Sporting-Benfica in the Portuguese Cup

Turnstiles will open two hours before kick-off for Saturday's Portuguese cup encounter between Sporting and Benfica.

Additional security measures are expected for the match, including further controls on entering the carpark.

We appeal for all fans to arrive as early as possible to the stadium in order to avoid long waits.

Jorge Sousa names for the Portuguese Cup fourth round

Jorge Sousa, 40, from the Porto Football Association, has been named as the referee to take charge of the Portuguese Cup fourth round between Sporting and Benfica.

This will be the referee's second Lisbon derby of the season, having officiates over Sporting's 1-0 Super Cup in in August.

Sporting-Benfica will kick-off at 20h00 on Saturday the 21st of November, in Estádio José Alvalade.

Ticket information for Liga NOS matchday 11

Tickets for Liga NOS matchday 11, between Sporting and Belenenses, will go on sale on Thursday the 19th of November as follows:

STAND A
Central – 20€ for Members and 30€ for fans
Lateral – 15€ for Members and 25€ for fans
Goal End – 10€ for Members and 20€ for fans

STAND B
Central – 15€ for Members and 20€ for fans
Lateral – 10€ for Members and 15€ for fans
Goal End – 7€ for Members and 12€ for fans
Under-23/ Senior – 7€ for Members
Under-11 – 3.5€ for Members

Family Ticket – 21€ (3 people) and 25€ (4 people)

Bruno César highlights Alvalade improvements in recent years

The offensive midfielder Bruno César, who has so far this season representing Estoril, was officially announced as a Sporting player this week. César will start training immediately, however can only start in official competition for Sporting as of January 2016.

Having spent spells with São Paulo, Palmeira and Grémio at youth level, the 27-year-old Brazilian made a name for himself with Santo André and Corinthians, before moving to Portugal for a fist time in 2011/12, scoring 13 goals in 44 games for Benfica. Half-way through the following campaign, Bruno César moved to Saudi Arabia to represent Al-Ahli Jeddah and was also loaned to Palmeiras. In 2015/16, the offensively midfielder has already featured 11 times for Estoril.

Sharing his first words as a Sporting player, the South American proved satisfied with the move: "My objective when I arrived at Estoril was to have a good season so I could move to a big club in Europe. Thankfully I can carry on here in Portugal, in a great team that I already know. I wasn't expecting it to happen to soon, but I am really happy and I can help Sporting. I played against Sporting when I was with Benfica and now with Estoril. The team is totally different now to what it was two or three years ago, with some great players and having such a good coach is really important. He (Jesus) already worked with me in Benfica and he taught me a lot."

César pens deal valid until 2020

Sporting Clube de Portugal, Futebol SAD has reached an agreement with the player Bruno César for a contract valid until 2020, with a buy-out clause of 60,000,000.00€.

Bruno César will begin training immediately, but will only be available for official action of January 2016.

Sporting SAD wishes Bruno César the best of professional and personal success.

Paulo Oliveira, Bruno Paulista and Aquilani mingle with the fans in 'El Corte Inglés

Around 100 people were in El Corte Inglês this week to try and grab an autograph from Alvalade stars Paulo Oliveira, Bruno Paulista and Aquilani.

Scalfs, shirts, sticker books and even boots were all put forward to the trio, who happily went about sharing a memorable day with the gathered fans.

Algerian's first strike against V. Guimarães in the running

Slimani's first goal against V. Guimarães, which saw him go on to grab a hattrick in a 5-1 win, is up for nomination for the Liga NOS Samsung Goal of the Month.

You can vote for the Alvalade star at www.partilhamosfutebol.com/votacao.

Ticket sales for Portuguese Cup 4th round

Fredy Montero instrumental in late goal against Arouca

"I picked up a pass from Bryan (Ruiz) and I tried to shoot, but Slimani scored for us and it gave us an important three points", said Montero after Sporting's win in Arouca this Sunday night.

For the Colombian striker, the final result was all down to hard work being put in on the training pitch: "We are ready for this kind of game and when we can't play well we have to try as hard as we can, which is what we did. Champions are made like this. We had a lot of possession and it wasn't enough, but we scored in the end. The coach asked me to look for space, because that is what we were missing. We won and that is the most important thing."

Jorge Jesus' thoughts on Sunday's win in Arouca

Sporting had to fight hard for the three points on Sunday night, but that was exactly what Jorge Jesus was expecting in what has proven to be a tricky away trip for even the top sides this season.

“We knew it would be difficult. In nine games, Arouca had only lost against FC Porto and they had already taken three points off a team fighting for the title. They are a really well organised team defensively and it isn't easy to score against them. We had to show the mentality of a champion, as well as technical and tactical quality. We had to show heart in the 50-50 balls, which is what we did in the second-half", opened the Alvalade boss in post-match interview, continuing: “We had to show a lot of attitude in the direct confrontations, because Arouca are really aggressive. We didn't have a lot of chances, but we did make some that were easy to finish and we had Arouca under control when they did attack. The most important thing is that we won and that we got the reward for carrying on even with ten men. The lads deserved the win tonight."

Jorge Jesus went on to explain what he asked of his players at half-time and why he introduced Esgaio in place of Jefferson: "At half-time we had to change some things in attack. Arouca are really organised so we couldn't find space for our lads to carry the ball forward. We had to change some positioning and it worked better in the second-half, which was also because Arouca didn't show the same intensity in defence because they were getting tired. Jefferson felt a bit of discomfort at the end of the first-half and I didn't want to aggravate it, so I was forced to being him off. Funnily enough Esgaio was more dynamic down the wing than Jefferson.”