Adrien and João Pereira after Sporting's 3-1 loss to CSKA Moscow

Both Adrien and João Pereira met with the press after Wednesday’s 3-1 Champions League qualification loss to CSKA Moscow.

“We could take about a few incidents, but it isn’t worth it now. What made the difference was where we failed in the second-half and we didn’t come out well after the break. We have to accept that we made mistakes which let our opponent back into the game. We could have come to Moscow with a stronger position, but for a variety of reasons that didn’t happen”, opened Adrien, before speaking about Slimani’s equaliser at 2-2 that was ruled out: “I didn’t see if the goal was fairly disallowed or not. We have missed out objective and we didn’t deserve this result tonight, but what matters is how you finish and not how you start.”

João Pereira also conceded that mistakes were made in the Russian capital, but shrugged off the suggestion that the result will leave a mark on the rest of the season: “We started well and we didn’t the hard part, which was scoring. When you are 1-0 up you can’t make so many mistakes. We prepared well and we trained properly for this match, but things didn’t go as well as we wanted and we can’t let it influence the rest of the season. Now we have other objectives and we will focus on them.”

Sporting fail to reach Champions League group stage after loss in Moscow

Sporting will miss out on this season’s Champions League group stages after a 3-1 loss in Moscow (4-3 on aggregate).

In what was a game of few clear chances and some tough battles for possession, Jorge Jesus’ side took the lead in the 36th minute, when João Pereira set up Teo Gutiérrez. Doumbia was first to strike for the hosts four minutes after the break, before grabbing a second in the 72nd minute to level the scores on aggregate after a header by Slimani had been ruled out by the referee after the ball had allegedly arched out of play from Carrillo’s corner.

The encounter looked to be heading for extra-time, but Musa’s strike five minutes from time secured qualification for CKSA, while Sporting now head for the Europa League.

UEFA announces champions League squads

Sporting’s Squad B List was released today, adding another 14 players to those announced earlier in the week: Guilherme Oliveira, Pedro Silva, Vladimir Stojkovic, Riquicho, Tobias Figueiredo, Domingos Duarte, Francisco Geraldes, Rafael Barbosa, Fábio Martins, Gelson Martins, Daniel Podence, Matheus Pereira, Carlos Mané and Cristian Ponde.

Complete squad list in full:
Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício, Marcelo Boeck, Azbe Jug, Guilherme Oliveira, Pedro Silva and Vladimir Stojkovic
Defenders: João Pereira, Ricardo Esgaio, Riquicho, Paulo Oliveira, Naldo, Ewerton, Tobias Figueiredo, Domingos Duarte, Jefferson and Jonathan Silva
Midfielders: William, Adrien, Aquilani, João Mário, André Martins, Francisco Geraldes, Rafael Barbosa and Fábio Martins
Forwards: Carrillo, Carlos Mané, Gelson Martins, Bryan Ruiz, Matheus Pereira, Daniel Podence, Cristian Ponde, Tanaka, Montero, Teo Gutiérrez and Slimani