Benfica held, Sporting lose in Portuguese league

February 7, 2010

It was not the best of Saturday’s for Lisbon’s top clubs as leaders Benfica were held to a draw at Vitoria Setubal while Sporting Lisbon lost their home match with Academica.

Benfica began the day with a two-points lead over Braga but risk having to share the top spot again following a 1-1 draw at Setubal.

The match at the Estadio do Bonfim was entirely decided by own goals. Marco Zoro first hit his own target to put Benfica ahead in the 14th minute, and David Luiz then helped the hosts level in minute 38.

Braga play an away match to Belenenses on Monday, and a win would leave them back in shared first place.

Fourth-placed Sporting Lisbon lost 1-2 to Academica de Coimbra who needed just two minutes for Orlando to score the opening goal.

Joao Moutinho equalised in minute 23 but Joao Ribeiro restored Academica’s lead in the 29th. His goal would turn out to be worth three points.

Tags: Academica, academica de coimbra, benfica, Braga, Coimbra, david luiz, home match, hosts, joao moutinho, joao ribeiro, Lisbon, Marco Zoro, Orlando, portuguese league, setubal, sporting lisbon, target, top clubs, Vitoria Setubal, zoro

Porto and Lisbon struggle in Portugal

November 9, 2009

Both FC Porto and Sporting Lisbon failed to impress in Sunday’s Liga Sagres matches. Porto lost 1-0 at Maritimo while Sporting only managed a draw at Rio Ave.

FC Porto needed a win at Maritimo in order to close on Braga and Benfica but never managed to break through the opposing defense.

Instead, the only goal of the match was in Maritimo’s favor and was in fact an own goal from Rolando in the 30th minute.

Troubled Sporting Lisbon appeared to be on their way to a good result at Rio Ave with first-half goals from Mati Fernandez and Joao Moutinho (penalty).

But Sporting failed to keep focus in the second half and allowed Joao Tomas to score in the 56th and 60th minute to lead Rio Ave to a 2-2 draw.

Jonathan Roorda

Tags: benfica, Braga, fc porto, joao moutinho, joao tomas, jonathan, Lisbon, Maritimo, match, mati fernandez, PORTO, portugal, Rio, rio ave, Rolando, roorda, sagres, second half, struggle

Fiorentina oust Sporting on away goals

August 27, 2009

Fiorentina squeezed into the Champions League group stages on the away goals rule following a 1-1 draw against Sporting Lisbon in Florence on Wednesday.

The first leg in the Portuguese capital last week ended in a 2-2 draw meaning La Viola have qualified for the group stages for the second year in a row.

Sporting had to either win the match or force a high-scoring draw and they came out of the traps fired up.

Yannick Djalo should have given the visitors the lead early on but with only goalkeeper Sebastien Frey to beat he scuffed his shot from 12 yards horribly wide.

Sporting were dominant though and Frey had to make smart saves from both Matias Fernandez and Brazilian-born new Portugal recruit Leidson.

They got the goal their dominance deserved on 35 minutes direct from a free-kick scored by former Everton target Joao Moutinho.

Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli made a switch at the break replacing Massimo Gobbi with attacking Montenegro midfielder Stevan Jovetic.

The momentum then shifted completely and following some early pressure Jovetic restored parity, jinking inside one defender before firing low inside the near post.

Alberto Gilardino could have sealed the tie for the Italians but couldn’t direct his close range effort from Juan Vargas’s left wing cross on target.

Sporting piled on some late pressure but Fiorentina held firm.

ROME (AFP)

Tags: alberto gilardino, cesare prandelli, champions league group, close range, dominance, fiorentina, Florence, free kick, frey, Goalkeeper, group stages, italians, joao moutinho, Juan, juan vargas, Lisbon, massimo gobbi, matias fernandez, Montenegro, moutinho, parity, portugal, ROME, sebastien frey, sporting lisbon, stevan jovetic, target, viola

Portugal name newboy Liedson to salvage World Cup dream

August 27, 2009

Brazilian striker Liedson, who recently became a Portuguese citizen, was on Wednesday named in the Portugal squad for crucial World Cup qualifiers against Denmark and Hungary.

