Sporting beats Roma 2-0

Sporting made a superb home debut this season with a 2-0 win over the visiting Roma in the Five Violins Trophy.

As expected, Alvalade was packed out to welcome back Jorge Jesus’ squad ahead of the new campaign. However, Roma were in no mood to facilitate walkover and neither side really took a firm grip of the action in the first-half.

Sporting come out more attacking after the break, but some squandered chances in front of goal meant that the opener was made to wait until three minutes after the hour mark, when Slimani found the back of the net. Nine minutes later, Mané come off the bench to round off the 2-0 win.

Jorge Jesus’ side will now focus on preparation for the Supercup against Benfica, to be played on the 9th of August.

Sporting beats Roma 2-0

Sporting made a superb home debut this season with a 2-0 win over the visiting Roma in the Five Violins Trophy.

As expected, Alvalade was packed out to welcome back Jorge Jesus’ squad ahead of the new campaign. However, Roma were in no mood to facilitate walkover and neither side really took a firm grip of the action in the first-half.

Sporting come out more attacking after the break, but some squandered chances in front of goal meant that the opener was made to wait until three minutes after the hour mark, when Slimani found the back of the net. Nine minutes later, Mané come off the bench to round off the 2-0 win.

Jorge Jesus’ side will now focus on preparation for the Supercup against Benfica, to be played on the 9th of August.

Senior team clinical update

Ewerton – rupture of the lateral ligament in the left ankle. Undergoing treatment.
William Carvalho – stress fracture to the left tibia. Recovery time 10 to 12 weeks. Undergoing treatment.
Palhinha – In specialised training for a dislocated shoulder.
Ciani – gastroenteritis.

Clinical Department

Special moment as part of Five Violin Trophy

Gabriel Madeira is just six years old, but he is already a true example of courage, determination and perseverance. Today, the little number 10, whose mother is Italian, will step up to the centre circle to take the kick off against Roma in the Five Violins Trophy.

In May the Sporting Foundation arranged a special visit by Cédric, with the left-back making a surprise stop at the Portuguese Oncology Institute to visit Gabriel and several other little heroes.

Today, almost three months later, Gabriel is fighting strong. Speaking after signing a contract with president Bruno de Carvalho in an executive box in Estádio José Avalade, Gabriel declared “I want to see Montero score three goals!”

Jesus leads charges in last workout in South Africa

Jorge Jesus led his squad of 26 through a final training session in Cape Town this Monday, ahead of the return to the Portuguese capital.

Rúben Semedo, who was substituted against Crystal Palace with a knock to the shoulder, took part in the warm up, with the squad going through their usual exercises at the beginning of the session

Pereira looking to get Alvalade return off with a bang

João Pereira was in the press room ahead of the start of this week’s Cape Town Cup, speaking with the press about his side’s objectives in South Africa.

“It is an international tournament and we want to win the title. We will think about the Supercup when it comes to it, but for now we have to prepare”, opened the Alvalade wing-back, adding a word on his return to Lisbon: “Everything is going really well. Some things have changed of course and our objectives are more ambitious now.”

Jorge Jesus sits down with the press in Cape Town

The Cape Town Cup was officially presented in the Table Bay Hotel this week. Speaking with a crowd of gathered journalists, coach Jorge Jesus shared his thoughts ahead of the start of the competition.

“We have high expectations. We have the honour of being part of this tournament and it will help us carry on our pre-season development. We will treat this competition as one that has a great future. We are really proud to be here”, said the Sporting coach.

Meanwhile, Ajax Cape Town coach Roger de Sá, who is himself a Sporting fan, affirmed that he is expecting a good match on Friday: “It will be another challenge for a young team like ours. We want to carry on our preparations and we are expecting a good match.”

Crystal Palace and SuperSporting United coaches Alan Pardew and Gordon Igesund also proved excited with the tournament, setting out their objective of facing Sporting in the final.

Timor leaders visit Estádio Alvalade, Museum and Academy

The East Timor Secretary of State, Leovigildo Hornai, led a committee in a visit to Sporting Clube de Portugal this week, with the objective on building up a link between Timor and the Alvalade club.

Sporting’s vice-president for sport, Vicente Moura, was on hand to welcome the visitors. “This is part of our drive to bring sporting closer to together with certain nations. Today is a concrete example and we already have an affiliate in Timor. The Secretary of State for Youth and sport visited us and wanted to learn more about what we do at Sporting. We could soon have in place protocols to strengthen our link with East Timor”, said the Alvalade vice-president after the visit.

Board member for expansion and supporters’ clubs, Bruno Mascarenhas, also commented on the day’s interaction: “We know that East Timor is creating the infrastructure to invest in sport. They have a young population and with the history we have and our affiliate Sporting Clube de Timor, it makes sense to have the Secretary of State with us here.”

Leovigildo Hornai also spoke about the visit: “The idea of this visit was to see how the Sporting Academy is developing. This club has quality and it is a great stadium. From an East Timor perspective, we wanted to see if we can develop more cooperation in the future. In Timor we want to carry on investing in football and promoting our young talent. We will look at developing a relationship with Sporting for the development of our clubs.”

Jesus puts squad through its paces

Sporting continues pre-season preparation in South Africa, ahead of this Friday’s Cape Town Cup.

Jorge Jesus’ squad of 26 faced heavy winds in training this week, going through some warm up exercises for the first 15 minutes of their sessions which were open to the press.

The Cape Town Cup tournament organisers have responded to the requests of fans who considered ticket prices as too high, making available tickets for 60 Rand.

Jesus travels with 26 to South Africa

Sporting will head for South Africa at 05h00 on Monday morning, taking part in a training camp from the 21st to the 27th of July in preparation for the Cape Town Cup.

Following the transfer of Teófilo Gutiérrez, Jorge Jesus has selected 26 players to make the trip:

Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício, Marcelo Boeck and Azbe Jug
Defenders: João Pereira, Ricardo Esgaio, Paulo Oliveira, Naldo, Tobias Figueiredo, Rúben Semedo, Michaël Ciani, Jefferson and Jonathan Silva
Midfielders: Oriol Rosell, Adrien, João Mário, Wallyson and André Martins
Forwards: Carrillo, Carlos Mané, Gelson Martins, Capel, Iuri Medeiros, Montero, Tanaka, Teófilo Gutiérrez and Slimani

Sporting will take on Ajax Cape Town at 19h15 GMT on Friday the 24th, before facing either Crystal Palace or SuperSport United on Sunday the 26th.