Viktor Gyökeres not missed at Sporting, just ask Luis Suárez | OneFootball

Sporting entered the 2025/26 season with a major loss in attack, following the departure of Viktor Gyökeres to Arsenal in the last summer transfer window. The Swede was one of the main figures in the previous title win, but the Lions responded effectively, finding in Luis Suárez, formerly of Almería, the right man to fill the vacant spot and maintain the team’s offensive level.

The numbers leave no room for doubt. After 17 rounds, Sporting has scored 47 goals, standing out as the best attack in the competition. This is the club’s second-best record in half a century at this stage of the season, only surpassed by last season’s 48 goals, and places the team as the third-best attack ever in 18-team league championships.

Luis Suárez arrived at Alvalade at the start of the season and quickly made his mark. The Colombian is the second top scorer in the league, with 15 goals, only behind Pavlidis (17) of Benfica. His influence goes beyond the numbers, providing depth, presence in the box, and continuity to the offensive model that started with Ruben Amorim and is now used by Rui Borges.

The collective effort has also been decisive in this performance. Sporting has scored in all 17 rounds, something they failed to do in 2024/25, when they drew a blank twice under João Pereira’s management. Pedro Gonçalves, with nine goals, Francisco Trincão and Maxi Araújo, both with four, reinforce the idea of a shared and hard-to-stop attack.

Despite the excellent record, the current numbers are still far from the best in the history of the league, dominated by the Lions themselves in the 1940s and 1950s. Even so, the loss of Gyökeres did not halt Sporting’s offensive power, which once again proved it knows how to reinvent itself without losing its identity or ambition.

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