Coach Carlos Queiroz has turned to the 31-year-old Sporting Lisbon player with his team struggling to make up ground in the qualifying race for the 2010 finals in South Africa.

Portugal, World Cup semi-finalists in 2006, are currently in third place in Group One with nine points. They are four behind Hungary and seven behind leaders Denmark.

Liedson has played at Sporting since 2003 and is the third Brazilian to play for Portugal following Deco and Pepe.

Portugal squad for World Cup European zone Group One qualifiers against Denmark on September 5 and Hungary on September 9:

Goalkeepers: Beto (FC Porto), Eduardo (Sporting Braga), Rui Patricio (Sporting Lisbon)

Defenders: Jose Bosingwa (Chelsea/ENG), Bruno Alves (FC Porto), José Castro (Deportivo La Coruna/ESP), Miguel (Valence/ESP), Pepe (Real Madrid/ESP), Ricardo Carvalho (Chelsea/ENG), Rolando (FC Porto).

Midfielders: Deco (Chelsea/ENG), Duda (Sevilla/ESP), Joao Moutinho (Sporting Lisbon), Maniche (Cologne/GER), Miguel Veloso (Sporting Lisbon), Raul Meireles (FC Porto), Tiago (Juventus/ITA).

Attackers: Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid/ESP), Liedson (Sporting Lisbon), Nani (Man Utd/ENG), Nuno Gomes (Benfica), Simao (Atletico Madrid/ESP).

LISBON (AFP)

Tags: Braga, Bruno Alves, Carlos Queiroz, CHELSEA, chelsea eng, cologne, denmark, deportivo la coruna, Eduardo, fc porto, GER, Hungary, joao moutinho, jose bosingwa, jose castro, la coruna, liedson, Lisbon, MADRID, meireles, Miguel, nani, nuno gomes benfica, Patricio, PORTO, portugal, Raul Meireles, ricardo carvalho, Rolando, ronaldo real madrid, semi finalists, SEVILLA, Simao, South Africa, sporting braga, sporting lisbon nani, world cup dream

Ten-man Sporting hold Fiorentina

August 19, 2009

Fiorentina earned a vital 2-2 draw away from home at 10-man Sporting Lisbon in the Champions League play-off round here on Tuesday.

The Italians will now be favourites to progress to the competition group stage following next week’s second leg in Florence.

The visitors took an early lead when Juan Vargas lashed home a low shot from outside the area.

Alberto Gilardino had crossed from the right and the Peruvian took the ball on his chest, bundled through a weak tackle and sent home a strike on six minutes that Rui Patricio got a hand to but couldn’t keep out.

Fiorentina were lucky not to have a man sent off, though, when Alessandro Gamberini tangled with Sporting’s Brazilian forward Liedson.

Gamberini appeared to lash out with his hand in Liedson’s neck but was only shown a yellow card, as was Sporting’s Montenegro striker Simon Vukcevic, who shoved the Italian in the chest following the original fracas.

That was followed by a spell of home dominance with Everton target Joao Moutinho forcing French goalkeeper Sebastien Frey into a sprawling low save.

Former Tottenham forward Helder Postiga went close again in first half stoppage time but curled his effort just past the upright.

The Portuguese predictably came out firing at the start of the second period and deservedly drew level on 58 minutes when Vukcevic pounced on a kind deflection in the box to slide home past Frey.

However, the Montenegran then stupidly removed his shirt in celebration and was promptly shown a second yellow card and sent to the stands.

Even so, the hosts extended their lead on 66 minutes as Miguel Veloso thrashed home an unstoppable shot into the top corner from outside the box.

That opened up the game with Fiorentina pushing forward for an equaliser and Sporting looking to hit them on the counter.

Riccardo Montolivo came close to restoring parity as he ran through two tackles but then shot too close to Patricio.

