Sporting put to five past Belenenses and keep the pressure on top sopt
It might have been a cold Monday night and a late kick-off, but that did little to put off the thousands of Sporting fans who made the short trip across the city to face Belenenses. The players received the message loud and clear and smartly went about dismantling the opposition with a clinical display of finishing.
Jorge Jesus' side made a strong start to the encounter and could have scored after just a couple of seconds, when Teo Guiterrez picked out Slimani. However Ventura got the better of the first of what would be several duels between the two over the course of the night. Belenenses shook it off and with their backline getting forward, the hosts created a chance of their own, when Carlos Martins found an inch of space and put a cross into the box. Rui Patrício, however, looked as untroubled as ever and comfortably collected.
That was essentially one of the hosts' only chances of the entire match, after which Sporting picked up the pace and pressure. Belenenses buckled and began to send passes astray, inviting the team from Alvalade to push up on the break. Slimani obliged and Ventura fumbled a save, isplling the ball out to Bryan Ruiz. The Costa Rican thought better to release Teo on goal, but the Colombian was unable to find the target. A couple of minutes later, Teo broke away behind the Belenenses line and charged towards goal, but Ventura was quick off his line to smother the opportunity.
Belenenses were struggling to hold on to possession, leaving them exposed to a hungry Sporting attack. William read the play with one of his trademark interceptions and exchanged passes with Slimani, before rounding the home keeper, but the Portuguese international's boots slipped from under him at the last minute. A similar move between Bryan Ruiz and Teo Guiterrez was denied by an excellent save from Ventura, signaling yet another chance left wanting in what was 20 minutes of an absolute avalanche of attacks.
Finally Sporting put the ball in the back of the net and who else but Slimani? Adrien Silva, who had actually been strangely quiet so far, broke through down the middle and released a ball into space that the Algerian chased down and hammered across the face of goal and in at the far post. The goal opened upon the action even more and 10 minutes later Belenenses gave away a soft penalty with a tackle on Bryan Ruiz that Slimani calmly converted on. To their credit, Belenenses didn't throw in the towel and had two chances of their own before the break, firstly from Carlos Martins with a shot that floated high of the mark and then from Miguel Rosa, who took possession off Schelotto and forced Rui Patrício to parry away for a corner.
The second-half was much of the same, with the hosts setting the pace and moving the ball around well. A third goal was soon coming, when Schelotto crossed in from the right that was cleared away by the Belenenses defence. However, Adrien was in the right place at the right time to rocket a shot into the back of the net. Although three goals up, Sporting continued to turn the screw and after Ruiz squandered a chance that Ventura was grateful to get a hand to, Costas rose highest to a corner and did just enough to cause confusion that Teo took advantage of to make it 4-0. Slimani rounded off his hattrick, but the linesman ruled the effort out for a debatable offside call.
Only with four already in the back of the net did Sporting slow and Belenenses made the most of the extra breathing room to push up the pitch. In face the hosts pulled a goal back, when Marko Bakic deflected a free-kick past Patrício. Jorge Jesus responded with the introduction of Carlos Mané and Aquilani into the action and the move proved just the trick. Mané broke free of his marker coming in from the left and crossed a bakl in for Teo and the Colombian smartly obliged with his second goal of the night. Ventura denied Slimani his hattrick late on and in the dying seconds Tiago Silva scored a consolation for Belenenses to set the final score at 5-2.
