Sporting Portugal, buoyed by a hat-trick from Viktor Gyökeres, sank Manchester City (4-1) this Tuesday in Lisbon, inflicting Pep Guardiola's men with their third defeat in a row in all competitions.
Two goals in three minutes after the break
Despite a squad decimated by injuries, everything seemed set for a quiet evening for the Citizens, who scored very early through Phil Foden (4'). City could then have widened the gap on several occasions, but Erling Haaland missed the match, and sometimes lacked precision, sometimes seeing his attempts valiantly repelled by goalkeeper Franco Israel (9th, 15th, 28th, 33rd).
The Portuguese in sky blue Bernardo Silva (36th) and Matheus Nunes (42nd) also had good chances, but it was Sporting who equalized through their rising star, Swedish center forward Viktor Gyökeres. After missing a huge opportunity alone against Ederson shortly after Foden's goal (8th), the 26-year-old striker was again served in depth and managed to resist pressure from Akanji to adjust the City goalkeeper (38th, 1-1).
During the first action of the second period, Sporting made the English defense dizzy for a nice finish from Maxi Araujo (46th, 2-1). A foul committed by Josko Gvardiol on Francisco Trincao in the area immediately allowed Gyökeres to make the break from the penalty spot (49th, 3-1). Called upon to punish a hand fault from defender Ousmane Diomande, Haaland trembled under the deafening whistles of the public and the ball bounced off Franco Israel's crossbar (69th).
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As if he wanted to show the Norwegian how it's done, Gyökeres again beat Ederson from the penalty spot at the end of the match (81st, 4-1), his 5th goal this season in C1. With 23 goals in 16 matches this season, the Swede is by far the top scorer in Europe and allows his team to occupy second place in the league stage standings, with 10 points out of 12 possible.
