A 3-1 win over Gil Vicente returns Os Leões to the summit

Sporting Clube de Portugal moved back to the position of outright leaders in Liga Portugal, defeating Gil Vicente FC 3-1 in the closing game of Matchday 12.

They started out at a disadvantage, thanks to Rúben Fernandes' goal for the visitors, but gave an emphatic response as Nuno Santos equalised before the break and, in the second half, Viktor Gyökeres scored twice in the space of just four minutes.
Rúben Amorim returned Nuno Santos and Marcus Edwards to the starting XI, as well as Sebastián Coates – who was honoured with a special shirt worn by the team onto the pitch, celebrating his becoming the foreigner with the most games played for Sporting CP.

Gil Vicente came into the game in 13th place and still winless away from home.

Playing in Alvalade, in front of their home crowd, Sporting CP showed they wanted to get ahead early on. In the opening moments of the match, Morita was set up to score from close range, before Félix Correia snatched the ball away from him. Before the first ten minutes were out, Gyökeres thought he had scored, but was offside.

As the pace dropped, the home team remained on top. Gyökeres found himself in space and Edwards broke through the lines through his technical skill. However, in the 34th minute, Gil Vicente FC, against the run of play, made it 0-1 through Rúben Fernandes, who headed in a free kick.

The response was almost immediate. After Gyökeres was just centimetres away from meeting a cross in, in the 43rd minute Nuno Santos took advantage of a poor clearance to bring Sporting CP back on terms, with a shot that hit Pedro Tiba before entering the net.

Before half-time, Pedro Gonçalves could have made it 2-1, but he sent his effort over the crossbar.

For the restart, Amorim made three changes, with Jeremiah St. Juste, Geny Catamo and Matheus Reis coming on. His team came back out with the same intensity they had shown at the end of the first half, and Ricardo Esgaio gave the first warning, forcing Andrew into a parry away.

Then, the Viktor Gyökeres Show began. The team's top scorer struck twice in quick succession, first smashing the ball in from the heart of the area when Gil Vicente failed to clear, then in the 56th minute knocking in a cross from Pedro Gonçalves, increasing the lead to 3-1.

Always switched on and far superior to their opponents, Sporting CP then suffered a setback with Jeremiah St. Juste being forced to go off due to injury, being replaced by Eduardo Quaresma.

Soon after, Gyökeres had another goal disallowed for offside. Os Leões then withdrew in the final 20 minutes, so as not to take any risks, allowing more of the ball to Gil Vicente but with Adán never truly tested.

Gyökeres was on the verge of a hat trick, first with a shot saved by the goalkeeper and then with a long strike that went just outside the post. The newly introduced Paulinho also tried his luck, but the score remained 3-1 at the final whistle.

With this triumph, Sporting CP are now two points clear of SL Benfica in second place, and three clear of third-placed FC Porto.
Next up is a demanding trip to Guimarães to face Vitória SC on Saturday, before returning to European action, on December 14th, in the final UEFA Europa League group stage game against SK Sturm Graz.
 
Sporting CP: Antonio Adán [GK], Ousmane Diomande, Sebastián Coates [C], Gonçalo Inácio (Jeremiah St. Juste, 45', Jeremiah St. Juste, 67'), Ricardo Esgaio (Geny Catamo, 45'), Hidemasa Morita , Morten Hjulmand, Nuno Santos (Matheus Reis, 45'), Marcus Edwards, Pedro Gonçalves (Paulinho, 84') and Viktor Gyökeres.

​Os Leões come back to draw 1-1 with the Italian side

In the 56th minute, Edwards scored the equaliser: First he passed to Gyökeres and, after the return ball, he got beyond Djimsiti and ran to the center of the area, shooting accurately to make it 1-1.

For now, the next European game is on December 14th, in Alvalade, in a dead rubber with SK Sturm Graz.

The coach talks before the UEFA Europa League press conference

Monday training began preparations for the Europa League

Sporting Clube de Portugal trained on Monday morning at the Academia Cristiano Ronaldo in Alcochete.

The players used for the longest amount of minutes in the previous night's 8-0 win against Dumiense FC/CJP II, in the Fourth Round of the Taça de Portugal, did recovery training, while the rest worked under the orders of coach Rúben Amorim.

