William Carvalho at the final whistle after draw in Guimarães

Sporting CP came away from Guimarães with a nil-nil draw this Monday, despite dominating from start to finish.

“It was a well fought game, especially in the midfield. I think we dominated for the 90 minutes and if anyone deserve to win, it was us", said William Carvalho at the final whistle, adding: "We had a lot of chances, but we didn't make the most of them."

The midfield finished with a comment on the coming Lisbon derby: "The next match means three points and that doesn't decide anything. Today we couldn't get the win and the fans might not have liked it, but we worked really hard."

Sporting dominate for 90 minutes but fail to break the deadlock

It isn't always the best team that wins. Despite dominating right across the board and a wealth of chances on goal against V. Guimarães, Sporting were unable to go beyond a draw this Monday night.

The match got off to an intense start, with both sides showing a willingness to get forward. On five minutes, Licá made the most of a good move down the left to find his way into the area and test Rui Patrício from a tight angle. Despite the early warning shot, Sporting showed calm and composure on the ball, moving possession around the width of the pitch in an attempt to break the V. Guimarães defence wall. João Mário commanded operations in the middle, while Bruno César and Gelson Martins carried the attack forward down the flanks and Bryan Ruiz and Slimani fought for space deep in enemy territory.

Sporting's speed looked particularly troubling for the evening's hosts and a cross dragged back by Bryan Ruiz found its way through to Coates in the area, but the defender was denied by a last ditch save from Miguel Silva. A minute later, the Guimarães keeper made another crucial stop, this time pushing a Slimani header away for a corner after a cross from Schelotto. Sporting had made their intentions perfectly clear and would well have been ahead after 20 minutes, but for Miguel Silva's heroics.

The battle for midfield raged, but Jorge Jesus' side kept the edge and largely left Rui Patrício untroubled. However, on 35 minutes Bouba Saré made the most of a failure by the linesmen to signal for offside and came close to connecting with a cross, but the Sporting keeper was on his toes and smothered the danger. Five minutes later, Otávio fired a shot inches wide of the right hand post from a free-kick. Sporting responded with another wave of attacks, firstly courtesy of a dash down the right by Gelson Martins that finished up with a shot again defended by Miguel Silva. At half-time the scoreboard remained blank, but frankly Sporting deserved more.

The second-half was much of the same and before long the team from Alvalade were on the attack. Bruno César came painfully close to converting on a cross from Schelotto that found its way across the entire 18-yard box. Jesus responded to the deadlock by throwing Teo into the action in place of Gelson Martins, putting the Colombian just behind Slimani, with Bryan Ruiz pushing out to the left and Bruno César patrolling the right. The alteration almost proved an instant fix, when a minute later Schelotto failed to find the target after a pin-point cross from Bryan Ruiz.

Coates was next to try his luck from a corner whipped in by João Mário, but Miguel Silva once again frustrated the visitors with an outstretched save. Attacks were absolutely raining down on Guimarães and next up was Bryan Ruiz after a pass into space from João Mário, but Miguel Silva rushed off his line to clear away.

On 74 minutes Slimani ghosted off the back of the Guimarães defence and looked to be through on goal, only for Josué to bring down the Algerian for a second bookable offence and resulting red card. Jorge Jesus responded with the introduction of Aquilani for Bruno César and Barcos for Slimani in a last gamble for a late goal. On 82 minutes, William Carvalho had the goal at his mercy after charging forward out of midfield, but the Portuguese international put the resulting shot wide of the post.

As the final whistle sounded, Miguel Silva was warmly applauded for his heroics between the posts, but Sporting certainly did enough to claim the points, had it not been for a lack of a clinical touch in front of goal.

The result keepers Sporting in first, one point ahead of Benfica going into next weekend's Lisbon derby.

