Sporting CP continue top of the Liga Portugal table

Sporting Clube de Portugal beat Casa Pia AC 1-3 at the Estádio Municipal de Rio Maior, on Matchday 25 of the Liga Portugal season.

The teams first and sixth in the table faced each other for the 21st time, with the most notable news from the starting XI the return of captain Morten Hjulmand.

With no further changes compared to the last game, Rui Borges went with a lineup of Rui Silva, Ricardo Esgaio, Ousmane Diomande, Gonçalo Inácio, Iván Fresneda, Zeno Debast, Morten Hjulamnd, Matheus Reis, Francisco Trincão, Viktor Gyökeres and Geovany Quenda.

As expected, Casa Pia AC went at Sporting CP in the opening minutes, but soon the roles were reversed -with Gyökeres gaining prominence. The Swede's runs on both the right and left provided the initial opportunities of the game: In the first, Debast shot wide, and in the second Trincão had his effort cut out by Tchamba.

On the third chance, Gyökeres himself was the target, but was unable to finish off a good move by Quenda.

Sporting CP took the lead off a short corner on the right, Quenda placing the ball into the area and Inácio heading it inside the far post.

They came close to making it 0-2 soon after, as Fresneda set up Quenda, but the shot went wide of goal.

The pace of the match then slowed down, but both teams continued to enjoy looks on goal. A shot by Fresneda went straight at the Casa Pia AC goalkeeper in one such move.

Not even five minutes later, Sporting CP did double their lead. Hjulmand put Gyökeres through, and the Swede entered the area on the right, squared up to the defence and sent his shot between two opponents and under the goalkeeper.

The home team responded with approaches on goal and clawed the scoreline back to 1-2: Esgaio tried to intercept a ball from Miguel Sousa and put it past Rui Silva into the net.

After the interval, Rui Silva was required to make saves from José Fonte and Rafael Brito. Sporting CP, who were having some difficulty gaining possession, only managed to respond later, with Gyökeres entering the area from the right and shooting under pressure for a Sequeira stop.

After the hour mark, the first two substitutions for Sporting CP saw Hjulmand and Quenda coming off and Hidemasa Morita – back after injury – and Geny Catamo replacing them.

With more of the ball and a sturdier midfield, they built up play to create further attacks. The third goal arrived in the 75th minute, when Trincão was brought down in the box by Tchamba. Referee Hélder Malheiro consulted VAR, awarded the spot kick, and Gyökeres stepped up to convert.

With the score at 1-3, Sporting CP became more comfortable. There were opportunities for Gyökeres to complete his hat trick, and he came close when Tchamba cleared off the line when he had rounded the goalkeeper. His follow-up strike took a deflection and ended up with Trincão, who shot wide.

In the end, the three points went back to Alvalade, keeping Sporting CP top of the table with a game in hand. Next Saturday, they play FC Famalicão at home.