President Bruno de Carvalho in Romania for Challenge Cup celebrations

Bruno de Carvalho made the trip Romania for the Challenge Cup final this weekend and the Alvalade leader couldn't be happier with the latest edition to the Alvalade trophy cabinet: "This is a win for all three million Sporting fans and this is what we work for. Our handball department deserves this. Now the lads can celebrate, before we focus on the other objectives we have. This is Sporting CPs's 25th European title and it is great to see the players and fans so happy."

"Despite building up a big lead in Lisbon we didn't let our guard down here and the whole squad showed a fantastic attitude. This is Sporting CP's DNA, wanting to win and never giving up. If we can win by twenty goals then why should we stop at five? The players have to push themselves to the limit and that is what they did", finished Bruno de Carvalho.

Alvalade beat Potaissa Turda to claim Sporting CP's 25th European title

Absolute Lions! Sporting CP tallied a second win against Potaissa Turda this weekend (30-24) this weekend to bring the Challenge Cup back to Lisbon. Having already racked up a lead of 9 goals in the Portuguese capital in the first-leg, Hugo Canela's side went out for the second-leg in Romania all the more determined to win Alvalade's 25th European title.

More experienced and emotionally controlled, Sporting CP brushed off the hosts' early probes forward. Matej Asanin was in magnificent form in the Alvalade goal, doing his fair share of the work in what was already a 13-9 lead at the break.

The Romanians were backed by a brilliant crowd of 2,000, but Ivan Nikcevik, Bozovic and Portela were in a rampant mood and kept the scoreboard ticking over in Sporting CP's favour. Canela's side really raced away with it after the break, finally building up a 30-24 final result to secure the silverware for a second time.

Hugo Canela puts squad through their paces in Romania

Attention to every last detail. Sporting CP are doing their homework for the Challenge Cup final second-leg against Potaissa Turda, to be played at 15h00GMT this Saturday in Romania.

A morning session focused on concentration exercises, before training in the afternoon. Just after lunch the squad sat down to watch some videos of Potaissa Turda in action.

The players spent around an hour and half out on the court at the Horia Demian arena, with president Bruno de Carvalho also present. Hugo Canela was without Pedro Solha and Marco Oneto, who stayed in Lisbon due to injury.

Frankis Carol and Cláudio Pedroso continue in recovery, with their availability subject to the green light from the club's medical department.

Hugo Canela and company travel to Romania for showdown

Ambition was the flavour of the day as Sporting CP headed for Romania for the Challenge Cup final second-leg against Potaissa Turda, with Alvalade looking to build on the nine-goal lead already tallied in Lisbon (37-28) in the first-leg.

"We are expecting a hard match against a team that will go right for us from the off and try to turn over what we did in Lisbon. We will be calm, because we know what they will try and do. We are ready and we want to win. We want to finish this tournament with only wins", affirmed Hugo Canela at the airport.

Skipper Carlos Carneiro also shared his thoughts: "We know it will be tough, but we are going to Romania felling very confidence. We have everything we need to win this."

Hugo Canela happy to see his side in the Challenge Cup driving seat

Hugo Canela was understandably happy with his side's clinical showing against Potaissa Turda in the Challenge Cup final first-leg this weekend, but he is not about relax for what will be a tough trop to Romania.

"Will it be enough? Well we will see. They (Potaissa Turda) have come back from eight goal before. It is only one more goal and hopefully it will be enough. Of course nine goals is a good margin", said the Alvalade handball coach at the final whistle, adding: "We were tired at the end, because we didn't make as many changes as we usually do. It was a shame we didn't win by 12 or 13 when we could have, but we will go over there to win the second-leg too."

Sporting CP secure crucial margin in the Challenge Cup final first-leg

Sporting CP are truly in the Challenge Cup driving seat, after mounting a 9-goal advantage in the first-leg against Potaissa Turda.

