Sporting CP lose 1-0 in Champions League action

Sporting Clube de Portugal were beaten 1-0 by Borussia Dortmund on the second matchday of the UEFA Champions League group stage. The team battled for a satisfying result throughout, but left Signal Iduna Park without any points to their name.

The Liga Portugal champions made two changes from the game against CS Marítimo, with Matheus Reis and Tiago Tomás part of the starting XI in place of Rúben Vinagre and Nuno Santos (both on the bench, as well as young talents João Goulart, José Marsà and Gonçalo Esteves).

The match began without any great scoring opportunities in the first few minutes. Borussia Dortmund had more of the ball, but Sporting CP performed well, especially defensively, and scared the opposition through a swerving cross from Pedro Porro.

In the 19th minute, Sebastián Coates made a mistake and the ball fell to Hazard, who set up Reus for a shot that Adán easily saved. At the other end, Zouhair Feddal found Paulinho and he tried to tee up Tiago Tomás with an overly heavy touch. Soon after, Paulinho regained possession and tried to finish, but missed the target.

After half an hour of play, Sporting CP came very close to getting the goal when, off a corner kick, Sebastián Coates shot acrobatically over the top. In defence, organised movement led to several offside calls against Borussia Dortmund.

Despite this, in the 37th minute Donyell Malen sent the ball into the net, opening the scoring and meaning that Sporting CP went into halftime losing 1-0.

The second half had less action, but was equally competitive for most of the 45 minutes. Tiago Tomás crossed and Paulinho, with his head, forced Kobel to intervene. In response, a Reus shot was easily saved by Adán.

Rúben Amorim made a first change in the 58th minute, putting Nuno Santos on in place of Tiago Tomás, but the chances of a goal did not abound for either team. One of the few was an attempt cut out by Coates, in the 65th minute, preventing the Germans from making it 2-0.

Jovane Cabral came on in the 74th minute (replacing Pablo Sarabia) and, in the 83rd minute, it was the turn of Ricardo Esgaio, Bruno Tabata and Daniel Bragança to replace, respectively, Pedro Porro, Matheus Reis and João Palhinha.

Before the end, Coates kept up the intensity with a header just wide, but Borussia Dortmund would hold on to deny Sporting CP the points.

Sporting CP will be back in action on Saturday, away to FC Arouca's in the Liga Portugal.

Sporting CP: Antonio Adán [GK], Luís Neto, Sebastián Coates [C], Zouhair Feddal, Pedro Porro (Ricardo Esgaio, 83'), João Palhinha (Daniel Bragança, 83'), Matheus Nunes, Matheus Reis (Bruno Tabata, 83'), Pablo Sarabia (Jovane Cabral, 74'), Tiago Tomás (Nuno Santos, 58') and Paulinho.