Jorge Jesus includes 20 for trip to Guimarães

Jorge Jesus has included 20 players in his squad for Liga NOS matchday 24 against Vitória de Guimarães: 

Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício and Azbe Jug

Defenders: Marvin, Jefferson, Ewerton, Coates, Semedo, João Pereira, Schelotto and Esgaio

Midfielders: Aquilani, João Mário and William Carvalho

Forwards: Slimani, Teo, Bryan Ruiz, Gelson Martins, Bruno César, Hernan Barcos and Carlos Mané 

V. Guimarães-Sporting CP will kick off at 20h00, in Estádio D. Afonso Henriques.

Jorge Jesus' pre-match press conference ahead of trip to V. Guimarães

"Regardless of who we play against, games in Portugal are always really difficult", warned Jorge Jesus in his pre-match press conference this Sunday afternoon, ahead of what promises to be a tasking trop north to face V. Guimarães, on Liga NOS matchday 24.

The Sporting coach went on to speak in greater depth about how he sees Monday night's opposition: "Our league is really competitive and Vitória are a hard team to play against. We will have to be at our best to claim the three points and defend out position in the league."

Jesus also used the meeting with the press to speak about his current squad options. “Except Adrien, who picked up an injury in training in Germany, only Paulo Oliveira and Bruno Paulista are out. We will see how Adrien is tomorrow, but there is a chance he will be ready", added the Alvalade boss, before speaking about Islam Slimani, Adrien and Rúben Semedo missing out on next week's Lisbon derby if they pick up a booking against Gumarães: "Like I have said a few times, I don't save players. I won't take them out of this game because of something like that, because every game is worth three points. The next game, which in this case is Guimarães, is always the most important one."

Jesus closed the press conference by congratulating Gianni Infantino for his recent election as FIFA President "He is a great guy and he will definitely bring new ideas to the game."

Alvalade to mark 50th anniversary of 3rd place finish in England

Sporting Clube de Portugal will make a tribute to Portugal's 1966 World Cup team during half-time of the Lisbon derby, on the 5th of March.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Portugal's historic 3rd place finish, which is still to this day the country's best performance in the prestigious competition.

Sporting was the most represented club for the competition hosted in England: the goalkeeper Carvalho (one match); the defenders José Carlos (two), Alexandre Baptista (five) and Hilário (played every match); the midfielders Peres (didn't play) and Morais (three); and the forwards Figueiredo and João Lourenço (also didn't play).

Also part of hte team were José Pereira, Vicente, Manuel Duarte, Germano, Fernando Cruz, Custódio Pinto, Festa, Coluna, Jaime Graça, Simões, José Augusto, Eusébio and Torres.

A partir de dia 27 de Fevereiro

Sporting Clube de Portugal informs all Club Members and fans that tickets for the Lisbon derby are in high demand. Special Seats which have not been renewed by 10h00 on the 27th of February, being 1 week before the match, will be put on sale.

Sales begin on Wednesday

Tickets for Lia NOS matchday 24, between Vitória de Guimarães and Sporting Clube de Portugal, will go on sale at the Estádio José Alvalade ticket offices as follows:

Wednesday: Club Members with a Gamebox and January 2016 fees paid
Thursday: until 14h00: Club Members with January 2016 fees paid
Thursday: after 14h00: General public

The Estádio José Alvalade ticket offices will be open from 10h00 to 20h00, with tickets priced at 10€ each.

Tickets will also be on sale at the Solar do Norte (www.solardonorte.org), Fafe, Braga, Gondomar, Famalicão, Vila das Aves and Vila do Conde Supporters Clubs.

Jorge Jesus' reaction to his side's 2-0 win against Benfica

“I want to start by thanking the fans. Almost 40 thousand people on a Monday night is really good. They were really important for the team", began Jorge Jesus in a flash interview at the final whistle this Monday, after his side's 2-0 win against Boavista.

In his usually analytical form, the Sporting boss reflected: “It was a tough game against a really intense Boavista team that doesn't let you play. We scored two goals in the first-half and from then on we managed the game well. Our objective was to win and it was important to keep a clean sheet. Once again we showed quality."

Jesus went on to speak about the absence of João Pereira, Coates and Jefferson from the starting line-up, as well as the introduction of Carlos Mané for Teo Gutiérrez: "It was my choice. Coates has played a lot in the last three games and he wasn't used to it. He is a big lad and it takes him some time to recover between matches. We will see if he is ready for Thursday or not."

