Sporting opened the qualifying stage for the Revelation Cup (U-23), on Tuesday afternoon, receiving and winning at the Aurelio Pereira Stadium (Academia Cristiano Ronaldo, Alcochet) the “Red Lantern” of the classification, Leixuis, in a duel with an extraordinary result scoring nine (!) goals, which led to an accidental victory for the Lions, 5-4.
Remember that the participating teams started this stage with half the points won before. Therefore, the confrontation was the last two from the previous stage, with Sporting starting this level with six points and the formation of Matosinense with four points.
The visitors started better and dominated the game, forcing the Lyon defense to work in the first minutes. But when the Lions, led by former Portuguese international right-back João Pereira, removed the pressure… they scored, in the 11th minute, at the insistence of Francisco Canario (1-0).
The green-and-white striker was back in the spotlight at 17 minutes: table with Kiko Felix, who assisted to make the goal 2-0. Francisco Canario saw his new goal ruled out for offside in the 38th minute.
If the third goal of the Lions did not count, it was Leixões who managed to reduce it (2-1) shortly after, on 40 minutes: the referee punished Marco Cruz’s hand on the ball and signaled a penalty kick, which Thomas Couto converted. .
Sporting did not lose focus and regained the advantage with two goals before the break, through Marco Cruz, after working for Francisco Canario on the left and receiving the ball in the front area.
And for those who thought four goals were synonymous with a frantic first half, the second was even more emotional, with five more goals, three of them in just five minutes, right at the start of the second half.
Sporting reached 4-1 in the 47th minute with an accurate header from Domingos Andrade after a corner kick from Lucas Dias. And not even 60 seconds had passed, the Lion had already achieved a few goals (5-1, in the 48th minute), on a first-time shot by David Moreira, at the entrance to the penalty area, after a relief attempt. Leixes defence.
However, Leixões responded shortly afterwards. Good work by Fernando on the right, assisted by Robin Candle with a powerful and placed shot, the visitors made it 5-2 with half an hour left to play.
And they came close in the 70th minute, with 5-3: a misunderstanding between goalkeeper Babona Piruashvili and Domingos Andrade, with the intervention of Arum Idash
A misunderstanding between Domingos Andrade and goalkeeper Babona Piruashvili allowed Arum Idachi to advance with the score 5-3.
The Nigerian’s Idache scored again in the 78th minute, but the referee also ruled out this move for offside. But the uncommitted African striker would score twice, on 87 minutes – slashing Robin Kandel’s clearance from the left – and set the final figures for the match (5-4) and make the final stretch of the encounter much more and, unexpectedly, exciting, after three goals in a row by Leixes from 5-1 to surprise the Lyonen defense, pressed in the final minutes to avoid 5-5.
Sporting struggled, but secured a triumphant entry into the second stage, qualification for the Revelation Cup, and now has 9 points. Leixões maintain the four points as well as the last place in the table.
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