Fotis Ioannidis has a real soft spot for Sporting, and it shows | OneFootball

Sporting experienced a rather eventful night in the Azores, against Santa Clara. Coming off the bench, it was Fotis Ioannidis who ended up solving things, already in extra time, allowing the Lions to move forward in the Portuguese Cup – this was actually the first time the Greek international was truly decisive for Rui Borges’ team.

With this goal, Ioannidis reached his fifth accurate shot in just 17 matches played in the green and white stripes and, it seems, he sees the queen of competitions as the right stage to shine. Against Paços de Ferreira, the striker had already scored in the Lions’ victory after extra time, in addition to having put his name on the scoresheet in the rout against Alverca, though that time in the Allianz Cup.

Rui Borges decided to bring on Fotis Ioannidis in place of Alisson Santos in the 66th minute of the match. On this occasion, the Greek formed a duo with Luis Suárez up front, aiming to put the Lions ahead in the game and reach the quarter-finals of the Portuguese Cup.

Sporting, for its part, needed 120 minutes to move forward in the queen of competitions, something that had already happened at Mata Real, against Paços de Ferreira, but also last season. In December 2024, also against Santa Clara, the Lions needed extra time to beat the Azoreans, that time by 2-1, at Alvalade.

This season, wearing the Sporting shirt, Fotis Ioannidis – valued at 20 million euros – has played 17 matches. The 25-year-old Greek international striker has played 662 minutes, during which he has already scored five goals and provided three assists in the green and white stripes.

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