However he then fashioned La Viola’s stunning leveller as Gilardino took his chip into the box on his chest before prodding home a volley with the outside of his right boot.

Substitute Stevan Jovetic almost snatched a winner for the visitors three minutes from time but after leaving two men on the seat of their pants in the box, he shot straight at Patricio.

LISBON (AFP)

Tags: alberto gilardino, Alessandro Gamberini, competition group, deflection, equaliser, Florence, fracas, group stage, home dominance, joao moutinho, Juan, juan vargas, leveller, liedson, Lisbon, Miguel Veloso, Montenegro, Patricio, pounced, Riccardo Montolivo, sebastien frey, simon vukcevic, six minutes, stoppage time, target, viola, yellow card

Ten-man Twente hold Sporting Lisbon

July 30, 2009

A ten-man FC Twente held Sporting Lisbon to a goalless draw in the third preliminary round of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.

The Dutch runners-up showed a decent display in the opening phase but then suffered a major setback as keeper Sander Boschker fouled Helder Postiga with a red card and a penalty as result.

Boschker’s replacement, Nikolay Mihaylov then became the hero though, parrying the spotkick taken by Joao Moutinho.

Despite being a man down, Twente created the better chances after the break with Sporting only able to deliver shots from outside the penalty area. Twente almost scored a winning goal in added time, but Blaise N’Kufo failed to take advantage of the opportunity.

The two sides meet again in the Dutch town of Enschede on August 4.

By: Jonathan Roorda

Tags: august 4, being a man, Blaise, dutch town, Enschede, hero, joao moutinho, jonathan, Lisbon, major setback, moutinho, Nikolay, nikolay mihaylov, opportunity, phase, runners, Sander Boschker, sporting lisbon, spotkick, Ten-man, uefa, UEFA Champions League

Double for Podolski as Bayern set new record

March 11, 2009

MUNICH, Germany (AFP) – Germany striker Lukas Podolski struck twice on Tuesday as Bayern Munich hammered Sporting Lisbon 7-1 to set a new Champions League record on their way to the quarter-finals.

Tuesday night’s rout at Munich’s Allianz Arena means the tie finishes 12-1 on aggregate and sets a new record for a Champions League knock-out stage tie – bettering Olympique Lyonnais’ old mark of 10-2 against Werder Bremen in the 2004/05 season.

Luca Toni and Franck Ribery had both scored two goals in Lisbon a fortnight ago in the first-leg Round of 16 tie to virtually ensure Bayern Munich a last eight spot when Sporting were hammered 5-0 in Portugal.

Both Italy’s Toni and France’s Ribery were missing with injury for the second-leg, but their absence was barely felt.

Having totally dominated in Lisbon, Bayern carried on where they left off as Brazilian midfielder Ze Roberto flicked a pass to Podolski, who lobbed Sporting goalkeeper Rui Patricio after just seven minutes.

And having scored in the 5-1 hammering of Hanover in the German league last Saturday, Podolski made it three goals in two games with an opportunist bicycle kick after a Patricio error which he smashed into the net on 34 minutes.

And things went from bad to far worse for the guests when Sporting defender Polga knocked a cross into his own net on 39 minutes.

Lisbon captain Joao Moutinho hit a superb dipping effort into the top left-hand corner on 42 minutes to peg the arrears back to 3-1, but Germany midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger scored less than two minutes later to make it 4-1 at the break.

Munich teenager Thomas Mueller took over from Schweinsteiger and the 19-year-old had played just two minutes of his Champions League debut when he set up Bayern’s fifth goal after 74 minutes.

Mueller beat the Sporting defence on the right and put in a pin-point accurate cross which Miroslav Klose headed back for captain Mark van Bommel to drill home.

And Klose grabbed one of his own when he was brought down by Sporting defender Pedro Silva, but the Germany star picked himself up from the turf to drill home his penalty on 82 minutes.

And Mueller profited from a saved shot from Podolski on 90 minutes when he was presented with a simple tap-in as Bayern became the first team to score 12 goals over two legs in a Champions League knock-out tie.

Written by: AFP