The squad are already preparing for the trip to Italy, where Sporting CP will face Atalanta BC on Thursday, on the fifth matchday of the Europa League group stage.

Os Leões have another training session scheduled for Tuesday morning.

Sporting Clube de Portugal sweep aside Dumiense FC/CJP II

Sporting Clube de Portugal beat Dumiense FC/CJP II 8-0 in the Fourth Round of the Taça de Portugal, advancing in the cup competition at the expense of the lower division opposition.

Coach Rúben Amorim made several changes to the starting XI for the clash with the team that compete in the fourth tier of the Portuguese football pyramid, with the notable returns of Franco Israel, Luís Neto and Geny Catamo. On the substitutes' bench, Sporting CP handed a callup to Diogo Pinto, a 19-year-old goalkeeper.

Sebastián Coates reached 342 games for Sporting CP, matching Anderson Polga as the foreigner with the most official appearances for the club and entering the Top 10 for all players, level with Pedro Barbosa.

The first half was not much different to what had been expected: Sporting CP dominated, even though the visitors showed good organisation, and found the net in just the eighth minute, when Luís Neto met Nuno Santos' corner with a header into the back of the net. It was the defender's first goal for Sporting CP.

Several attacks from the home team followed, including a move between Geny Catamo and Paulinho in the tenth minute, and Francisco Trincão's two shots that were saved by goalkeeper Pedro Costa.

Afterwards, both Geny Catamo and Francisco Trincão saw their efforts blocked by opposition players, but the second goal nevertheless appeared in the opening half hour.

Again following a corner by Nuno Santos, Matheus Reis headed towards the near post and Sebastián Coates deflected it onto the woodwork. Off the rebound, Paulinho made it 2-0.

Until the break, Sporting CP continued to impress, with chances for Geny Catamo, Paulinho and Daniel Bragança, but the scoreline did not change any further.

In the first minute of the second half, Paulinho received the ball from Daniel Bragança and set up Francisco Trincão with an excellent backheel pass. The number 17 kept calm to score his first goal in 2023/2024.

With Marcus Edwards brought on in place of Ricardo Esgaio, Sporting CP came very close to scoring again in the 52nd minute, when Trincão picked out Morten Hjulmand for a header that Pedro Costa saved.

However, in the corner kick that followed, Santos turned provider again: A cross from the Portuguese was knocked in by Coates for the fourth goal of the game.

Shortly afterwards, Morten Hjulmand crossed perfectly for Paulinho and he also headed to score.

Dumiense FC/CJP II had a rare opportunity in the 62nd minute, when Diogo Ribeiro nodded wide, and Rúben Amorim made adjustments to introduce Dário Essugo and Viktor Gyökeres, removing Daniel Bragança and Geny Catamo.

Pedro Costa denied Paulinho another goal with a notable intervention a few moments later, but the striker completed his hat-trick in the 71st minute, benefiting from great work by Viktor Gyökeres, who set up the Portuguese international's skilful finish with his heel.

With 15 minutes remaining, Gyökeres was brought down by Pedro Costa in the area and referee Bruno Pires Costa signaled for a penalty kick. Santos converted to make it 7-0.

Dumiense FC/CJP II tried to score a consolation goal again in the 82nd minute, but Franco Israel saved Joãozinho's shot with ease.

Gyökeres rounded off the scoring from a ball that appeared to present no danger. With speed, strength and technique, the forward took the defence out of the equation and threw and smashed his strike in to cap the 8-0 triumph.

Os Leões will now travel to Italy to face Atalanta BC in the UEFA Europa League.

Sporting CP: Franco Israel [GK], Luís Neto, Sebastián Coates [C] (Eduardo Quaresma, 76'), Matheus Reis, Ricardo Esgaio (Marcus Edwards, 50'), Morten Hjulmand, Daniel Bragança (Dário Essugo, 62'), Nuno Santos, Geny Catamo (Viktor Gyökeres, 62'), Francisco Trincão e Paulinho.

The coach wants a serious showing against Dumiense FC/CJP II

This Sunday at the Estádio José Avalade, Sporting Clube de Portugal host Dumiense FC/CJP II in the Taça de Portugal. Rúben Amorim previewed the match in his press conference.

