Pedro Gonçalves shines as Sporting beat Alverca 2-0 at Alvalade | OneFootball

Sporting made it five straight victories in all competitions thanks to second-half goals from Fotis Ioannidis and Pedro Gonçalves on a rainswept night in Lisbon.

The two teams had met on Tuesday night in the Taça da Liga quarters-finals but a very different game was expected to the 5-1 thrashing administered by the Lions on that occasion, not least because almost two entirely different teams had been selected. Sporting literally had a completely different XI, while just five Alverca players got a second successive start.

The visitors were first to threaten, Nabil Touaizi’s dangerous cross well cut out by Sporting goalkeeper Rui Silva. Play immediately switched to other end of the pitch, Luis Suárez playing a neat give-and-go with Pedro Gonçalves but dragging his shot wide.

Fresneda limps off

Sporting coach Rui Borges was forced into a change in the 15th minute as right-back Iván Fresneda failed to shake off a knock and was replaced by Georgios Vagiannidis.

The rest of the half was one-way traffic with Sporting going close multiple times. João Simões will be annoyed not to have scored with two headers that the young midfielder put wide when in a prime position to score on both occasions.

Geny Catamo came even closer, his curling effort beating the diving André Gomes but hitting the base of the post.

Luis Suárez had an effort cleared off the line and Sporting will have gone into the break wondering how the game was still goalless.

The Colombian striker was celebrating soon after the break though, rifling into the roof of the net from close range after Gonçalo Inácio had flicked on a corner, but after a long VAR check it was ruled out for offside.

Ioannidis heads home

On the hour mark Borges sent on Geovany Quenda and Ioannidis, and the Greek centre-forward soon made his mark, heading a Pedro Gonçalves corner powerfully into the net to finally break Alverca’s resistance.

Alverca almost hit straight back when the impressive Nabil Touaizi went on a terrific run deep into the Sporting box, and was only stopped by a superbly timed tackle by Ousmane Diomande.

Pote thunderbolt

In the 74th minute the game was put to bed as Pote provided the moment of the match. Collecting the ball 25 yard from goal, Gonçalves shifted the ball quickly to his right and unleased a rocket of a shot that arrowed into the top corner past the despairing dive of André Gomes.

Next up for Sporting is a trip to Turin to take on Juventus in the Champions League on Tuesday, while Alverca will be keen on snapping out of a three-match losing run when they host Rio Ave next weekend.