Match Report: Sporting Lisbon 2 Spurs 0 (oh, dear!)

 

Match Report: Sporting Lisbon 2 Spurs 0 (oh, dear!)

What can I say… the trip and day went brilliantly, but the game itself was shit… we couldn't even get into gear against a poor opponent. They were shit, we were just shittier.

My trip to Portugal started with me picking Mel up at his house. We then drove to Bristol Airport, where I parked in the long stay bay, then we made our way to the Check-in. Once checked in, we got something to eat and waited for our flight.

The flight took 2 hrs & 30 minutes.

Once arrived at Faro Airport, we made our way to Mel's Villa in the Algarve. Had a glass of wine each once we arrived (about 12ish) and then bed.

We left at 8 am in the morning, drove to Lisbon (3½ hours), parked, and then waited for the others at a restaurant. There were nine of us in all for a meal.

After the meal, Janet, Mel and myself made our way to the Metro and from there to the stadium. Once out of the station, we made our way to our entrance (on the way, I was looking for a Sporting Lisbon pendant, but no programmes). We were greeted by the lovely Lisa, the Spurs Security/ Steward. Once in, a long climb up five flights of stairs to our seats. All this with crutches.

When we booked our seats, we picked the UEFA Neutral area, not with the away supporters. That section is shared with Sporting fans. At least we could sit.

Janet & Mel were both helpful because of my condition, for which I am extremely grateful for.

The game

In the first 15 minutes of both halves, it looked like we would swamp them… more so in the second half. But we just couldn't get out of second gear. As I said earlier, they were shit, but we were just shittier.

We conceded two injury-time goals as we slumped to a Champions League defeat against Sporting Lisbon. The good news was that Marseille got beaten on the same night by Frankfurt. This means we are in second place, behind Sporting Lisbon, so all to play for, but we must buck our ideas up.

Thoughts

We had several good chances but could not take them, but we looked on course to at least earn a point in Portugal. In the 92nd minute, their Paulinho headed in from Pedro Goncalves' left-wing corner to put the home side ahead. But it didn't end there, oh, no! It got better for our European opponents as another substitute, Arthur Gomes, hit a fine, low strike to make it 2-0 and hand us our first season loss.

This means that Sporting Lisbon are on top of Group D with six points after two victories, we are second with three points.

Both teams observed a minute's silence before the match as a tribute  was paid to Queen Elizabeth II

Before the match, Sporting coach Ruben Amorim said Tottenham have "one of the best attacks in the world", but we could not find the net for the first time in our eight matches this season. This was probably why there were plenty of available seats (both in the home and away sections). Fans probably thought this game was a done deal. Next time all our opponents will know better.

Richarlison scored twice in a 2-0 home victory over Marseille last week, and the Brazilian had many chances to put his side ahead this time around. In the first half, he had a shot blocked by ex-Liverpool defender Sebastian Coates, headed at goalkeeper Antonio Adan and put the ball in the net after rounding Adan, but was judged offside when collecting Harry Kane's through pass.

Richarlison also had chances in the second half but twice put his efforts just wide.

We dominated at the start of the second half.

Emerson Royal twice had shots saved. Ivan Perisic also headed just wide and produced an excellent low cross which Kane could not get on the end of.

Frustrated Conte, who has lost nine of his 19 Champions League away games as a manager, said: "Difficult result, and when you lose the game, you're not happy. We could've scored, and we tried to win the game, then in the last 10 minutes, we can do much better. It's a pity, but it was a difficult game. We tried to get a win, but in the end, we lost the game. We had two or three situations that we can do much better in, but now we have to rest and think about the next game in the Premier League."

Sporting's side included ex-Tottenham player Marcus Edwards, who had an impressive performance. Edwards had been with Tottenham's academy since the age of eight. When he was a teenager, he was once compared to Argentina forward Lionel Messi by then-Spurs boss Mauricio Pochettino.

So, that is that… we fight another day to restore our reputation.

After the game, the Spurs supporters were held back; however, we were in the neutral area, so we could leave straight away. A 10 minutes hobble to the station; from there, we got off at our stop and then made our way to the car. Then a 3½ hour drive to Mel's Villa. Once arrived, we went straight to bed (not together, I might add… oh, no! Nice as Mel is, we had ladies back home visualizing our return and dreaming the dreams that make them smile and go tingly all over… but enough of that!)

In the morning, I was shown around the Algarve and surrounding area, stopped for a meal near the ocean, afterwards driven to the airport for my 4pm flight. Arrived at Janette's at about 8.30 pm.

End of a good trip, and I enjoyed looking around the stadium… overall had a good time; just a pity about the shit result.

COYS!

Glenn