"We are playing at home and we have a greater responsibility to have a competitive, attractive game, because people are coming to see us and the opposition deserve it. We took advantage of these two weeks off to work on the gaps that we still have and that we demonstrated in the last few games. We didn't have a great performance in the derby, even though we were the better team," he told the media.

"We have a lot of things to improve. We have players back, such as Geny [Catamo], who is ready to play. We worked on some nuances that I think will be important for the future. We have made the most of every minute and tomorrow we want to present a competitive team, play well, win and go through to the next round."

"We want to win the competition, both the coaching staff and the club. Sporting CP have a history in the competition, but haven't won it for some time," he added.

 Amorim also assured that all the group's attention is on the challenge with Dumiense FC/CJP II: "There are players who won't play tomorrow, but it's not because they lack rhythm or not. It's because we have worked on some routines that we want to see in the match tomorrow, which we want to win. We will take everything into account and our focus is on this game, not on the one against Atalanta BC."

"The players are fighting for places and, if they want to play in the next games, they have to perform well. Regardless of whether the opposition are from a lower level, we have to make the game enjoyable for our fans. We won't go into it asleep."

Asked about Sporting CP's intentions for the next transfer window, Amorim considered that his team must "take into account players who we have received certain approaches for and prepare for the future. This study is being carried out and we will try to safeguard everything. We cannot cover all positions and that is why there are players from the youth team playing right now," he explained.

Finally, before revealing that Luís Neto will start against Dumiense FC/CJP II, he revealed the reason for not using Jeremiah St. Juste in this match.

"Jeremiah St. Juste is coming off a difficult time. He is ready to play. Ousmane [Diomande] is going to the African Cup of Nations in January and we have to strengthen him. We looked at this game, we have other options and he did more specific gym work. We are creating balance in his body and doing a kind of microcycle. We took a bit of a risk, but we are making him stronger to be more protected in January," he said.

Sporting CP win against Atlético CP in a friendly encounter

This Monday, Sporting Clube de Portugal played a preparatory game against Atlético CP, beating them 8-1.

Against a team that compete in Liga 3, the third tier of Portuguese football, Rúben Amorim chose an XI made up of Antonio Adán, Matheus Reis, Jeremiah St. Juste, Sebastián Coates, Marcus Edwards, Nuno Santos, Luís Neto, Francisco Trincão, Paulinho, Daniel Bragança and Ricardo Esgaio. Diego Calai and Alexandre Brito also played.

The goals for Sporting CP were scored by Nuno Santos, who found the net five times, and by Paulinho, who got a hat-trick.

Geny Catamo and Iván Fresneda underwent treatment, while Pedro Gonçalves worked in the gym and on the pitch.

Sporting CP will return to training on Thursday morning.

The coach reviews the derby against SL Benfica

Sporting CP coach Rúben Amorim was naturally disappointed with the defeat to SL Benfica, in a game in which they were always on top of their rivals - even though they played practically the entire second half with a numerical inferiority.

“This is part of football, but it is hard to swallow. Even with ten men, we didn't let SL Benfica create big chances and that was felt in the stadium. With 11 players on the pitch, there is no doubt who was the best team. Therefore, based on what we did, we deserved to win, but it didn't happen", the coach began by saying in his press conference.

"It's a more painful defeat because, although it wasn't a decisive game, it was an important game and we were three minutes away from having a six-point advantage -and now we have the same points. We were the better side, we ended up not winning and it was painful, but I'm already thinking about the break and the next game".

“I'm not saying we're better than anyone else, but today we were the better team and I think that was very obvious. We were very safe at all times of the game, even with one player less, while SL Benfica had a lot of difficulties creating dangerous situations. If we look at the moments of the game, everything went against us. It's very frustrating to play with a man down and it limits us a lot. It was not a good day for Inácio and for us, because we ended up losing, but we are fine and we will continue to be fine”, said Amorim, stressing: “We have to move on. We are tied on points, we have been in the title race for a long time, we have to correct what we didn't do so well and get better".

The coach talks ahead of the derby against SL Benfica

Sporting Clube de Portugal travel across Lisbon this Sunday to play SL Benfica in the first derby of the season. Os Leões top the table with a three point lead, but coach Rúben Amorim knows well that there are no favourites in this fixture.

