a difference,” Ruben Amorim said this Thursday. The Sporting coach has already foreseen the 2nd match in Alvalada: “Juventus will play as they please. Let’s be smart and try to get around. We have to give ourselves completely to the game,” he warned, also commenting on the return of Ugarte (this Thursday suspended) for this game: “Ugarte is the player we need, even in the pressure phase, above, he is a very strong player.”

St. Juste cries after the fifth injury
St. Juste left in tears when he was substituted this Thursday, shortly before half-time, after suffering his fifth injury in his debut season at Sporting. Only on the left hip the center was injured for the third time – the rest were on the right ankle and left knee.