Story of the Match

Sporting Clube de Portugal 2-0 Spurs

Team news

One change for Spurs

Antonio Conte made one change from the team that started in our 2-0 win against Marseille on Matchday One last week - Ben Davies returned on the left side of our back three in place of Clement Lenglet, who was amongst the substitutes.

Sporting's familiar face

The home side had a familiar face in the form of Marcus Edwards, who came through our Academy and played once for us in September 2016 before joining Vitoria Guimaraes, and then Sporting in the summer.

The report...

We suffered our first defeat of the season at the Estadio Jose Alvalade on Tuesday evening, as two late, late goals gave Sporting Lisbon all three points on matchday two of the UEFA Champions League.

In an even and entertaining affair, it looked like we were going to leave the Portuguese capital with a share of the spoils having matched the hosts for the majority of the game, only to concede in the 90^th minute from a Paulinho header before Arthur Gomes slotted home with virtually the last kick of the game. Both goals came from Sporting substitutes.

Both sides started on the front foot wherever possible, Sporting with the first sight of goal on seven minutes when Hugo Lloris pushed a Pedro Goncalves angled shot just past the post.

Our Brazilian pair of Richarlison and Emerson Royal had half chances but neither could get a telling touch on balls into the box and home goalkeeper Adan was able to gather on each occasion, before Richarlison had the ball in the net on 42 minutes but was clearly offside.

Former Spur Marcus Edwards had a glorious chance in first-half stoppage time, going on a mazy run past three defenders, playing a one-two with Francisco Trincao and poking goalwards but Lloris somehow saved, the ball squirming past the post for a corner.

We were quickly into our stride after the break with Royal twice denied in quick succession by Adan, who then kept out Kane’s drive that was heading for the top corner before Richarlison curled a yard wide. At the other end, Lloris had to watch Goncalves’ 22-yard effort all the way into his gloves.

The drama all came in the closing minutes. First, Lloris made a stunning save to deny Pedro Porro’s curling effort but, from the corner, Paulinho climbed highest to head home. And we barely had time to respond when Gomes drifted in off the left flank, cut inside Royal and fired past Lloris.

The key moment

It had looked like Lloris’ incredible diving save in the 90^th minute was going to be key, as he denied Pedro Porro to keep the game goalless as we entered stoppage time. But, instead, the big moment came seconds later. Pedro Goncalves whipped over a corner and there was Paulinho to glance his header into the corner of the net.

Match data...

Sporting (3-4-3): Adan, Inacio, Coates (c), Matheus Reis, Porro, Morita (Alexandropoulos 71), Ugarte, Nuno Santos (Esgaio 90+2), Trincao (Paulinho 76), Edwards (Gomes 90+2), Goncalves. Substitutes (not used): Israel, Paulo, Rochinha, Issahaku, Marsa, Nazinho.

Spurs (3-4-3): Lloris (c), Romero, Dier, Davies, Royal, Bentancur, Hojbjerg, Perisic, Richarlison, Kane, Son (Kulusevski 72). Substitutes (not used): Forster, Doherty, Skipp, Sanchez, Bryan, Sessegnon, Spence, Tanganga, Lenglet, Bissouma, White.

Goals: Sporting - Paulinho 90, Gomes 90+3.

Yellow cards: Sporting - Morita, Matheus Reis; Spurs - Bentancur, Royal, Hojbjerg.

Referee: Srdjan Jovanović (Serbia).

Venue: Estadio Jose Alvalade, Lisbon.

Attendance: 39,899.

Weather: Sunny, moderate breeze, 21 degrees.

Star of the show - Hugo Lloris

It was a fine display by skipper Hugo Lloris, as he produced a number of top saves to keep us in the game.

He pushed Goncalves’ effort past the post in the early stages before, on the stroke of half-time, his strong hand denied Marcus Edwards from scoring a sensational individual goal. And his full-stretch save to tip away Porro’s late shot was another example of his abilities.

He’ll obviously be disappointed to concede twice late on, but his earlier saves marked him out as one of our top performers on the night.

Stats a fact

End of unbeaten run

The late loss in Lisbon represented the end of our unbeaten start to the 2022/23 season in all competitions - we're still unbeaten in the Premier League - and a run going back 14 matches to our home loss against Brighton in April last season. It was also the first time we'd failed to score this term, a run also going back to April and the goalless draw at Brentford.

Milestone for trio

There were notable milestones in terms of European football and the Club for three of our players in Lisbon. Harry Kane became the first player to register 70 European appearances for the Club, and he's also already our record European goalscorer (44). Ben Davies became only the fourth player to reach 60 European appearances for us and Eric Dier, back at his former club, became only the 10th player to feature 50 times in Europe for Spurs.

Conte's comment...

"The game in the first half was in the balance. In the second half, we tried to push and we had good chances to score. Then, in the end, we are talking about a loss. We conceded a goal from a corner and, for sure, we can do much better, Then we conceded another goal two minutes later. We have to work on all of these aspects because the level of the Champions League is an important level, and we have to try to improve because every game is very difficult. The game against Marseille was difficult. The same today. For sure, at the end, we didn’t deserve to win, but at the same time, we didn’t deserve to lose."

What it means...

Sporting CP now top Group D with two wins out of two, having toppled Eintracht Frankfurt on Matchday One. The Bundesliga side bounced back from that loss to beat Marseille 1-0 on Tuesday evening. We're second on goal difference, with Marseille now bottom with two defeats in two following our victory at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last week. Next up, we travel to Frankfurt, while Sporting travel to Marseille (Matchday Three games both on 4 October).