Fundão's resistance continued for 9 seconds at Pavilhão João Rocha. Sporting began their title defense by scoring in the second match, with Merlin setting up a corner kick for Thomas Paco to fire home the first time. If the visitors' strategy was to delay the first lions as much as possible… it practically collapsed before they even got the ball.
The home team saw a goal disallowed due to a Tainan foul, and in response, Samuel Freire, with a bicycle kick, forced Henrique to make a good save. The Lions continued on top and threatened the second. Sokolov hit the crossbar (4') and Allan hit the post (8'), before expanding through Tomas Paco (12') and again after a set-piece – Obinna even stopped Diogo Santos' first shot, but couldn't save it. Make it in a second. The visiting goalkeeper was largely responsible for the score not reaching further numbers in the first half, as he made 9 saves!
The Brazilian once again made a good save from Baku's shot (24 min) and shortly afterwards Fundao pulled one back, as Caio Pedro evaded the midfield and fired a shot from close range against the post. The goal delighted the visiting team, but this mood did not last long. In the 31st minute, Pauleta raced down the right flank and went past the visiting goalkeeper.
Fundao's situation worsened soon after because captain Mario Freitas received a second yellow card and was sent off. Soon after, another good moment came from Nuno Dias' side, as Tainan discovered Paco was free to score the hat-trick. The game was practically decided at that point, and all that remained was to see how many goals the Lions would eventually score… and there were two more, by Tynan and Allan.
Written by Miguel Amaro
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