Liedson brilliance inspires Sporting to victory

Sporting 4-1 Naval

Sporting beat Naval 4-1 at Alvalade tonight to stay in third place in the table one point behind Benfica and cut the deficit to leaders Porto to seven points. Despite the scoreline, Sporting did not have it all their own way against an enterprising Naval team.

Joao Moutinho opened the scoring on nine minutes, but Naval went into the break on level terms thanks to a Diego header. An outstanding Liedson goal put Sporting back in front, and late strikes from Vukcevic and Gladstone wrapped up the three points for the Lions.

Sporting started strongly and Ronny, Liedson and Izmailov had all threatened to break the deadlock before Joao Moutinho fired a powerful left-foot shot into the roof of the net after his initial right-foot effort had been blocked.

Naval hit back

The goal seemed to inspire Naval, while Sporting took their foot off the accelerator. Stojkovic was forced into a flying save from Delfim and Saulo blazed over the bar after a fine move had left the striker one-on-one with the Sporting keeper.

It therefore came as no surprise when the visitors equalised in the 27th minute as Diego headed a Mario Sergio free kick into the back of the net. Naval goalkeeper Taborda then made an excellent save from point-blank range to deny Izmailov and keep the scores level going into the break.

Sporting looked increasingly dangerous in the second half, even more so when attacking midfielder Vukcevic came on for centre-back Tonel, with Miguel Veloso dropping back into defence.

Nevertheless, Naval continued to use the ball well whenever they got hold of it, and on the hour mark Diego came close to scoring his second as his header beat Stojkovic but hit the base of the post.

Majestic goal

Moments later the crowd were brought to their feet as Liedson scored with a majestic strike. The Brazilian was fed the ball near the edge of the Naval box, surrounded by three defenders. Some fancy footwork earned the striker a yard of space and that was all he needed to sweep and unstoppable left-foot shot into the top corner of the net.

Five minutes later Liedson showed the other facet of his game so appreciated by the Sporting faithful. Chasing what looked like a lost cause, the Brazilian forced Taborda into a bad mistake. The Naval no. 1 saw the forward steal the ball as he dwelt a moment too long, subsequently hauling down the striker and leaving the referee no choice but to brandish the red card and award the consequent penalty.

Substitute goalkeeper Wilson Junior made an immediate impression with a fine diving stop from Joao Moutinho’s spot kick. Junior then produced another good stop from a Liedson overhead kick.

The goalkeeper again denied Liedson his 100th goal in a Sporting shirt shortly afterwards with an instinctive save, but could do nothing to stop Vukcevic from volleying in the rebound. Gladstone scored a fourth in stoppage time, again from a rebound after Romagnoli’s shot had hit the post.

The win will boost Sporting’s confidence head of their vital Champions League encounter against Roma on Wednesday. Despite the loss, Naval can take heart from an extremely bright performance during the first hour of the match.

Sporting:
Stojkovic, Tonel (Vukcevic 55), Polga, Abel, Ronny, Miguel Veloso, Joao Moutinho, Izmailov (Pereirinha 86), Romagnoli, Purovic (Gladstone 73), Liedson
Yellow Cards: Polga, Liedson

Naval:
Taborda, Paulao, Diego, Mario Sergio, China, Gilmar, Delfim (Fabrício Lopes 79), Saulo, Davide, Joao Ribeiro (Wilson Junior 68), Marcelinho (Hugo Santos, 46)
Red Card: Taborda (68)

Goals:
[1-0] Joao Moutinho, 9
[1-1] Diego, 27
[2-1] Liedson, 61
[3-1] Vukcevic, 84
[4-1] Gladstone, 93