Chapter 151: Enemies Meet on a Narrow Road [Fourth update, begging for subscription! ]
Back to the Portuguese Super League, in the 26th round, Sporting Lisbon challenged the same city team Belerence away.
Su Dong and Ronnie were both substitutes in this game.
Joao Pinto scored a goal for Sporting Lisbon just before the end of the first half.
In the 71st minute of the second half, Rui Borges equalized the score for Belarence.
The game remained in a stalemate until the 85th minute, when Sudon, who came on as a substitute, planned an attack and Tonito received a pass from Rodrigo Tello and scored the winning goal for Sporting Lisbon.
2-1, Sporting Lisbon won a narrow victory over Belerence away.
…
In another match that was taking place at the same time, Porto beat Benfica 1-0 thanks to Deco's goal in the 36th minute.
It is worth mentioning that Benfica had one less player than their opponent for more than 20 minutes due to a red card, but Porto failed to expand their lead, which gave people a glimpse of the team's fatigue.
In the UEFA Cup quarter-finals in the middle of the week, Porto faced Panathinaikos at home.
Mourinho was determined to win this game, but what he didn't expect was that the Greek team defended tightly for more than 70 minutes and didn't give Porto any chance.
Mourinho even went all out and made substitutions in the 46th minute to intensify the attack. He used up the remaining two substitutions in the 55th minute. He was almost gambling with his life, but he still failed to break the Greek team's goal.
Instead, in the 73rd minute, the Greeks broke through Porto's goal through a quick counterattack and maintained the one-goal lead until the end of the game.
This is the first time that Porto has lost at home in the European competition this season! Losing to Panathinaikos in the middle of the week and narrowly winning against Benfica at the weekend, both games exposed Porto's hidden dangers.
That is, the team's offense lacks the ability to break through. When encountering a team that defends tightly, Porto lacks effective ways to defeat the enemy. Therefore, Portuguese media revealed that after the game against Panathinaikos, Mourinho submitted this summer's transfer list to the Porto management.
The first person on the list is Sporting Lisbon’s center forward, Su Dong!
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In the middle of the week, the second leg of the UEFA Cup quarter-finals.
Sporting Lisbon will host Lazio at home.
After getting a 2-1 away advantage in the first leg, Bologna still deployed three defensive midfielders when returning to their home court, and required the whole team to defend steadily and counterattack.
Mancini's team had no choice but to take the initiative and launch the first attack at the start of the away game.
The Serie A team is under great pressure due to their frantic attack, especially with Fiore’s comeback.
Just six minutes into the game, Fiore made a long pass from the right, left-back Favalli quickly inserted and assisted Lopez to shoot in front of the goal, breaking through the goal of Sporting Lisbon and equalizing the total score for Lazio.
One to zero, the aggregate score is 2 to 2, but Sporting Lisbon still has the advantage of away goals.
Lazio seemed to smell an opportunity and continued to suppress Sporting Lisbon.
But the good times didn't last long. After just four minutes, Sporting Lisbon launched a quick counterattack.
Albertini made a long pass from the backcourt and accurately sent the ball behind the defense line.
Sporting Lisbon's front trident was like three sharp arrows, pointing directly at Lazio's penalty area.
Su Dong got rid of Mihajlovic and Stam at an extremely fast speed, caught up with the ball, and quickly passed it to the left.
Ronnie caught the ball before Pancaro and knocked it horizontally to the back of the goal.
Favalli made a run in the attack, and the unguarded Quaresma easily followed up with a shot and scored, making it one to one!
Sporting Lisbon played a very efficient and deadly counterattack! …
After the total score was pulled back to 3-2, Lazio still tried to attack.
Sporting Lisbon was well prepared for this, defending patiently and waiting for the opportunity to counterattack.
The trident in the front court has both technical skills and height, and their speed far outstrips Lazio's aging defense, which makes Lazio extremely wary.
The two teams just kept wasting time like this.
It was not until the 70th minute of the second half that Mancini made another substitution in an attempt to strengthen the attack, and the first player to be replaced was Diego Simeone.
The bandit leader was still looking ferocious tonight, but he looked very helpless when he was substituted off the field.
In the end, Sporting Lisbon and Lazio shook hands and made peace with a 1-1 draw after a boring game.
2-1 away, 1-1 at home, Sporting Lisbon eliminated the Blue Eagles from the UEFA Cup with a total score of 3-2, which was a big upset in the UEFA Cup.
…
Coincidentally, there was also an upset in another arena.
After a 1-1 draw with Liverpool at home in the first leg of the Scottish Premier League, Celtic went on the road and defeated Liverpool 2-0 at Anfield, which was also a big upset.
Houllier's team suffered a blow after the first leg. Senegalese striker Diouf was suspended for spitting at fans, and his performance in the game was far worse than in the first leg.
Obviously, fighting on multiple fronts has affected Liverpool's performance.
But on the other side, the Celtics coached by Martin O'Neill played bravely, turned the tables, scored two goals in a row and advanced to the semi-finals.
