2-0 triumph at home sees Sporting CP maintain perfect record

Sporting Clube de Portugal claimed another win in their Liga Portugal title defence on Saturday, besting Belenenses SAD 2-0 on Matchday 3 in front of a sold out Estádio José Alvalade. Gonçalo Inácio and João Palhinha were the scorers in a game that the team dominated from start to finish.

For the match, Rúben Amorim changed made two changes to his starting XI, which consisted of: Antonio Adán, Luís Neto, Sebastián Coates, Gonçalo Inácio, Ricardo Esgaio, Matheus Nunes, João Palhinha, Rúben Vinagre, Pedro Gonçalves, Paulinho and Nuno Santos.

Os Leões, favourites in the game despite the difficulties Belenenses SAD usually posed, needed just seven minutes to take the lead. A cross by Vinagre from the left was met by the head of Gonçalo Inácio, who nodded past Luiz Felipe to make it 1-0.

Several opportunities followed for Sporting CP, including shots by Pedro Gonçalves and Paulinho, but there would be no further goals before halftime.

Nevertheless, in the second half there was no need to wait long for the advantage to be extended. On 48 minutes, Palhinha popped up alone at the far post, finishing off a delivery in from a free kick.

Soon after, Paulinho could have taken the score to 3-0 on his feet, but Luiz Felipe was able to stifle him. The ball came back to the striker, but not in the ideal situation for him to get an effort on target.

With the fans cheering them on, Sporting CP had Belenenses SAD on the ropes, whilst at the other end Antonio Adán was having a quiet night – the visitors' first shot came in the 53rd minute.

On 66 minutes, Amorim made changes to bring on Jovane Cabral, Pedro Porro and Nuno Mendes in place of Nuno Santos, Ricardo Esgaio and Rúben Vinagre. The three came into the game well, and Mendes had a great attempt on goal 11 minutes from time that was narrowly off target.

Further substitutions were made in the 84th minute, switching in Tiago Tomás and Daniel Bragança for Paulinho and Matheus Nunes, and the final minutes saw confusion in Alvalade: Afonso Taira stepped on the Achilles tendon of Palhinha, referee Manuel Oliveira at first showed the Belenenses SAD player a yellow card, but a subsequent VAR check led to it being upgraded to a straight red, leaving Sporting CP a man up.

The supporters urged their side to get "one more goal," but despite a close call from Gonçalves that was pushed out for a corner, they would have to settle for a 2-0 result at home and a third win from as many games.

Sporting CP will be back in action next Saturday away to FC Famalicão, at 8:30pm local time.

SPORTING CP: Antonio Adán [GK], Luís Neto, Sebastián Coates [C], Gonçalo Inácio, Ricardo Esgaio (Pedro Porro, 66'), Matheus Nunes (Daniel Bragança, 84'), João Palhinha, Rúben Vinagre (Nuno Mendes, 66'), Pedro Gonçalves, Paulinho (Tiago Tomás, 84') and Nuno Santos (Jovane Cabral, 66').