Rejuvenated Sporting sweep aside Porto
Sporting 3-0 FC Porto
  Sporting ended a perfect week with a second successive 3-0 victory at the Alvalade stadium tonight, this time against FC Porto. Goals from man-of-the-match Yannick Djalo, Izmailov and Miguel Veloso put a huge dent in Porto's Liga Sagres title pretensions.
Sporting 3-0 FC Porto
Sporting ended a perfect week with a second successive 3-0 victory at the Alvalade stadium tonight. Goals from man-of-the-match Yannick Djalo, Izmailov and Miguel Veloso put a huge dent in FC Porto's Liga Sagres title pretensions.
94' Last few minutes played out without incident. Sporting leave the pitch under thunderous applause.
91' Four minutes of stoppage time awarded by the referee.
90' On comes Joao Pereira to give the Alvalade crowd the opportunity to present Izmailov with a rousing round of applause.
90'  Yellow Card for Alvaro Pereira for chopping down Liedson. '
89' Exellent work by Falcao, who brings down a difficult ball on his chest and fires a volley over the bar.
87' Djalo switches on the turbo again, sprints past Fucile who is forced to hack him down in full flight. One of Djalo's best displays for a long long time.
85' Rolando underhits a back-pass and Djalo is inches away from reaching the ball before Helton.
83' "Só mais um!" chant the Sporting fans.
81' Rodriguez has looked lively since coming on, but has had precious little support from his Porto team-mates.
78' Yellow Card for Liedson for failing to retreat ten yards at the resulting free-kick. Messy spell of the game, but with Sporting three goals to the good the home fans aren't complaining.
77' Yellow Card for Izmailov for a nasty lunge at Rodriguez, which infuriates Bruno Alves who remonstrates with the referee demanding a red.
76' Off comes Miguel Veloso for Adrien Silva.
75' Yellow Card, Yellow Card. Belluschi and Helton into the book.
72' Another excellent piece of play by Djalo, who cuts inside and curls a shot just past the post.
70' Free-kick for Porto in a promising position. Bruno Alves thunders in a powerful shot but it's way too high to worry Patricio.
68' Porto are looking far more dangerous now, but Sporting will have plenty of opportunity for counter-attacks, as happens with a break orchestrated by LIedson and Djalo, but Djalo mistimes his run and is flagged for offside.
65' Enforced substitution by Sporting. The injured Carrico comes off and Anderson Polga comes on.
62' Sporting hit back with Djalo again showing his speed and crossing for Liedson who attempts an acrobatic finish but the ball flies high and wide.
61' Porto come close again. Excellent wing play be Rodriguez who gets to the goal-lien and cuts the ball back for Belluschi, but the Argentine does connect properly when perfectly placed to score.
57' Porto's best chance all game! Grimi makes a bad mistake and Varlea pounces on it. The winger rounds Patricio and from a tight angle tries to thread the ball into the net but Grim does well to recover and hack clear.
56' Double substitution by Jesualdo Ferreira. On comes Guarin and Cristian Rodriguez for Mariano and Ruben Micael.
53' Sensational piece of skill by Liedson embarrasses Bruno Alves and Alvaro Pereira. After ticking his way past both defenders, his cross just evades the waiting Yannick Djalo.
49' An exultant Alvalade crowd are on their feet jumping up and down and having a good time taunting the silent Porto contingent. A long series of passes gets the Ole's ringing round the stadium.
46'  GOAL!!!!!!!!!! Fantastic strike by Miguel Veloso. Liedson breaks fast, hits a tremendous cross-shot past Helton that thuds back into play off the post but the ball runs to Veloso on the edge of box who smashes an unstoppable drive into the top corner with his left foot.
46' Porto straight on the attack. Substitute Belluschi, on for Meireles, slides in a dangerous cross but the ball is cleared.
The rebirth of Sporting continues. The Lions follow on from their excellent Europa League victory over Everton with another strong performance that sees Carlos Carvalhal's team well in control at the break. Porto's championship aspirations could take a big knock here unless they stage a great second-half comeback.
45' Half-time whistle goes.
45' GOAL!!!!!!!!!! Ball poorly cleared to the edge of the box, Izmailov needs no second invitation and fires in a stunning left-foot strike that rockets low into the corner of the net.
43' Izmailov tries his luck from distance but his speculative shot goes high over the bar.
42' After a sizzling start to the game play has been largely restricted to midfield in the last ten minutes.
38' Battle between two Argentines. Mariano almost skips past Grimi but the left-back does well to quell a dangerous situation.
