Sporting survive Vitória Guimarães scare, nearly throw away 3-0 lead | OneFootball

Sporting claimed their first win in Liga Portugal by beating Vitória de Guimarães 3-2 at Alvalade. The Lions built a comfortable lead before half-time through goals from Flávio Gonçalves, Ioannidis and Altimira, but ended up suffering until the final whistle after the visitors’ comeback.

After 9 minutes, Ioannidis won a physical duel and set up Flávio Gonçalves, who opened the scoring. The Greek forward was in the spotlight again in the 22nd minute, when he received the ball from Geny Catamo, turned past his marker and doubled Sporting’s lead to make it 2-0.

Sporting seemed to have the match completely under control and grabbed a third goal just before the break. In the 41st minute, Altimira found space on the edge of the box and fired a powerful shot, giving the opposing goalkeeper no chance.

The second half, however, brought a completely different picture. Vitória grew into the game, started pressing higher, and pulled one back in the 66th minute through Samu, before Ndoye made it 3-2 in the 69th minute with a header after a cross from Tony Strata.

After letting a two-goal lead slip in their opener against Estrela da Amadora, the Lions once again made life difficult for themselves in a game that had seemed settled. The Lions will be back in action on Saturday, 22 August, against Alverca. The match, valid for the third round of the Liga Portugal Betclic against Sérgio Ferreira’s side, will kick off at 8:30 pm at the José Alvalade Stadium.

Flávio Gonçalves:

Fotis Ioannidis:

Sergi Altimira goal:

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.