Liga NOS race goes right down to the wire after 5-0 win against V.Setúbal
Not even a day of torrential rain in Lisbon was enough to stop Jorge Jesus' side dismantling V. Setúbal this Saturday, with a clinical display of finishing that saw Gelson Martins, Byan Ruiz and Teo Gutierrez tally up a total of five games between them. The result moves Sporting to the top of Liga NOS, with Benfica still to play against Marítimo on Sunday.
More than 43 thousand fans braved the weather to pace out Alvalade for the last home game of the season and it wasn't long before their dedication was rewarded, with Sporting almost instantly on the attack. First it was Slimani raining down his usual havoc up front, forcing Ricardo into two early stops in the Setúbal goal. Coates looked to have put Sporting ahead with a looping header from a corner, but Ruca somehow managed to clear off the line. However, the desperate defending was only delaying the inevitable, as Bryan Ruiz picked out Gelson Martins at the edge of the box, for the speedy winger to break through and dink the ball over the isolated Setúbal keeper after 25 minutes.
The goal only encouraged Jorge Jesus' charges to force home their dominance and 12 minutes later the ball was again in the back of the next. This time it was William Carvalho with the key pass, after bringing possession out of midfield and setting up Teo Gutierrez for the finish. Slimani could have made it three seconds before the break, but the big Algerian was denied by a fine save by Ricardo.
The second-half was, of course, much of the same. The visitors proved completely incapable of even putting a dent in Sporting's attack and the scoreboard again began to tick over. Teo had a glorious chance denied in the 55th minute by a Setúbal defender who tracked back to block hit shot, but Gelson Martins did the business with well placed finish after a break away instigated by Adrien and a classy pass from Slimani. With the result all but secured, Jesus brought off Slimani for Marvin. Setúbal were wrong if they thought the substitution would ease their defensive worries, as Sporting pushed for a fourth. Vasco Costa was rightly shown a second yellow card for a foul at the edge of the box and to add insult to injury, Bruno César's wire-guided cross was converted on by a typically brilliant Bryan Ruiz finish.
Barcos was also given a run out for Gelson Martins and he could well have scored a goal of his own after controlling well inside the 18-yard box, had it not been for Ricardo pulling off the best save of the night down low to his right. There was however still time for Ruiz to grab his second, this time with a cheeky free-kick through the wall that the Setúbal keeper didn't even react to.
