Braga Football Association official for Liga NOS matchday 10

Cosme Machado, 39, from the Braga Football Association, has been named to take charge of Sporting's visit to Arouca, on Liga NOS matchday 10.

Alfredo Braga and Pedro Fernandes will act as linesmen.

Arouca-Sporting will kick off at 20h30 Sunday the 8th of November, in the Arouca Municipal Stadium. Sporting Currently occupy the top of the Liga NOS table with 23 points, while Arouca are in 9th with 12. 

Tobias, Gelson, Carlos Mané, Ruben Semedo and Iuri called up by Rui Jorge

Rui Jorge has included a total of five Sporting players in his squad for the coming under-21 European Championship qualifiers against Albania on the 12th of November and Israel on the 17th.

Tobias Figueiredo, Carlos Mané, Gelson Martins, Ruben Semedo and Iuri Medeiros (who has spent the last two seasons out on loan with V. Setúbal and Moreirense) are the five included in the squad of 23.

Squad in full: André Moreira, Bruno Varela, Rui Silva; João Cancelo, Rafa Soares, Nurio Fortuna, Rebocho, Ruben Semedo, Ruben Vezo, Tobias Figueiredo; Bruno Fernandes, Francisco Ramos, Rony Lopes, Raphael Guzzo, Ruben Neves, Tomás Podstawski; André Silva, Carlos Mané, Gelson Martins, Gonçalo Paciência, Iuri Medeiros, Nuno Santos and Ricardo Horta.

Rui Patrício, William Carvalho and João Mário in Portuguese squad

João Mário, William Carvalho and Rui Patrício all feature in the Portuguese squad announced by Fernando Santos this Friday, for two friendlies against Russia (14 of November in Krasnodar) and Luxemburg (17th of November, in Luxemburg).

Squad list in full: Rui Patrício, Anthony Lopes, Eduardo; Cédric, Vieirinha, Pepe, Bruno Alves, José Fonte, Neto, Eliseu, Raphael Guerreiro; William, Danilo, João Moutinho, João Mário, André Gomes, André André; Bernardo Silva, Nani, Lucas João, Nélson Oliveira, Gonçado Guedes and Ricardo.

Matheus Pereira and João Mário after 3-0 loss in Albania

Matheus Pereira again featured in Jorge Jesus' side this Thursday, in a 3-0 loss to Skënderbeu. Speaking at the final whistle, the Brazilian accepted that his side made mistakes, but affirmed that Sporting can still qualify for the knock-out stages: "We didn't start well. Skënderbeu made the most of that and they defended well. We had chances, but we let in two goals from counter-attacks."

João Mário, who made his Europa League debut after a three-match suspension, also spoke to the press at the final whistle: "We made some mistakes in the first-half which dictated the rest of the game, but it is still down to us to get into the next stage."

Jorge Jesus reflects on his side's loss to Skënderbeu

Speaking after his side's 3-0 to Skënderbeu, Jorge Jesus affirmed that qualification for the Europa League knock-out stage is still within each.

“After the draw in the other match in the group we wanted to push on, but that didn't happen. We aren't out of it yet, but it is harder now. We started badly and we let in two goals. After the break, losing 2-0 and with 10 men, the idea was to try and get back into it, but we let in a third goal. Things like that happen in football sometimes and this is the kind of thing we have to learn from. We lost the game, but not the chance to qualify", said the Sporting coach at the final whistle.

Sporting slip to heavy defeat in Albania

Sporting put in a forgettable performance in Albania this Thursday in a 3-0 loss that saw Rui Patrício sent off and Ewerton substituted through injury.

Going into the encounter following a potentially helpful draw between Besiktas and Lokomotiv Moscow, the team from Alvalade made a largely expected dominating start to the encounter, holding down long spells of possession but without creating any clean chances on goal. However, a disasterous ten minutes saw Skënderbeu open the scoring in the 14th minute through Lilaj. Adding insult to injury, Rui Patrício was shown a red card five minutes later and Lilaj converted from the penalty spot to leave Sporting with an uphill task to salvage points in Albania.

Trailing, Jorge Jesus sacrificed Tanaka – one of the surprises in the evening's starting line-up, which also saw Tobias, Jonatha, Bruno Paulista, Matheus, Mané and Montero feature from the off – to keep Matheus and Mané out wide in support of Montero, but Sporting were unable to battle back and went two goals down at the break.

Sporting had the chance to pull a goal back early after the restart, but Skënderbeu's third courtesy of a chip from Nimaga to beat Boeck from outside of the 18-yard box set the score beyond Sporting's reach. The loss sees Sporting remain in third place in Group H with four points, two behind Besiktas and four behind Lokomotiv.

Labyad and Sacko on target for Sporting B

Sporting B were back in winning form in II Liga this week, beating Oliveirense 2-1 courtesy of goals from Labyad and Sacko.

With Zezinho covering the middle of the park with Fokobo, Francisco Geraldes was free to break forward and after just three minutes the team from Alvalade was already threading goal, with Viola coming close. Oliveirense did battle their way back into the game and took the lead though Stéphane Madeirain the 25th minute, but Sporting B soon bounced back and dominated the rest of the half.

Strikes from Labyad and Sacko after the break secured a well-deserved win, tallying another three points and moving up to 2nd place in II Liga.

Tickets on sale starting Thursday

Tickets for Liga NOS matchday 10, between Futebol Clube de Arouca and Sporting Clube de Portugal will go on sale at the Estádio José Alvalade (from 10h00 to 20h00) as follows:

THURSDAY | Club Members with a Gamebox 2015/2016 and October 2015 fees paid
FRIDAY | Club Members without a Gamebox and October 2015 fees paid
SATURDAY | General public

The match will kick off at 20h30 on Sunday the 8th of November, in the Arouca Municipal Stadium. Tickers are priced at 20€ each.

For Sporting fans in the north of the country, tickets will also be on sale at the Solar do Norte Delegation (Porto) and the Gondomar and São João da Madeira Sporting Supporters' Clubs.

Jorge Jesus highlights the importance of keeping a grip on first place after win against Estoril

Speaking at the final whistle after watching Sporting open up a five-point lead at the top of I Liga, Jorge Jesus highlighted his side's recent defensive performances, having only let in two goals in the last five encounters.

“There were some tough periods tonight, with Estoril creating problems like we thought they would. When a team is in first, it is normal to have games like this one, but I thought the lads showed that they knew what to do and took the right decisions. Sometimes it looks like we are taking one touch too many, but that is how we have been training. Estoril positioned themselves well defensively, but we fixed some things in the second-half and improved. We had more opportunities and wasted some chances on open goal. The most important factor was that we didn't concede, because we are strong defensively. That is what won us this game", opened the Alvalade boss in a flash interview.

In parallel, Jesus spoke about the importance of winning after last week's 3-0 derby win: “It was important to win after the match in Estádio da Luz, because every match is worth three points. Today we had 40 thousand people in the stadium and that is a sign of the fans' confidence in us. It was important to stay top of the league, because if we think it was hard to get where we are then it will be even harder to stay there, but that is what makes champions."

William Carvalho's reaction to 1-0 win over Estoril

William Carvalho was given the captain's armband in place of the suspended Adrien against Estoril on Saturday.

Speaking about his side's performance, the Portuguese international commented: “We started well and we had a lot of possession, but we didn't create that many chances. After half-time we tired Estoril out. It was a good result and the lads deserve a pat on the back. It was worth another three points and we have to keep winning now. There are a lot of matches to play until the end of the season and we want to stay at the top of the league. We will keep putting the work in and our opponents should be worried about us."