Slimani scores at the death to keep Sporting five points clear

Sporting came away from the Arouca Municipal Stadium with a hard-earned three points this Sunday night, courtesy of a 90th minute strike form Slimani.

It was by no means an easy night's work for the team from Alvalade and right from the off it was made clear that Arouca were looking for upset against a Sporting team completely different to the one that lost in Albania during the week. With both outfits battling hard for possession, there was little to report in the opening 10 minutes other than a cross from João Pereira that the home keeper comfortably plucked out of the air.

Although pegging Arouca back into their own half, Sporting struggled to create chances in the limited space offered up by the hosts, who were happy to sit back and wait for opportunities to break forward. Despite Sporting's dominating pressure, the first shot didn't actually come until the 22nd minute, when João Mário fired straight at the keeper.

With steady build-up play doing little to create chances, Sporting switched to route one, using Slimani as a target man to add extra depth in attack. The change did the trick and João Pereira was able to pick out Teo Gutiérrez in a yard of space down the right, before the Colombian set up Slimani in the 18-yard box, but the big Algerian scuffed his shot. After Roberto pulled a stop out of  Rui Patrício, João Pereira was again the protagonist going forward, finding Teo Gutiérrez for a shot that ended up wide of the target.

It wasn't until near half-time that Sporting managed to string together more clear opportunities, when João Mário floated a ball into the area that Paulo Oliveira headed down and towards goal, only for Bracali to parry over his crossbar with a superb instinctive save. Next to try his luck was Adrien after being picked out by Jefferson, but the Alvalade skipper's header ended up the wrong side of the post.

The second-half got underway where the first had left off, with both sides scrapping for possession in the Arouca midfield. Finding space in the 18-yard box was proving particularly challenging and Sporting soon resorted to efforts from range. João Mário pinged a shot goalward in the 53rd minute, but the final product ended up over the bar. Arouca responded through Ivo Rodrigues from a free-kick, but the eventual attempt on goal did little to trouble Rui Patrício. In response, Bryan Ruiz pulled a cross out of nowhere, but Slimani arrived just a second too late to convert.

Two minutes from time Esgaio crossed into the heart of the box for Montero, but the Colombian was unable to control his first touch and the chance went wanting. Just as it looked to be all over, the game was given a sudden injection of drama, when the Arouca coach Lito Vidigal actually walked into the pitch to complain to the referee (not for the first time over the course of the evening). In response Naldo pushed Vidigal back into touch, before the Arouca coach somehow ended up on the floor. In stepped referee Cosme Machado to show red to both.

A man down and with just seconds remaining, Bryan Ruiz found Montero in the box and the Sporting striker fired a shot against Hugo Basto, but Slimani picked up the rebound and managed to slot past Bracali to secure a well-earned three points that keep Sporting five points clear at the top of the table.

Jorge Jesus includes 19 in squad for Sunday's encounter

Jorge Jesus has named a squad of 19 players to travel to Arouca on Sunday, on Liga NOS matchday 10:

Goalkeepers: Rui Patrício and Marcelo Boeck

Defenders: João Pereira, Ricardo Esgaio, Paulo Oliveira, Naldo, Tobias Figueiredo and Jefferson

Midfielders: William Carvalho, Bruno Paulista, Adrien, João Mário and André Martins

Forwards: Gelson Martins, Matheus Pereira, Bryan Ruiz, Montero, Teo Gutiérrez and Slimani

Arouca-Sporting will get underway at 20h30 on Sunday, in the Arouca Municipal Stadium.

Jorge Jesus expecting his team to respond after Thursday's defeat in Albania

Jorge Jesus warned caution for his side's trip to Arouca this weekend, speaking in a press conference on Saturday afternoon.

“Basically all we have had time to do was arrive, sleep and travel to Arouca. The time we had was more about getting some sleep. It is going to be a hard game, because Arouca have only lost one game in nine and haven't lost any in the last nine. It will be a really competitive and tough game and we will have to be at our best to win, which we have to do if we want to keep the gap at the top of the table", opened the Alvalade coach, adding: "It is nice to be on the back of a good string of results in the league, but it is hard to defend first place. It brings with it a lot of responsibility and we have to learn to live with that now."

Bombarded with questions abut the 3-0 Europa League loss in Albania in midweek, Jesus didn't shy away: “What happened in Albania is behind us now. It was part of an important competition, but our main focus is the match tomorrow. It was a bad night, but that can happen in football. We want to carry on building on the positives, namely us being at the top of the league. When I arrived at Sporting I said we would fight for the league and every competition we are in here in Portugal, which is exactly what we are doing. I accepted the risks and nothing is going to change our plans for this season. In fact, things are going better than I thought they would, because we are in first place and we have already won a title."

To finish, Jorge Jesus spoke about a conversation with the 4th official against Estoril that has been attacking the headlines, as well as recent praise from the Alvalade president, Bruno de Carvalho: "I am really not worried about what happened against Estoril. It was a conversation between me and the 4th official and I said I already knew him, because he had sent me off in Moreira de Cónegos. What I said is only to do with that and everything else is speculation. I was really happy with the praise (from the president) and we all like to hear nice things being said about us. It was him who believed in me and him who signed me, so I feel proud. I know the differences between my players and some others, but for me the best coach in the world is Pep Guardiola."

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.

Jorge Jesus focused on claiming three points in Albania

With four points, Sporting currently occupy 3rd place in Europa League H, but are just a single point of Besiktas in 2nd. A win in Albania will keep the Alvalade club's hopes of alive of qualifying for the knock-out stages.

“It is fundamental that we win if we are going to get through the group stages. It won't be like in Lisbon, it will be more divided and more complicated, against a team who will be more relaxed and who will play better than they did in Alvalade, but we believe in the work we are doing. We will rotate some players, but we aren't talking about a game that isn't important here, because the Europa League is important, but some of the players need this kind of experience. We have a responsibility to try and win every competition we are in and the Europa League is one of the competitions that we want to go as far as possible in", opened Jorge Jesus in a pre-match press conference.

Asked about the unenviable record of not having won a European away game in four years, Jorge Jesus preferred to focus on the importance of winning the three points: "We are concentrating on winning games and the importance of being in with a chance to get through to the next round. If we can break that record then great, but I honestly didn't even know about it."

Sporting will take on Skënderbeu at 20h05 on Thurday, in Europa League Group H.