The opening stages were always going to be crucial and after just three minutes Bozovic set the tone with the first goal. Nikcevic levelled, before Sporting CP regained a lead that was never relinquished. In fact six minutes followed in which Potaissa Turda didn't find the back of the net even once, with the team from Alvalade pulling ahead 9-4. 

With 18 minutes on the clock Nikcevic, Portela and Bozovic had already done some serious damage and put Sporting CP 13-5 on top, before the Romanian visitors finally began to respond in the 28th minute when they were trailing 17-7. 

Sporting CP took an 8-goal lead in at the break (19-11), with some some fine attacking play against a Potaissa Turda side defending man-to-man. On 37 minutes Ruesga broke through the defence, before striking again in the 45th minute to contribute to Sporting CP's biggest lead of the game (31-19).

As the clock ticked down the team from Alvalade had the enviable task of managing the final result, with president Bruno de Carvalho watching on from the stands as his side secured an all-important lead going into the second-leg.

Bosko Bjelanovic one of four still at Alvalade from the 2010 winning side

Speaking with the press this week, Alvalade handball coach Bosko Bjelanovic did not hide his determination to bring the Challenge Cup back Lisbon once again.

"It has been seven years since our last European trophy [2010] and we know how difficult it has been, but I am sure we will feel that happiness again. I wouldn't say we are favourites, but I would say we want to win. We are unbeaten on our run to the final. Turda are physically a strong team and it won't be easy, but we have the quality to get the win", opened the Sporting CP handball star, adding a word on how he plans to get the better of  Turda: "We have to win by as many goals as possible at home. We know that just getting the win is the most important thing, but we want it to be a comfortable difference."

Hugo Canela dismisses the importance of his side's Challenge Cup unbeaten run

Speaking in a pre-match conference ahead of the Challenge Cup final first-leg, against Turda, Hugo Canela brushed off any idea of being the favourites to take home silverware.

"It will be a hard game and I don't agree that we are favourites. I think that is something the press has come up with, honestly. Turda are a really aggressive side and they will give us a hard time. It is nice that we haven't lost yet, but that don't win the title. All it has done is given us an opportunity", said the Alvalade coach, adding: "I have been with the club for a long time and pressure is part of being here. We have to be solid in defence and quick on the break. Attention to detail is massively important in these game and the result will be the consequence of that."

Hugo Canela praises his side's inspired demolition of JMS Hurry-Up

The Sporting CP handball coach Hugo Canela couldn't hide his joy at inspiring his side to a dominating win against JMS Hurry-Up and a place in the Challenge Cup final.

"We did our job and were brilliant on the counter-attack. It was the culmination of a week of good work and the result shows that. We have achieved one of the objectives we had for this season and now we can dream about another one, which is winning this competition. The lads deserve the credit for what they did today", said Canela, continuing: "In the first-leg we had a game during the week, so we didn't have a lot of time to prepare. The fans really got behind us and we had a full week to get ready this time."

Sporting CP dominate in Lisbon after 32-27 win in the Netherlands

Sporting CP are in with a shot of claiming a second Challenge Cup, after cruising past the Dutch side JMS Hurry-Up by an expressive margin of 37-14. Sporting CP already held an advantage at the opening whistle after a 32-27 in the away le and the team from Alvalade had already pulled ahead 7-2 after just 10 minutes.

Built on an aggressive defence and an inspired Cudic in goal, Sporting CP kept up the pressure in attack and had opened up a 9 goal margin by the 18th minute (12-3), before pulling away again to reach half-time with a 21-7 lead.

With a place in the final all but secured, Hugo Canela made hte most of the opportunity to introduce Manuel Gaspar in goal. The first 10 minutes after the break were blistering, with Sporting CP going 27-8 with such an overwhelmingly dominant display that JMS Hurry-Up just could not resist.

The difference reached 20 goals 15 minutes from the final whistle (31-11), with the result closing at an almost unbelievable 37-14 to move Sporting CP one step closer to repeating the 2009/10 Challenge Cup silverware win.