Sporting returned to triumphs in the I Portuguese Football League today, with a calm and fair victory over Vitória de Guimarães, 3-0, in a match of the 12th round of the Portuguese Football League. Porro opened the scoring in the 34th minute, Morita made it 2-0 in the 40th minute. In the second half, in the 55th minute, the best player on the field, Marcus Edwards, made the final 3-0.
With this leonine victory, Vitória de Guimarães was overtaken by Sporting in the standings. With 22 points, the ‘lions’ rise to fourth place, albeit by one game more than Casa Pia, while Vitória Alvalade with the same 20 points as they came in, left in sixth place in the standings.
The match started intensely in Alvalade, with Sporting and Vitória de Guimarães fighting every inch of ground. From the first fifteen minutes, Sporting outperformed the Guimarães and the first goal came from Paulinho’s head, in a header that passed just centimeters from Bruno Varela’s goal post.
It was the first leonine signal, which received another episode shortly after, in an incredible loss of Pedro Gonçalves, who after a perfect reception in the area was startled by the presence of Bruno Varela and shot wide.
Sporting started to smother Vitória de Guimarães and in the next move they were close to the lead twice with Morita and Porro desperate for such a lack of fortune.
The people of Guimarães could barely breathe and in the 26th minute the ouster of Afonso Freitas put the conquerors in an even more delicate position. Realizing where he could hurt Vitória, Rúben Amorim took Nazinho to bring in Marcus Edwards and at that moment decided the game for the ‘lions’: minutes later Matheus Reis, on the left flank, entered the Minho area and served Porro on a tray, with the team heading hard for 1-0, while the ball still had a deflection on Edwards, betraying Bruno Varela.
The hardest part was done, but Sporting did not calm down and after 40 minutes Morita extended the lead, again with Edwards decisive with a millimeter cross on the far post that the Japanese only had to touch.
Vitória de Guimarães returned for the second half with the will to aim for Adán’s goal, something they couldn’t do in the first half, but Sporting did not allow the Minho erratic and in the 55th minute they finished with the reaction of the opponent, with Edwards extending the lead to 3-0. The Englishman aimed the shot from outside the area, the ball still hit Bamba and in a perfect arc Varela left without reaction.
Leading 3-0, Rúben Amorim chose to refresh the eleven, the match lost intensity, but even then Vitória de Guimarães managed to share the lead with the Lions, who celebrated again almost until the end, with Paulinho even scoring a goal had been rejected by the VAR.
The team traveling from Guimarães had an uninspiring night, as the numbers fully confirm as they left Alvalade with just two shots framed by the ‘green and white’ target.
Source: DN
