Sporting won 1-0 against Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League on Tuesday night, in the first game since Rui Borges left the club. Issa Doumbia scored the only goal in the 59th minute at Stamford Bridge in London. Shakhtar play their European home games outside Ukraine.
Interim coach Tiago Fernandes was in charge on the touchline. Reports in Portugal say Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca will be the next permanent coach, but the club has not confirmed it yet.
Doumbia settles a tight game
The first half ended goalless, with neither side on top. Doumbia broke the deadlock just before the hour, and after that Shakhtar pushed hard for an equaliser.
The Ukrainian side had more of the ball and more shots on target, four to three. Sporting held on, and goalkeeper Rui Silva made three saves.
Luis Suárez started up front for Sporting. He had scored in each of their first three Champions League games, but he did not find the net this time.
Back to winning ways
The result takes Sporting to nine points from four games. They beat Galatasaray 3-1 and won 2-0 at Lens, but then lost 3-2 at home to LASK on matchday 3.
Shakhtar stay on four points. After a 1-1 draw at PSV and a 3-1 win over AEK Athens, they have now lost 1-0 twice in a row, at Inter and against Sporting.
A new coach on the way
Sporting said on Sunday that they had started the process of ending Borges’s contract after an uneven start to the season. He won the league and the Portuguese Cup in his first season and took Sporting to the Champions League quarter-finals last season.
Fonseca coached AC Milan before he moved to Lyon. According to the reports, he could be presented in Lisbon this week.
Our take
It was not a pretty win, but it came at the right time. Sporting began the week with their coach leaving. Two days later they have three more points and a better place in the table.
The next coach will inherit a squad that can still go far in this competition.
Can Paulo Fonseca bring the good days back to Sporting? Tell us in the comments.
Photos via Wikimedia Commons: Paulo Fonseca by JoeSchilp (CC BY-SA 4.0); Gonçalo Inácio by Bryan Berlin (CC BY-SA 4.0); Stamford Bridge by Mr Ignavy (CC BY-SA 2.0, two photos).