Just like Lazio's match against Sporting Lisbon, this match was also considered by the media and fans to be a sure win before the game, but unexpectedly it turned out to be a series of upsets.
Sporting Lisbon upset Lazio in the first leg, but Celtic upset Liverpool in the second leg, which makes this UEFA Cup full of upsets.
Portuguese Super League team Boavista lost 0-1 to Malaga in the first leg away from home. After returning to their home court, in the 83rd minute, Brazilian striker Claudio, who came on as a substitute, scored a goal and successfully dragged the game into a penalty shootout.
In the end, Boavista, playing at home, defeated Malaga 5-1 on penalties and successfully advanced to the semi-finals.
Porto, who lost 0-1 at home in the first leg, also had a difficult time in this expedition to Greece.
In the 16th minute of the first half, Postiga assisted Dellei to score a goal to equalize the score.
But after that, both teams failed to make any progress, and Porto's 4-4-2 formation failed to break through the Greek team's double defensive midfielder formation.
The game went into extra time, and in the 103rd minute substitute midfielder Thiago assisted Dellei to score another goal.
In the end, Porto defeated Panathinaikos 2-0 away from home thanks to Delray's two goals and advanced to the semi-finals.
This is really embarrassing.
There were three Portuguese Super League teams and one Scottish Premier League team in the UEFA Cup semi-finals. No team from the four major leagues was spared and was completely wiped out, which shocked the entire European football world.
Could it be that after the Champions League became a game for the big clubs, the UEFA Cup became a stage for second- and third-rate league teams? …
On the night of the second leg of the UEFA Cup, UEFA held the draw at its headquarters in Nyon, Switzerland.
Celtic drew Boavista.
Sporting Lisbon drew Porto.
The former is the guest first and the host later.
When the news came, the entire Portuguese football world was both happy and worried.
The good news is that three Portuguese Super League teams have reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Cup, which will earn the Portuguese Super League a large number of European competition points.
European competition points can improve league results and give Portuguese Super League teams more advantages in European competitions.
For example, in the future, the Portuguese Super League champion will no longer need to play the third round of qualifying and can directly enter the Champions League group stage.
What is worrying is that the two strongest teams in the Portuguese Super League are facing off first, while the weaker Boavista is facing Celtic. This makes the Portuguese media's expectation that the Portuguese Super League teams will meet in the final much slimmer.
After all, Boavista's performance this season has not been ideal.
Sporting Lisbon's clash with Porto is not only a semi-final clash in the UEFA Cup, but also a preview of the Portuguese Super League title race.
The first leg of the match between the two sides will be held in Porto on April 10th.
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This weekend, the 27th round of the Portuguese Super League.
Sporting Lisbon will host Leiria at home.
Su Dong and Ronnie sat on the bench again.
The two sides were evenly matched in the first half.
In the 22nd minute, striker Martial scored the first goal for Leiria, breaking the goal of Sporting Lisbon.
In the 64th minute of the second half, Boloni replaced Ronnie to strengthen the team's flank attack.
Just three minutes later, Ronnie broke through from the left, Tonito got the ball in the penalty area, dribbled past the opponent and shot into the goal, equalizing the score for Sporting Lisbon.
But then the game fell into a stalemate again.
In the 75th minute, Boloni made its last substitution, Sudong replaced Nikulai.
Just six minutes later, Quaresma made a cross from the right, Su Dong overpowered his opponent in the penalty area and scored with a header from close range, making it 2-1!
Sporting Lisbon reversed Leiria at home and won another three points!
…
In another match that was taking place at the same time, Porto traveled a long distance to Greece and then returned to Portugal to face Ferreira away.
The game turned into a melee.
In the 38th minute of the first half, midfielder Thiago, who had just scored for Greece, had a fight with the opponent's midfielder Paulo Sousa, and both were sent off with red cards.
During the half-time break, Mourinho replaced two players in a fit of anger, trying to intensify the attack.
In the 60th minute, Ferreira suffered another heavy blow. The main central defender Armando committed a foul while defending and was sent off directly with a red card.
With one more man than their opponent, Porto launched a frantic offensive, vowing to defeat their opponent and take all three points.
But the result was very surprising. Not only did Porto fail to score after a long attack, but in the third minute of stoppage time, when the game was about to end, Ferreira earned a corner kick opportunity, and substitute central defender Kadu headed the ball and scored the only goal of the game.
It was thanks to the last-minute goal in the final moments of the game that Ferreira won a 1-0 home victory over Porto.
The whole of Portugal was shocked! No one expected that Porto would lose!
Sporting Lisbon won three points and Porto lost away. Now the points gap between the two teams has narrowed to one point again.
More importantly, the two sides met in the UEFA Cup semi-finals.
Not only is the competition for the Portuguese Super League title extremely fierce, but the race for qualification to the UEFA Cup is also in full swing.
But time did not give the two teams much breathing space.
After the 27th round of the Portuguese Super League, the two teams soon faced the first leg of the UEFA Cup semi-finals.
This time, Su Dong walked into Porto's Dragon Stadium with 18 Portuguese Super League goals and the Portuguese Super League Golden Boot.
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(End of this chapter)
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