Sporting visited and defeated Famalicão (1-0) on Tuesday in a postponed game of the 20th round of the I League, which was initially scheduled for February. More than two months later, the lions adjusted the calendar and a goal by Pedro Gonçalves in the 20th minute was enough to increase the point advantage over Benfica, from four to seven points, thus guaranteeing at least second place and a presence in the third preliminary round of the Champions League.

In turn, FC Porto was mathematically ruled out of winning the title this season. Having done the math, Sporting, now with 77 points, took another giant step and is closer to being the champion, with only five rounds left until the end of the championship.

75th goal by Pedro Gonçalves for Sporting: he is the 22nd best scorer of all time for the lions and has an average of 0.43 goals/games pic.twitter.com/EZzRjnLAzB

— Playmaker (@playmaker_PT) April 16, 2024

Game Film

Rúben Amorim once again changed Sporting's starting eleven and saw Daniel Bragança hit the crossbar in the 16th minute, with Luiz Júnior stretching out and still touching the ball before it bounced off the crossbar.

The scare left Famalicão in a state of shock, but it did not prevent Pedro Gonçalves from breaking the tie just four minutes later. Trincão launched his teammate, who in front of the Famalicão goalkeeper, did not forgive and opened the scoring, choosing not to celebrate out of respect for his former team.

The goal forced Famalicão to take more risks in terms of offense and Sporting ended up managing the various moments of the game until halftime. Also, during the first 45 minutes, the moment that cost Diomande his fifth yellow card in the championship, which means he will be out for the match against Vitória SC, scheduled for Sunday.

Upon returning from the locker rooms, Rúben Amorim wasted no time and brought in Eduardo Quaresma to replace Diomande, with the clear intention of avoiding any possibility of Sporting being reduced to ten players.

The rhythm of the game remained the same in the second half, with the Lions playing with more restraint than usual, trying to take advantage of the speed of the front three whenever possible.

The pace was starting to get frenetic in Vila Nova de Famalicão and Rúben Amorim changed the team again in the 68th minute, bringing in three players at once: Esgaio, Morita and Paulinho came in for Catamo, Daniel Bragança and Pedro Gonçalves.

At this point in the match, Nuno Santos was the most dangerous man of the night, giving Luiz Júnior two scares.

On the other side, Armando Evangelista only started to take more risks in the 70th minute, when he brought in Sorriso to replace the uninspired Puma Rodríguez, with Filipe Soares replacing Topic seven minutes later.

Even so, Famalicão was clearly having difficulty entering the final third of the pitch and scoring opportunities were... scarce. The most dangerous move by Famalicão came in the 79th minute (!) with a shot by Cádiz that went over the goal.

In the 88th minute, Nathan appeared in a good position to aim for Israel's goal, but Coates appeared like a firefighter to clear the danger and avoid a serious scare for Amorim and company.

In the third minute of stoppage time, another scare for Israel and company, with Chiquinho wasting a move that could have resulted in a tie right on the brink of the final whistle.

The minutes passed and the suffering of Rúben Amorim's team increased visibly, but the tangential triumph would end up being confirmed by referee Fábio Veríssimo six minutes after the 90th.

Moment of the game: Pote's goal made Sporting more comfortable in th>