Sporting earn battling three points on Liga NOS matchday 20

Sporting CP beat Académica 3-2 on Saturday night, in a baffling encounter that saw referee Cosme Machado allow for a goal from a clear off-side position, send Jorge Jesus and Nélson to the stands and show a string of baffling yellow cards.

The match got off as expected, with Jorge Jesus' side dominating. However, it was Académica who had the first opportunity of the evening with a corner in the 7th minute and a well rehearsed move picked out Rafa, who fired past Rui Patrício to give the visitors an unlikely early lead.

The goal did little to unsettle Sporting and Académica were soon picked back into their defensive third, but stubborn defending from the visitors and some highly debatable refereeing were not going to make for an easy night's work. Mané looked to have found a way through on goal in the 13th minute, but was brought down by an obvious push by Hugo Seco that the referee waved away.

Short passing down the wings and a midfield anchored by William sitting deep kept Sporting in possession for long spells, but opportunities on goal were in short supply, until Bryan Ruiz controlled well and unleashed a stinging effort that Pedro Trigueira could only parry away to Adrien at the edge of the box for a shot that ended up the wrong side of the bar. The in-form Alvalade skipper's attempt proved to be a warning shot for the equaliser and just before the half-hour mark he burst his way into the box and put an unstoppable shot across goal and into the back.

Although with a make do pairing of Ewerton and Rúben Semedo at the back, after Naldo was forced off with an injury, it looked to be only a matter of time before Académica again broke. Justice to the scoreline came two minutes before the break, when Carlos Mané tricked his way into the 18-yard box and fed a ball across the box that Bryan Ruiz edged in from close range. In all honesty, the goal was almost greeted with a sense of anger towards the evening's official rather than celebration, as two minutes earlier Cosme Machado had brandished an extremely harsh yellow card to Adrien for taking a free-kick quickly. Not only that, but Machado also gave Jorge Jesus his marching orders for supposed protests at the decision.

Gelson Martins was introduced to the action in place of William after the break (moving João Mário into the middle) and the pressure was cranked up again on the visitors. Despite Sporting's complete domination, it was the visitors who were next to 'score', when Ricardo Ricardo Nascimento flicked a ball on that João Real and Ewerton contested in the air. Although the Brazilian actually ended up putting the ball into the back of his own net, João Real was clearly off-side and the linesmen obliged with the respective raise of his flag. However, the referee saw fit to overrule his assistant and validated the goal.

Sporting had half an hour to claim the more than deserved three points and Jesus responded with the introduction of Montero for Mané. Gelson Martins was next to try his luck with a shot that was well stopped by Pedro Trigueira, before Slimani floated a chip onto the roof of the net and Ruiz was also denied by the Académica keeper. The breaking point for the visitors finally came when Aderlan was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Gelson, allowing Sporting to pen the visitors in for the rest of the encounter. After two decent opportunities for Montero (81’) and Adrien (84’), the Colombian finally restored the lead with a brilliant first touch and a calculated shot past Pedro Trigueira.

The evening's drama looked to be over, but there was still time for Cosme Machado to send off Nélson from the substitutes' bench.