Alvalade side on the road for Portuguese Cup 3rd round

Sporting Clube de Portugal has been drawn against Famalicão in the Portuguese Cup 3rd round. Jorge Jesus will travel to the team in the north of Portugal on the 16th of October, in a fixture moved forward two days ahead of Sporting's Champions League hosting of Borussia Dortmund.

Decision in process against Islam Slimani

Slimani was absolved by the Portuguese Football Federation's (PFF) Disciplinary Council (DC) this Friday, for an alleged act of aggression towards Samaris in the Portuguese Cup.

The ruling reads: "It was not proven that the accused ran in the direction of Benfica's number 7 (Samaris), consciously hitting him with his right arm in the back of the head and knowing that he would be violating the regulations of the PFF and DC). A comparison with television images and statements from the referees does not allow for a conclusion beyond doubt that the incident was not witnessed by any of the refereeing team."

The DC ruled in favour of Sporting's augment that "the accused player was not running in the direction of Samaris, but in the direction of the ball, as the images show. The player knocks into Samaris because he, in understanding that the accused was approaching, moved to the side and opened his arms with the aim of stopping the accused and making an impact inevitable."

Further agreeing with the arguments put forwards by Sporting, the ruling quotes: "The accused ran with the intention of intercepting the ball, which was in the possession of the Benfica number 27, several metres away. Faced with the obstruction of Andreas Samaris, who opens his arms and moved sideways, the accused instinctively lifted up him arms and tries to turn his body, thereby knocking into the player."

Slimani's defence further adds: "The player never took his eyes off the ball and did not intend to hit the player Samaris. The impact between the two players was due to the speed that the accused was moving and the fact that Samaris put his body in his path at the last minute, making it impossible to avoid an impact."

Relative to the argument that referee Jorge Sousa did not see the incident, the Club defended: "it is not true that the incident occurred out of the view of the referee, who was following the ball, and the television images show that. The ball was virtually stopped at the feet of the Benfica number 21, Pizzi, at the time of the incident and the incident occurred no more than two metres to the left of the ball. The referee, who was 10 to 15 metres away and looking in that direction, could not have missed the incident."

William Carvalho after his side's Portuguese Cup exit

William Carvalho was on target for Sporting in the Portuguese Cup extra-time loss to Braga this Wednesday. Speaking with the press at the final whistle, the Portuguese international highlighted the quality of his side's opposition on the night.

“It was a hard-fought game between two good teams. In the first-half we controlled it and we took the lead, but Braga ended up scoring from their only chance. In the second-half we let another goal in and the team dipped a bit, but we did have a goal ruled out in extra-time. Braga are a good side, on the same level as the big three, and they deserve a pat on the back for the work they are doing. We fought as hard as we could to defend our title, but now we will focus on our other objectives in the league", said William.

Holders out of the Portuguese Cup

With 99 minutes on the clock, Slimani is on-side and latches onto a pass to make it 4-3 to Sporting, only to see his goal wrongly ruled out. This Wednesday night's Portuguese Cup trip to Braga will be remembered for all the wrong reasons, with the match's refereeing weighting heavily on the final result. Despite the debatable officiating, it was also a highly entertaining game of football, with both teams putting on a tactical master class packed full of goals. At the final whistle, Braga edged it and revenged last year's final with what was amazingly only Sporting's first domestic defeat this season.

The opening exchanges were the starting gun for the encounter that could develop in the Braga Municipal Stadium, with both sides pushing the intensity and pace going forward. After just two minutes João Mário forced a save out of Matheus, before his brother Wilson Eduardo responded down the other end with a shot that ended up wide of the mark. Sporting were first to tally on the scoreboard, when Bryan Ruiz made the most of a hashed clearance in the 10th minute to make it 1-0.

The placement of Aquilani next to William and Adrien in the middle of the park added an extra spark to Sporting's possession recovery and passing and it was the Italian himself who could have doubled his side's lead, but Matheus stood firm. A minute after the half-hour mark, it was Baiano who was unable to convert on a good chance. The encounter looked to be heading for the break after a calm first-half, but Rafa's apparent foul on William was waved away and Wilson Eduardo was free to race and beat the isolated Rui Patrício three minutes before the whistle.