35' Djalo's having a blinder. Some great speed and skill sets up good crossing opportunities first for Moutinho, then for Grimi, but the delivery is disappointing in both instances.
32' Two mistakes in quick succession by Rui Patricio and Abel put the hosts in trouble, but on both occasions Porto fail to take advantage.
29' Yellow Card. Yannick Djalo is harshly penalised but his vehement protests earn him nothing but a yellow card from the referee.
27' Another close shave for Sporting as a sweeping move by Porto sees the ball crossed in low by Varela and a sliding Falcao is a whisker away from getting the killer touch.
25' Fucile hits a cross into the stands from a promising position, much to the delight of the home supporters, but Porto are starting to click into gear and look threatening.
23' Porto inches away from an equaliser! Micael threads a beautiful ball through to Varlea who serves Falcao and only a last-ditch tackle from Carrico prevents a certain goal.
21' The lively Djalo hits a snapshot wide.
19' Dangerous looking break by Varela is well defended by Tonel. Varela has swapped to the left flank after getting no joy on the right in the opening exchanges.
16' Yellow Card for Bruno Alves as he brings Liedson down. From the resulting free-kick first Veloso then Izmailov hit shots from distance but neither reach the target.
15' Yellow Card. Moutinho gets a booking for crudely cutting out the chance of a Porto break.
14' It's end to end but Sporting still looking the more dangerous. Two quick breaks have the Porto defenders back-peddling but no chances are created.
11' Yellow Card. Miguel Veloso clatters into Ruben Micael and picks up a yellow card for his troubles.
10' Sporting close to a second! A series of ricochets sees the ball fall to Liedson whose shot is tipped round the post by Helton at full stretch.
8' Liedson works himself room for a low shot but Helton gathers easily.
7' Falcao takes a tumble in the box as Fucile fires in a cross. The referee waves away penalty shouts.
5' GOAL!!!!!!!!!! Yannick Djalo opens the scoring. Moutinho does well to get past Fucile and slide in a cross. The ball in half-cleared to Djalo who fires a shot low and hard into the corner of the net. Game on.
3' Miguel Veloso puts in a couple of meaty challenges, the second of which is a foul that has the referee thinking of a yellow card. He declines.
2' Sporting on the initiative early on. Djalo tries to hit the by-line but Alvaro Pereria makes a classy interception.
Despite the inordinate amount of rain in recent weeks the pitch looks in good condition and the stadium is filling up nicely. Kick off moments away.
Welcome to a wet Lisbon night. The starting line-ups have been announced and there's a surprise in the Sporting starting XI with Abel keeping hold of his place after a good display against Everton on Thursday, and Joao Pereira on the bench. For Porto Tomas Costa comes in for the injured Fernando. Apart from those alterations both teams are at full strength.
Starting line-ups
Sporting:
Rui Patricio, Abel, Tonel, Carrico, Grimi, Pedro Mendes, Miguel Veloso, Moutinho, Izmailov, Yannick Djalo, Liedson
FC Porto:
Helton, Fucile, Bruno Alves, Rolando, Alvaro Pereira, Tomas Costa, Meireles, Ruben Micael, Varela, Falcao, Mariano
GOAL!!!!!!!!!!
Yellow Card
 Red Card
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Hopefully they have them ironed out we need them in Europe contending.
This result was great for both Benfica & Braga who can now focus on each other.
It is sad for my Porto friends.. as they had a chance to contend.. but they still have a nice future..
Enough of the spank talk though... especially in Europe and on an international level.. I would hope the colours could be put away. Maybe I am asking for too much.
Heres hoping all the Portuguese teams do well... and Quieroz gets fired before the tournament starts.. with Hiddink taking the reins for the summer before starting with Turkey in the fall.
Cheers
Congratulations to Sporting on the great result.
I think the past two games will help change their mentality, and I would expect to see a far more positive side from this point onwards.
Porto is done for the league this year, if I was one of their supporters I would be cheering for Benfica to beat Braga. Maybe if they are lucky Braga may lose a couple of more games or get a bunch of draws. It seems less likely at this point. Europa league can still be exciting.
Benfica for the title!
forca SLB
SPORTING ALLEZ!!!!!!!!
I'm glad to see Sporting do so well because they have up to 4 potential starters for Portugal at the world cup. I know Liedson and Mendes will likely start and Veloso and Moutinho COULD start but that all depends on Quieroz. We'll see on that.....congratulations on a tremendous victory today.
So I didn't see this game but I am completely shocked by the result. This has really dented Porto's title chance and I'm also surprised that Sporting scored three goals tonight.
Forca Sempre Sporting!!!
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Da uma olhadela :)
Obrigado outra vez,
Sean