Slimani scores at the death to keep Sporting five points clear
Sporting came away from the Arouca Municipal Stadium with a hard-earned three points this Sunday night, courtesy of a 90th minute strike form Slimani.
It was by no means an easy night's work for the team from Alvalade and right from the off it was made clear that Arouca were looking for upset against a Sporting team completely different to the one that lost in Albania during the week. With both outfits battling hard for possession, there was little to report in the opening 10 minutes other than a cross from João Pereira that the home keeper comfortably plucked out of the air.
Although pegging Arouca back into their own half, Sporting struggled to create chances in the limited space offered up by the hosts, who were happy to sit back and wait for opportunities to break forward. Despite Sporting's dominating pressure, the first shot didn't actually come until the 22nd minute, when João Mário fired straight at the keeper.
With steady build-up play doing little to create chances, Sporting switched to route one, using Slimani as a target man to add extra depth in attack. The change did the trick and João Pereira was able to pick out Teo Gutiérrez in a yard of space down the right, before the Colombian set up Slimani in the 18-yard box, but the big Algerian scuffed his shot. After Roberto pulled a stop out of Rui Patrício, João Pereira was again the protagonist going forward, finding Teo Gutiérrez for a shot that ended up wide of the target.
It wasn't until near half-time that Sporting managed to string together more clear opportunities, when João Mário floated a ball into the area that Paulo Oliveira headed down and towards goal, only for Bracali to parry over his crossbar with a superb instinctive save. Next to try his luck was Adrien after being picked out by Jefferson, but the Alvalade skipper's header ended up the wrong side of the post.
The second-half got underway where the first had left off, with both sides scrapping for possession in the Arouca midfield. Finding space in the 18-yard box was proving particularly challenging and Sporting soon resorted to efforts from range. João Mário pinged a shot goalward in the 53rd minute, but the final product ended up over the bar. Arouca responded through Ivo Rodrigues from a free-kick, but the eventual attempt on goal did little to trouble Rui Patrício. In response, Bryan Ruiz pulled a cross out of nowhere, but Slimani arrived just a second too late to convert.
Two minutes from time Esgaio crossed into the heart of the box for Montero, but the Colombian was unable to control his first touch and the chance went wanting. Just as it looked to be all over, the game was given a sudden injection of drama, when the Arouca coach Lito Vidigal actually walked into the pitch to complain to the referee (not for the first time over the course of the evening). In response Naldo pushed Vidigal back into touch, before the Arouca coach somehow ended up on the floor. In stepped referee Cosme Machado to show red to both.
A man down and with just seconds remaining, Bryan Ruiz found Montero in the box and the Sporting striker fired a shot against Hugo Basto, but Slimani picked up the rebound and managed to slot past Bracali to secure a well-earned three points that keep Sporting five points clear at the top of the table.