The second-half started with another blistering effort by Ruiz, but this time Matheus was able to stop the Costa Rican. In response, Alan managed to convert on a cross from Marcelo Goiano down the left to make it 2-1 in favour of Braga. Sporting needed just five minutes to rally back up the other end and Slimani equalised after connecting with an Aquiliani cross. Turning the result on its head for the third time in the match, William popped up at the edge of the area to fire a shot into the top corner and put Sporting back into the lead.

The game looked resolved, but seven minutes from time Marcelo Goiano drifted in from the left to beat Rui Patrício against the run of play. Tired legs kicked in as the game moved into extra-time that was essentially decided by a just a couple of forays forward.

Jorge Jesus with the press ahead of tomorrow's visit to Braga

Jorge Jesus was with the press in the Estádio José Alvalade Auditorium this Tuesday afternoon to speak about this week's Portuguese Cup visit to Braga.

“We Know that this is a cup match with very specific characteristics. No points can be won and it will be decided on the day. In my opinion, Sp. Braga is the team closest to the big three in terms of quality. We know that this will be a difficult match because of of the quality of their players and because they have a good coach, but we are confident", affirmed the Alvalade boss, adding: "The fact that we will travel to Braga means that we won't have time to prepare for the match. We have just focused on recovery like Braga have, who also played on Sunday. The most important thing is that luckily we haven't picked up any problems, with the exception of Teo who we already knew about. It will be a hard game and we will suffer a lot, because Sp. Braga will make life difficult for our defence."

In parallel, Jorge Jesus responded to a question on complaints being made by Sporting's rivals about match refereeing, while highlighting that Sporting are top of the league on merit: Look, the Refereeing Council is the same, the president who picks the referees is the name. What is changed is that Sporting is in first and people aren't used to it. That is all that has changed, everything else is the same. Nobody can take credit away from us for what we have done in every competition. We won the first trophy this season and we are at the top of the league with 11 wins and 2 draws in 13 matches. Now we are playing in the cup again, where we have already beaten one of our rivals and we will face the same team we did last season in the final. The people who are speculating are doing so because they were not expecting a strong Sporting at the top of the league."

Sp. Braga-Sporting will get underway at 20h00 on Wednesday the 16th of December, in the Braga Municipal Stadium.

Portuguese Cup visit to Braga

Sporting Clube de Portugal would like to release the following information for Wednesday the 16th of December's Portuguese Cup visit to Braga:

- Sporting fans leaving from Lisbon should meet at Estádio José Alvalade at 13h00.

- Preparations have been made for Sporting fans to meet at the Decathlon next to the stadium at 18h00.

Portuguese Cup ticket sales to being on Saturday the 12th of December

Tickets for the 5th round of the Portuguese Cup, between Sporting Clube de Braga and Sporting Clube de Portugal, will go on sale on Saturday the 12th of December as follows:

SATURDAY | Club Members with a Gamebox 2015/2016 and November 2015 fees paid
SUNDAY | Club Members without a Gamebox and November 2015 fees paid
MONDAY AND TUESDAY | General public

Estádio José Alvalade ticket offices will be open everyday from 10h00 to 20h00, with tickets priced as follows:

ORGANISED FAN GROUP ZONE | €8 (Sector A16 and A15)
CENTRAL STAND | €22 (Sector C6)

Sporting fans in the north of the country can also purchase tickets at the following locations:

SUPPORTERS' CLUBS | Braga, Gondomar, Vila do Conde, Famalicão, Fafe and Póvoa do Lanhoso
DELEGATION | Solar do Norte (Porto)

Kick off is scheduled for 20h00 on Wednesday the 16th of December, in the Braga Municipal Stadium.

Liga NOS matchday 15 at 20h45 on the 2nd of January

Sporting will host FC Porto, on Liga NOS matchday 15, at 20h45 on Saturday the 2nd of January, in Estádio José Alvalade.

