FC Porto conceded their first goal and their first defeat on matchday four. After three league wins and another in the Super Cup against the same opponent, Porto went to Sporting’s home ground and lost 2-0 thanks to a penalty converted by Gyokeres and a goal by Catamo in the final stretch of a classic match that was balanced for 70 minutes.
Vítor Bruno repeated the eleven that had beaten Rio Ave (2-0), Galeno remained on the left flank of the defence, Vasco Sousa remained in the engine room and the young Portuguese international had the first chance worth mentioning, a shot that went just wide of Kovacevic’s right post.
The home side responded with the usual suspect, before the half-hour mark, with a shot into the side netting that caused no alarm for the visitors, only the stands. Gyokeres was Sporting’s main attacking weapon, Diogo Costa kept FC Porto’s goal closed – despite the visitors’ handful of chances – and, just before the break, Galeno appeared on the opposite flank to give the opposing goalkeeper some trouble, who shook off the danger caused by the Brazilian international.
Sporting came back from the break better and came very close to scoring straight after the restart, but if it weren’t for a providential tackle by Otavio to save Diogo Costa’s untimely exit, Galeno responded with a long shot that forced the Alvalade goalkeeper to dirty his kit, but the goal only came from a penalty: Gyokeres received the ball, gained metres, Otavio doubled it with a foul and the Swede took charge of converting the penalty to make it 1-0.
At a disadvantage for the first time since the Super Cup, Vítor Bruno made a quadruple substitution, taking off Danny Namaso, Iván Jaime, Vasco Sousa and Martim Fernandes, bringing on Samu, Gonçalo Borges, Eustáquio and João Mário and then Fran Navarro replacing Alan Varela, however the scoreboard would only change again on Catamo’s initiative to confirm that the three points would indeed remain in Lisbon.
