Santa Clara denied at 0-2, Sporting saved by made-up penalty at Alvalade | OneFootball

The match between Sporting and Santa Clara is already being marked by strong criticism of the refereeing, after two incidents in the opening minutes that sparked controversy at Alvalade.

With Santa Clara leading 0-1 after 7 minutes, the Azorean side broke forward on a transition and one of their players was through on goal. However, the referee immediately stopped play to award a foul in Sporting’s favor, in a situation where the images clearly show there was no contact.

Shortly afterwards, another decisive moment came in the match, when a penalty was awarded to Sporting. The incident once again generated major controversy, with several interpretations considering that there was no infringement. From that penalty, the Lions found the equalizer, in a moment that completely changed the course of the game.

The sequence of these two episodes fueled the outrage surrounding the refereeing, especially due to the perception that Santa Clara was prevented from taking advantage of a clear chance to make it 0-2 and then saw their opponent make it 1-1 through a highly disputed decision.

The Liga Portugal match was thus wrapped in fresh controversy, with the performance of the refereeing team drawing much of the attention. Sporting went into halftime leading 3-1.

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