Sporting Lisbon still have their sights firmly set on their 20th championship title in Portugal. Record signing Gyökeres scored three times in the 6-1 win over Boavista Porto on Sunday
Benfica had done everything they could to put Sporting Lisbon under pressure for their late game against Boavista Porto on Sunday. However, the city rivals coped with it perfectly: Sporting defended their lead in the Portuguese top flight with a commanding 6-1 home win.
Even though the 19-time champions got off to a really poor start and quickly found themselves behind after an unfortunate stop by keeper Israel and Makouta’s not-so-easy clearance (3rd), there was little doubt who the points would go to in this game. Sporting were superior in almost every respect and soon converted that into goals
Gyökeres in top form – showdowns after the international break
Outstanding man once again: goalscorer Gyökeres, who scored a treble for the first time this season (45th/68th/79th). With his two goals in center-forward style and a confidently converted penalty, the 25-year-old Swedish international increased his goal tally to 22 in his 24th league game, making him the sole top scorer.
The former FC St. Pauli professional, who likes to celebrate his goals with his hands clasped in front of his face, arrived from English second division club Coventry City for a reported €24 million before the season, making him both a record signing and a record purchase. The Sporting management have long since realized that they did not pay too much.
Paulinho (54./90.+5) and Nuno Santos (88.) – on an assist from Gyökeres – scored the other goals for the home side, who were eliminated in the Europa League round of 16 against Atalanta Bergamo (1:1/1:2) during the week. In the league, they remain one point ahead of Benfica, who had previously celebrated a 1-0 labor victory at Casa Pisa Lisbon. Coach Roger Schmidt’s side have thus responded in a stable manner to the recent 5-0 debacle at FC Porto with two league wins and progress against Glasgow Rangers (2:2/1:0) in the Europa League
Shortly after the international break, the two top Lisbon clubs will face each other twice in the space of four days: Benfica host them in the second leg of the cup semi-final (3.4.; first leg: 2-2), Sporting in the league (7.4.). By then, Gyökeres & Co. could already have made a small preliminary decision in the championship race.