“It's difficult to see any favourite in these types of games, and when it comes to pressure we know that, whatever happens, at the end of this match no one will have more points than us, whilst if SL Benfica lose then they could be six points behind. Still, I don't want my players to feel comfortable knowing that, no matter what happens, no one will overtake us. This is a unique opportunity to establish a six-point lead. Although it is not decisive, we cannot waste this opportunity either,” said the coach.

“We know we have to win this game, because it is important. It's not decisive, but it would be comfortable to get into the international break with a six-point lead and we don't want to lose first place. We know the team we are up against, the quality of the players we are going to face and, therefore, we are not at all deluded by their form. We are very well prepared and we really want to win this game."

As for his squad, he revealed that Geny Catamo is out, but that Hidemasa Morita is available again and Viktor Gyökeres -who missed the last European game due to suspension- returns to the group. This will therefore be the first derby for the Swedish striker, who has scored 11 goals in 13 games for the club.

“I don't expect close monitoring on just Gyökeres, I expect it for Pote, Marcus, Trincão and all these players we have because, if they have a lot of space, it's the same as if we give a lot of space to Di María, Rafa or António Silva. I expect a game with a lot of duels and perhaps a lot of tension at the beginning, but then I think it will become a beautiful game and, yes, it will be difficult for Gyökeres."

Amorim disclosed that he was not motivating the players in any special way for this game.

 “I usually use everything I can, but this time, as we had so little time to get ready, the focus was on not making them more nervous or more stressed. What I tried my best to do was make them comfortable and get them ready for the game. What matters, beyond words, is the six point lead. What matters is that we are celebrating in Marquês at the end of the season. Therefore, it is very important that we win this game. I feel like I don't need to be pushing them at the moment and, after such a bad season, we just have to make the most of every opportunity we have to achieve our objective -which is down to us."

If Sporting CP win, Amorim will reach his 100th victory in charge of the side, but the coach did not give much importance to the milestone.

“Will it be special because it can happen in the derby? For me, the most important thing is the six-point lead and I think this should be an obsession of ours every time we can take points from our opponents. We have to take advantage of this, and tomorrow we have another opportunity, which is what we will try to do."

The coach gives his assessment of the win against RKS Raków Częstochowa

At the end of the Sporting Clube de Portugal'S 2-1 victory over RKS Raków Częstochowa in the UEFA Europa League, Rúben Amorim spoke in a press conference. He began by commenting on Jeremiah St. Juste's performance.

"I really enjoyed all the interventions he had. He's agile, quick, doesn't take long to get into games and the way he came in for the last league game was also important. Today we confirmed that. He was there in the most decisive moment of the game," he told journalists, before analysing the game as a whole.

"We knew what we wanted; we wanted to win. Against ten men, with a goal right after the red card, we slowed down a little. Even so, sometimes we found spaces. We weren't careful enough in some situations and that made the difference. In the second half, it was my fault. I started thinking about the next game and it made things a little difficult. We had the game under control and then we conceded a goal from a dead ball. From then on, anything could happen and we made our lives a little more complicated. The result is what we'll take away and not so much the performance."

For the coach, the showing against the Poles will not influence the derby against SL Benfica in any way because "each game has its own story."

"A few days ago, we had the attacking capacity to create chances, and today we didn't have that much. We should have done much better, but we're going to fix what happened in this game and now we have a completely different one," he added.

Going back to the second half against RKS Raków Częstochowa, Amorim once again highlighted that the responsibility was his.

"The biggest culprit in the second half was me because I started thinking about the derby. We took a risk by making our last substitution in the 90th minute. I tried my best to save some players. More than the players, I was to blame because I started thinking about the next game. I never do that, but I took a risk this time and it could have gone wrong. We had the game under control and I felt it was a good time to start managing the squad," he admitted.

Asked about the importance of this victory for Sunday's derby, he explained that it is important for the consistency of a team that wants to win trophies.

"All the big teams have to do very well in the league. They have to be consistent on all fronts. Today's victory will have no influence. We have to win because the advantage in the league is only three points," he said, before commenting on what remains of the UEFA Europa League group stage.

"We have to do our part: Win the next two games."

Finally, he assured that having one day of rest fewer than SL Benfica is not an excuse in the derby on Sunday.

"We will be prepared for the game, without excuses and without any disadvantage. We're going to the Estádio da Luz to win."