Sporting interrupt FC Porto’s victorious record and both teams lose points in the title fight. Lion may have bid farewell to the title? Check out the review of the great match 17th round, last game of the first round.
Sporting and FC Porto played this Saturday afternoon a high-intensity Classic but … no goals. The two teams were no more than a null (0-0), in a game related to the 17th round of the I Liga. The result thus leaves the point distance set at the eight points. A Classic is always a Classical and intensity is always part of what happens within the four lines.
Summary of the game: Sporting and FC Porto entered the game concentrated, although in the first ten minutes FC Porto has been a hole above the rival. Still, the blue and white speed, used in the quality of Brahimi and Corona, never managed to set in the last pass. On the other side, the Keizer lions only started to score in midfield in the 15 minutes of play and from then on the game was, from the outset, more balanced. The Lions showed up earlier this Saturday than usual in the Keizer era and it was notorious that the blocks were very close to each other. The teams did not risk much, opting to try to exploit the opponent’s error.
Sérgio Conceição’s Porto also was betting on the upside, with Danilo backing into the field and running almost as a third centre, flanked by Éder Militão and Felipe. Brahimi, on the other hand, was treading more inland, while Corona always seemed to be more in line. In the first half, and although the intensity was always in the limits, there was no stage for great chances of goal. Exception made for a mistake by Jefferson that forced Renan Ribeiro to leave the goal to ward off the danger and the same Jefferson was also connected to the move that forced Iker Casillas to soil the gloves. At a time when FC Porto played with ten units, after Maxi’s injury, the left side of the Lions went up on the ground, took Corona out of the way and gave the ball to Bas Dost’s kick. However, the Dutch forward did not show the usual efficiency and shot a strong shot but the figure of the goalkeeper of Porto.
The second half started with a setback for Sporting. Bruno Gaspar fell on the pitch with physical complaints and Marcel Keizer was forced to throw Ristovksi to the place of the Portuguese side. In the second half, the teams appeared more to lose and with a clear determination to go looking for a goal. It is not surprising that, after ten minutes, Soares almost opened the scoring. However, Renan Ribeiro made a spectacular save. Great defence of the Brazilian guardian. Later it was Marega to be in evidence. The Malian striker was in a good position, but when he finished, he threw the ball over Renan Ribeiro’s bar. Sporting tried to respond and Bruno Fernandes did not refrain from testing midfield with a strong low shot that ended up Iker Casillas. The lions seemed to be struggling more than FC Porto, but again threatened with Eder Militão to make a very dangerous cut following a venomous cross of Nani, who almost had Casillas. Still, and even with more opportunities recorded in the second 45 minutes, the closet did not change as time went on until the final whistle.
Sporting seemed to be feeling the floor of the clock and decided to put the last chips in the final 15 minutes. First, it was Gudelj who forced Casillas to stretch all over to avoid the goal and soon after Bas Dost came close to beating the Spanish guardian. The Dutch striker was on his own, he jumped, but the header was off the side of FC Porto. The null remained until the end, with both teams to divide the points in Alvalade and leave everything in the same in the league table. The timing of the game: Renan and Casillas’s defence in the second half of the game explains why the score remained unchanged throughout the match.
Note also for the end of the victorious cycle of FC Porto. The dragons accumulated a balance of 18 consecutive victories that had begun after the defeat in Light, in Lisbon. A record that ended where it began: in the Portuguese capital.
