Jorge Jesus highlights the importance of keeping a cleansheet in Saturday's win against Rio Ave

Analysing Sporting CP's win against Rio Ave on Saturday night, Jorge Jesus accepted that Rui Patrício's performance was a key piece of the puzzle. "In the first 20 minutes Rui Patrício was decisive. During the week I told the lads that Rio Ave are a good team. They have some very good players. We had a bit of trouble stopping them getting forward and we gave away a bit of possession. We scored without doing much in attack, but that changed in the second-half. Rio Ave couldn't threaten us and only got close from dead balls. We were a lot better after Bryan Ruiz came on, because he is tactically a very intelligent player", said the Sporting CP coach.

Looking in greater depth at the encounter, Jesus added: “Three positive things changed in this match. First was getting the win and second was keeping a cleansheet. Finally, the fans were superb and were really important for us."