Moving his attention to a question on Thursday's trip to Germany, Jesus added: "Of course there will be a first time for Sporting winning in Germany, but today is Monday and we have until Wednesday before we travel to see how things work out. A lot of people are talking about it, but a lot of things would have to happen for us to reach the Europa League final. Being ahead of Benfica and FC Porto, now that is something worth talking about."

To finish, the Alvalade boss touched on the possible suspension of Slimani, with the Lisbon derby just around the corner: "I don't know what is going to happen and we will have to wait and see. If it happens, then it will be like we thought it would, but right now we can't be sure. To be honest, what could we do but laugh about it?"

Bryan Ruiz on Monday night's Liga NOS win

Bryan Ruiz was once again one of the stand-out performers this Monday night, setting up Ewerton for Sporting's first and netting a goal of his own with a kind deflection from a free-kick.

“It was an important win and it is three more points in the fight for the league", said the Costa Rican in a flash interview at the final whistle, going on to add: "What happens depends on us, so all we have to do is think about what we have to do. If we do that, we will be champions."

To finish, the skillful attacker looked ahead to Thursday's visit to Leverkusen: "We know it will be hard, but we have the capacity to win. It won't be easy, but we will try. Sporting has never won in Germany, but there is a first time for everything."

Sporting reopen gap at the top of Liga NOS with two set piece goals in nine minutes

The 37,000 fans who turned out for Sporting's dominating performance against Boavista may have had to wait until late evening for kick off, but the morning training session was evidentially where the win began, with Sporting overcoming a stubborn visiting defence courtesy of two deadball situations in the space of just nine minutes.

The evening's encounter got underway with Erwin Sánchez's side holding true to their pre-match declaration to take the fight to the league leaders, with Boavista applying pressure high up the pitch in an attempt to disrupt Sporting's passing game. In fact, the visitors often forced the team from Alvalade to take the direct root forward in search of Slimani and Teo. However, despite the visitors best intentions the high pace did little more than see the foul count mount up and hand the initiative to Sporting. On 15 minutes, Rui Patrício spread the ball out wide and Marvin galloped down the left to link up with Bryan Ruiz. The Costa Rican put a measured cross into the box and Teo Gutiérrez met with a side-footed volley, but the effort scuffed wide of the post.

Boavista's good intentions actually played right into Sporting's hands on several occasions, opening up space behind the visitors' defensive line that Bryan Ruiz in particular was enjoying. On 33 minutes, Ruiz saw a shot across the face of the box deflect wide, before João Mário blasted a shot off target from range. A deserved Sporting opener finally game in the 37th minute, when Ewerton popped up at the near post to head in following a corner.

Nine minutes later, Lady Luck then looked kindly on Sporting's work ethic, as a free-kick from Bryan Ruiz took a wicked deflection off the wall and onto the inside of the post, before ending up in the back of Mika's net seconds before the half-time whistle. As the referee signaled for the break, the scoreboard was largely a fair reflection of proceedings so far, with Sporting having attempted twice as many shots on goal and having held down the bulk of possession.

The second-half got underway on a negative note, with Idris crashing into Slimani's ankle with a tackle punished with a yellow card. Boavista's adrenaline did almost claw back a goal in the 53rd minute, when Anderson Carvalho showed a nice bit of skill to turn a cross onto the woodwork. A few of minutes later (59’), Iriberri pulled a rare stop out of Patrício after another ball whipped into the box.

The visitors had fired a warning shot and Jesus responded with a tactical change, introducing Carlos Mané for Teo Gutiérrez for an injection of pace between midfield and attack. The Sporting Academy graduate was soon causing trouble for the Boavista defence, picking out Slimani with a splitting pass that the Algerian almost converted on. A minute later, Mané himself tried his luck with a stinger of a shot, before João Mário was denied by an excellent save from Mika (76’).

Boavista really dropped off in the final stages, but Schelotto gifted possession to the visitors in the 78th minute in what could have took the game to a nail-biting finish, but Patrício was on hand to deny Anderson Carvalho. Jorge Jesus then introduced Aquilani in the 80th minute in place of Gelson Martins, with a move that almost worked to perfection. Ruiz picked out Slimani in the area and the resulting shot ended up at the feet of Carlos Mané, but the young forward could only hit the post.