THE Sporting achieved, on Friday night, what was its first victory in this year’s edition of the I League, triumphing, 3-2, against Vitória SC, in a duel that marked the start of the second round of the Portuguese championship.
After the stumble in the opening day when visiting Estrela da Amadora, the national runners-up gave a positive response and won thanks to goals from Fotis Ioannidis, Flávio Gonçalves and Sergi Altimira, the latter for the first time with the lion on their chest. Captain Samu Silva scored for the Victorians, with Ndoye scoring the second.
A result that leaves Sporting provisionally at the top of the league table, waiting for what the remaining teams that won in the first round do until the end of the round.
Game movie:
In the reunion with a team he guided before moving to Alvalade, coach Rui Borges made just one change compared to the team that started last weekend’s meeting at Reboleira. After completing his suspension, the Uruguayan joined the starting eleven, taking the place of young Rodrigo Dias.
And it didn’t take many minutes for us to witness the first goal of the night in Lisbon. Vitória SC presented itself to play face to face with the opponent, but ended up making a blunder that culminated in the Leonine celebrations. Geny Catamo recovered the ball in midfield and launched Ioannidis, the new starter, deep with a trivela pass. The Greek withstood the pressure of the Victorian defenses, found Flávio Gonçalves alone in the front zone and the young man, free from marking, shot counting towards his debut to score with the first team shirt.
The visiting team was not frightened by the Lions’ early goal and tried, at intervals, to show their quality. But when on the other side there are players with magic at their feet, it’s difficult to counter that. In the 22nd minute, Sporting increased their numbers in Alvalade. Flávio Gonçalves launched Catamo into the area with a great pass, the Mozambican dominated with his chest and made a hat-trick to the opponent to serve Ioannidis. The Greek rolled over the opposing defender and blasted the Guimarães net.
After another accurate shot from the lions, Vitória SC tried to climb the lines again and look for the goal that would allow them to get back on track. In the 37th minute, Alioune Ndoye was almost isolated, but Maxi Araújo’s cut prevented further harm. In the 40th minute, Samu Silva was just a few centimeters away from the goal, but the ball went wide.
Defensive errors pay dearly and Sporting reached third in this best phase of the Victorians in the first half. Altimira, with plenty of space in the front zone to target Vitória SC’s goal, scored a great goal to make his debut with a lion on his chest. Before the end of the first half, Rui Silva, on two separate occasions, avoided two moments of distress near the Leonine goal, after attempts by Camara and Samu Silva.
Vitória SC left Sporting in an uproar in the second half
Similar to what had happened in Reboleira, the match seemed controlled by the home team… but Guimarães’ team made a point of overcoming those same certainties with a powerful return to the match. Tiago Margarido made three changes at half-time and the Guimarães team soon appeared with a different look.
In the 56th minute, and following a free kick taken by Samu, striker Ndoye appeared suddenly and came close to a beautiful goal. In the very next play, Samu Silva almost took advantage of an unbelievable mistake by Rui Silva. The ball escaped the Portuguese goalkeeper’s gloves and narrowly missed a goal for the Victorian captain… who would score in the 66th minute. The midfielder shot hard from the edge of the area and blasted the Lions’ net.
The goal left Sporting very uneasy, with Vitória SC taking advantage of that moment to score again in Alvalade. At a time when Luis Suárez had already been thrown onto the field – the Colombian was booed by his own fans – Strata stole the ball from Zalazar and produced a perfect cross that Ndoye deflected into the back of the net in the 69th minute.
Galvanized by this very positive return, Tiago Margarido’s team came close to equalizing through Gustavo Silva. The forward from Guimarães, from outside the area, shot hard and was inches away from equalizing the scores. Vitória pressed forward in search of the equalizing goal, but Sporting closed well and managed to maintain the minimum advantage.
With this first victory in the I League this season, Sporting provisionally placed itself in the lead with four points. Vitória SC recorded their second consecutive defeat in the competition.
Game moment: The play that led to Ioannidis’ goal goes down in the annals of the season in the I League, with great emphasis on Catamo’s assist.
