A month passed and everything changed. On November 10, Sporting played its last game with Ruben Amorim, an epic victory in Braga and an emotional farewell to an outstanding coach. His replacement arrived and beat Amarante. Nothing else. João Pereira is right to want to be different from his predecessor, but what is changing are the results and performances. This Tuesday, the “lions” suffered their fourth consecutive defeat, losing in Belgium to Club Brugge, 2-1, in the 6th round of the Champions League.
In Bruges, Sporting didn’t just play for points. He was playing for a light at the end of the tunnel that had suddenly become long and dark after an enlightened era. João Pereira cannot have any other speech other than confidence in his work – because, above him, the words are the same. And each game is an opportunity to validate the words, but it can also be another hole. It is in this duality that the “lions” live: if they win, everything might be fine; if they lose, everything gets worse and worse.
Against the Belgian champion, the “Leonine” coach made several changes in relation to the game in Moreira de Cónegos, the most significant being the return of Eduardo Quaresma to the center of defense and the debut as a starter of young midfielder João Simões (in light of the absence of Morita and Bragança), aged just 17. After three consecutive defeats, there was an urgency for a response and the “lions” seemed to want to get back to their best version.
After just 3 minutes, captain Hjulmand launched a vertical ball towards Gyökeres, the Swede worked with the Belgian defense behind his back and left it for Maxi Araújo to enter on the left. The Uruguayan shot, hit the post and, on the rebound, Geny Catamo made it 0-1, a goal widely celebrated on and off the field. And this advantage was like an injection of confidence: for about 20 minutes, this team had more similarities than differences compared to its previous version.
Shortly after the goal, another opportunity, again with Gyökeres in the play. The Swede received it on the flank, waited for company and released it to Quenda – the young winger shot wide. Little or nothing could be seen of Club Brugge. There was no answer to the Portuguese champion’s dominance. This all lasted about 20 minutes. When Sporting started to create space in midfield and allow the opponent to make transitions, the game started to turn around.
It was in one of these moments, at 24′, that the Belgians equalized. On the right, Skov Olsen had space to advance and cross into the middle of the area, where the Greek Tzolis was ready to finish. The ball deflected off Quaresma and deceived Israel.
The Belgian goal took a long time to take effect and might not have had any effect at all. Soon after, a great play by Trincão put the ball within reach of Maxi in the area, but Olsen brought down the Uruguayan. Referee Anthony Taylor awarded a penalty, but after listening to what VAR had to say, he turned the maximum penalty into a free kick. Gyökeres already had the ball in his hands and retreated a few meters to take the free kick – the ball didn’t go far from Mignolet’s goal.
From here on, Sporting slowly entered its downward spiral, less and less believing in what it could do in the game and, to the same extent, the Belgians grew. There were moments, in the second half, when Sporting still tried to escape what seemed inevitable. Near the end, a great pass from Vanaken put Casper Nielsen in the goal path and the Dane didn’t miss, sealing the fate of a Sporting team that, a month ago, seemed headed for direct qualification to the Champions League.
