The team are eliminated by Manchester City, holding them to a 0-0 draw away

Sporting Clube de Portugal's UEFA Champions League campaign came to an end in England, with a 0-0 draw against Manchester City in the Round of 16. The first leg result, a 0-5 loss at the Estádio José Alvalade, decided the tie.

Some 2,000 Sportinguistas made the trip to Manchester for the occasion, and coach Rúben Amorim fielded a strong lineup for the game, albeit with five changes to the starting XI that played against FC Arouca. Pedro Porro, Luís Neto, Manuel Ugarte, Bruno Tabata and Paulinho were all included, whilst issing were the suspended Matheus Nunes and the injured Daniel Bragança, João Palhinha and Pedro Gonçalves.

With a practically impossible mission ahead, but with the will to give a different more positive showing, Sporting CP played compactly and did not allow many chances to the opposition, despite their superior possession. After an initial twenty minutes at a slower pace – marked by the patience of Manchester City's buildup play– Sporting CP went forward through a pass by Porro, which Islam Slimani was unable to finish off.

At the other end, Luis Neto had to cut out a chance for Raheem Sterling, and Antonio Adán kept out the first well-aimed shot of the match, coming from Phil Foden.

Defensively, the team remained solid. With the ball, they grew in confidence as the minutes went by and sought to exploit either the counterattack or the large space left behind the opposing defensive line. In one of those opportunities, a pass from Pablo Sarabia found Paulinho, but again there was no end product.

Before the break, in what was the most dangerous chance of the first half, Adán got the better of a one-on-one with Sterling.

Right at the start of the second half, Gabriel Jesus put the ball into the net, but after a check by VAR, the goal would be disallowed. 

In response, Tabata had the first shot on target for Sporting CP, and Marcus Edwards was brought on in place of Sarabia – the English winger also striking immediately into the hands of Ederson. 

Coates cut out a move by Riyad Mahrez, and several transitions put Manchester City FC on the back foot. After Matheus Reis and Porro's misplaced shots, Edwards ran upfield and set up Paulinho perfectly, but he could not beat Scott Carson -the substitute goalkeeper who had just entered the match for his first appearance of the season.

The forward was taken off injured from the resulting clash, and Nuno Santos replaced him at the same time that Ricardo Esgaio came on for Porro. 

Both sides lacked effectiveness in front of goal, and Amorim brought on forward Rodrigo Ribeiro for his debut for Sporting CP, aged just 16.

The game remained 0-0 at the final whistle, and Sporting CP would be eliminated from the competition. It was their second time in the knockout stages, and had come thanks to a second place finish in Group C, just behind AFC Ajax and ahead of Borussia Dortmund and Beşiktaş JK.

Sporting CP: Antonio Adán [GR], Matheus Reis, Gonçalo Inácio, Sebastián Coates [C], Luís Neto (Zouhair Feddal, 89'), Pedro Porro (Ricardo Esgaio, 78'), Manuel Ugarte, Bruno Tabata, Paulinho (Nuno Santos, 78' '), Pablo Sarabia (Marcus Edwards 58') and Islam Slimani (Rodrigo Ribeiro, 89').