The coming fixtures are as follows:

- 5th of December (Saturday, 20h45): Marítimo-Sporting, Liga NOS matchday 12

- 10th of December (Thursday, 20h05): Sporting-Besiktas, Liga NOS matchday 6

- 13th of December (Sunday, 18h15): Sporting-Moreirense, Liga NOS matchday 13

- TBC: Sp. Braga-Sporting, Portuguese Cup last-16

- 20th of December (Sunday, 18h15): U. Madeira-Sporting, Liga NOS matchday 14

- TBC: Sporting-P. Ferreira, League Cup matchday 1

Fifth round sets up 2014/15 final repeat

Sporting will travel to Braga for the Portuguese fifth round. The fixture has been penciled in for the 15th to the 17th of December, in the AXA Stadium.

“This is the kind of thing the draw can throw at you are Sporting is ready for it. It is a replay of last year's final. Unfortunately it isn't in Alvlade, but we will be going for the win, said Sporting SAD representative Sancho Freitas at the draw.

Hortically, the two sides have already met on 16 occasions in the Portuguese Cup, with Sporitng having won nine and drawn three. Here is a complete run down of the previous encounters:

- 1958/59, 1st leg quarter-finals - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 6-2

Goals: Vadinho (3), Hugo, Faustino Pinto and Morais; Fernando Mendonça (2)

- 1958/59, 2nd leg quarter-finals - Sp. Braga-Sporting, 1-3

Goals: Ferreirinha; Vadinho and Diego (2)

- 1960/61, 1st leg last-16 - Sp. Braga-Sporting, 1-6

Goals: Teixeira; Figueiredo (3), David Júlio, Diego and Hugo

- 1960/61, 2nd leg last-16 - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 9-0

Goals: Diego (3), Figueiredo (3) and Fernando Puglia (3)

- 1965/66, 1st leg semi-finals - Sp. Braga-Sporting, 1-1

Goals: Bino; Morais

- 1965/66, 2nd leg semi-finals - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 1-1

Goals: Oliveira Duarte; Perrichon

- 1965/66, semi-final replay – Sp. Braga-Sporting, 1-0

Goal: Perrichon

- 1969/70, 1st leg quarter-finals – Sporting-Sp. Braga, 6-1

Goals: Marinho (3), Gonçalves and Nélson Fernandes (2); Fernando

- 1969/70, 2nd leg quarter-finals - Sp. Braga-Sporting, 0-2

Goals: Lourenço and Marinho

- 1980/81, 2nd round – Sp. Braga-Sporting, 4-2

Goals: Cavungi, Jacques, Malheiro and Germano; Jordão (2)

- 1981/82, Final - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 4-0

Goals: Oliveira (2), Jordão and Manuel Fernandes

- 1993/94, 5th round - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 2-1

Marcadores: Figo and Iordanov; Fernando Pires

- 1997/98, quarter-finals – Sp. Braga-Sporting, 3-1

Goals: Bruno, Formoso and Karoglan; Giménez

- 2011/12, 4th round - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 2-0

Goals: Capel and Insúa

- 2014/15, Final - Sporting-Sp. Braga, 2-2 (3-1, penalties)

Goals: Slimani and Montero; Éder and Rafa 

 

Draw in full:

- V. Setúbal (I)-Rio Ave (I)

- Desp. Aves (II)-Nacional (I)

- Boavista (I)-Académica (I)

- Gil Vicente (II)-Portimonense (II)

- Feirense (II)-FC Porto (I)

- Sp. Braga (I)-SPORTING

- Estoril (I)-Penafiel (II)

- Amarante (CPP)-Arouca (I)

Slimani on the reasons behind his recent goalscoring form

Back and forward between Sporting and Algeria, Islam Slimani is making quite the name for himself in front of goal. Striking twice in his nation's win against Tanzania, the Alvalade forward also secured his side's passage in the Portuguese Cup with what was his 10th goal in 8 games.

“We played really well and we got the win. It was a fair win and we dominated the whole match", said Slimani in a flash interview at the final whistle, adding: "It is a real honour to represent a club with such a great history. I am scoring a lot of goals, but that only happens because the whole team helps and because of what we have been doing in training. Nobody can play on their own and thanks to my teammates I have been scoring."