This Friday, Sporting welcomed Pacos de Ferreira for matchday 26 of Liga NOS. Even though they did not have a great performance, the hosts were able to guarantee the three points with a simple 1-0 victory. The only goal of the match was scored by Jovane Cabral.

The hosts were the ones who started better the first half, being more frequent in the attack, even though they did not scare the opponent. Honestly, the first 45 minutes were not exciting.

The first stage was marked by the injury of Argentine Luciano Vietto, who left the field with severe pain in his right shoulder, so he ended up being replaced by Gonzalo Plata. Between both teams attacking and defending, Sporting almost broke the deadlock at the 38th minute, but there had no luck.

The second half started differently, you could see that the teams were determined to score. And the home side did it. At the 64th minute, Jovane Cabral took a free-kick and with a strong shot hit the top-right corner of goalkeeper Ricardo Ribeiro.

Pacos de Ferreira were creating some chances and had a good opportunity on a free-kick at the 78th minute, but goalkeeper Luis Maximiano made a great save. And they could have been awarded a penalty when Amaral was brought down inside the box. But, after VAR checking the play, the referee decided that was no penalty.

The visitors kept on attacking until the last minute, and brought danger to the hosts. If it wasn’t for goalkeeper Maximiano, and the bad aiming of Pacos de Ferreira’s players, the match would probably end on a draw. However, the final scoring was 1-0 to Sporting.

With the victory, the Lions reached 46 points, guaranteeing themselves in 4th place and now with the same points as third place Braga. The Beavers, on the other hand, are fighting against relegation in the 16th place, with only 25 points.