Jefferson and Carlos Mané on Thursday's loss to Bayer Leverkusen

Jefferson was back in the starting line-up this Thursday night following a spell out through injury and it was the Brazilian who had Sporting's best chance of the evening with a first-half effort denied by Leno. Speaking at the final whistle, the wing-back accepted that his side were lacking in front of goal, but affirmed that there is still everything to play for next week in the reverse fixture.

"It was a good game and we fought until the final whistle, but we didn't get the result we wanted. Nothing is over yet. They came here and got a good result, but we can do the same thing and go to Germany and win", said Jefferson.

Carlos Mané also gave his backing to Sporting's chances in Germany next week. "It was a good game between two of the best teams in the Europa League. We didn't deserve this result, but we will try and turn it around in the second-leg. It was a hard match with not that many chances. We have a great team and we have comeback a lot of times before, which is what we want to do in Leverkusen", noted the Alvalade youngster."