Sporting led Arouca 2-0 at the break (and gave both points away in the last ten minutes)
Gonçalo Inácio and Luis Suárez put Sporting two up inside 17 minutes at Alvalade. Zeno Debast was sent off on 54, Arouca scored on 81 and 87, and white handkerchiefs came out at full time. Rui Borges called the protest natural.
Sporting had this one won by half time and finished it being whistled at. A 2-2 draw with Arouca at Alvalade on matchday seven, 49,943 in the ground, and white handkerchiefs in the air at the end.
It started as a comfortable evening. On three minutes Maxi Araújo, playing his hundredth game for the club and honoured on the pitch before kick-off, swung in a short corner and Gonçalo Inácio headed the opener. On 17, Iván Fresneda drove into the box from the right and pulled it back for Luis Suárez, who hit it first time. That is six games in a row with a goal for the Colombian. A third, from Issa Doumbia, was ruled out for offside soon after.
The game turned on 54 minutes, when Zeno Debast was sent off for a heavy challenge on Gabriel Rukavina. Rui Borges rebuilt the back line with Eduardo Quaresma, Arouca grew into it, and Rui Silva had to deny Barbero. On 81, Jose Fontán converted a penalty. On 87, Dylan Nandín finished from inside the area. The club’s own match report ends with Sporting pushing forward and running out of minutes.
The protest, and what the manager said about it
The final whistle brought whistles, shouts of “play football” and white handkerchiefs. The noise rose when the players did not go to the south stand, and again as they went down the tunnel.
Borges did not dodge it. He said the protest is natural at a big club, that the demand is at its maximum even when you win and higher when you do not, and that the red card changed everything. He also said he feels honoured by what he is and happy with the work done. That is the answer a manager gives when the next question is going to be about his job.
Two points that may sting tonight
The timing is the awkward part. Sporting dropped two points at home the day before the clássico at the Dragão, and Porto arrived at matchday six having won all six. Porto host Benfica tonight at 20:30, and any result there leaves Alvalade staring at a gap that did not have to open.
What lingers is the pattern rather than the scoreline. This is a side that scores easily — Suárez alone has done it six games running — and that stops holding on the moment it goes down to ten.
By Vasco Almada
Image: Bryan Berlin / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)
