Sporting back to winning ways with triumph away to Chaves
DG Chaves 2-3 Sporting
Sporting recovered from last week’s disappointment against FC Porto with a 3-2 away win at Chaves to claim their 13th league win of the Primeira Liga season.
The Lions took an early lead through Pedro Gonçalves’ 8th-minute penalty before João Teixeira equalized for the hosts just before half-time.
The visitors swung the ball back in their favor, however, with goals from Pedro Gonçalves and Nuno Santos in the second half before Héctor Hernandez’s consolation goal made it 3-2.
Rúben Amorim won Hidemasa Morita back for the clash against Chaves, while new signing Héctor Bellerín and debutant Ousmane Diomande also started for the green-whites.
With just four wins in their last 16 games at the Estádio Municipal de Chaves, Sporting seemed desperate to improve their relationship with a positive start, earning them a penalty after a 9th-minute foul on Paulinho in the box. From the 12-metre mark, Pedro Gonçalves made no mistake in making the switch to put the visitors ahead against the club where he spent part of his youth.
Only the crossbar prevented Paulinho from doubling Sporting’s lead following a Nuno Santos cross, before Juninho at the other end missed a fantastic equalizer in the 28th minute after his one-on-one shot straight at Antonio Adan had directed.
However, the Spaniard between the posts was surpassed by João Teixeira from long-range shortly after as the ex-Benfica player hit the bottom corner with a well-placed shot to make it 1-1 after 34 minutes.
Chaves went into the break with the tie, but the Lions threatened to untangle everything as early as the first minute of the second period as Paulinho’s goal was now thwarted by the linesman’s flag. In the 55th minute, Paulinho was again frustrated by a second offside position when he headed in from a Nuno Santos cross.
The visitors finally regained their lead, again thanks to Pedro Gonçalves, who hit the far post with a first-half goal that rivaled João Teixeira’s to take his personal record for the season to 12 league goals.
On the counterattack, Sporting found the daylight with goal number three as Paulinho Nuno Santos, who luckily rolled the goal away in celebration with a remarkable deflection in the 70th minute.
Things went from bad to worse for Chaves in the 84th minute after Pedro Gonçalves was pushed into the box for a second penalty of the night, the striker being kind enough to seize the opportunity to score a hat-trick and gift young Youssef Chermiti with the penalty.
However, Rodrigo kept Chaves’ pride with a good save against Chermiti’s right foot shot, preventing Sporting from scoring a fourth goal.
As the clock ticked on, the hosts had only time to defend themselves after Héctor Hernandez’s final whistle as the Lisbon side recorded their 13th league win of the season with a 3-2 win.
By Patrick Ribeiro