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Tag: Sporting CP

  • Europa Cup: Why we lost to Sporting CP – Arsenal captain, Odegaard

    Europa Cup: Why we lost to Sporting CP – Arsenal captain, Odegaard

    Arsenal captain, Martin Odegaard has stated reasons why the Gunners exited the Europa League Cup on Thursday night.

    Having played out a 2-2 draw in Portugal, the Gunners were held to a 1-1 at the Emirates Stadium by the Portuguese who forced the game to a penalty shootout.

    However, Brazilian forward, Gabriel Martinelli missed his penalty during the shootout to send Arsenal out of the Europa League.

    However, Odegaard feels Martinelli’s penalty miss was not the reason the Gunners crashed out of the competition but because they did not play to win the game.

    “But now we look forward to the league, that’s all we can do now.

    “Most of the game we weren’t on the level we should be. We didn’t play our best football. It was a tight game in the end, it could have gone both ways.

    “They [Sporting] are a good team, we knew that, we were prepared. Now we have to look forward,” he said.

  • Europa League: Arsenal, Sporting CP share spoils

    Europa League: Arsenal, Sporting CP share spoils

    Arsenal scored a late equalizer to escape being beaten by Portuguese side Sporting CP in Lisbon on Thursday evening  in a Europa league round of 16 encounter.

    Mikel Arteta made six changes to his starting lineup, that faced Sporting CP in Lisbon  owing to the fact that there are many upcoming fixtures in the coming weeks including a fierce Premier League title chase.

    William Saliba opened the scoring midway through the first half as he deposited a towering header into the back of the net on a corner, but Sporting equalised 12 minutes later in nearly identical fashion through Goncalo Inacio.

    The start of the second half was utterly insane, as Paulinho put Sporting in front after the Arsenal defence fell asleep. Both sides botched great chances to pick out goals before a totally fluky own-goal from Hidemasa Morita saw the Gunners draw level.

    Arsenal will fancy their chances of progressing to the next round of the competition when both teams square up again next week.

    Arsenal’s hopes of winning silverware rest on the Europa League and the domestic league competitions where they currently occupy the first position.

     

     

     

  • Manchester City into UCL last eight round after Sporting Lisbon stalemate

    Manchester City into UCL last eight round after Sporting Lisbon stalemate

    Manchester City sailed through to the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after a 0-0 draw with Sporting Lisbon in their last-16 round second leg clash on Wednesday, progressing 5-0 on aggregate.

    The English champions had already done the hard work in their thrashing of the Portuguese side in the first leg three weeks ago in Lisbon, and could take it easy.

    Moreover, it was against an inferior Sporting Lisbon at the Etihad Stadium.

    Pep Guardiola could afford to make several changes to his starting team.

    That was with one of those players coming in —- Raheem Sterling —- going closest to scoring in the first half after his close-range effort was saved.

    Brazilian forward Gabriel Jesus, making his first Champions League start of the season, did have the ball in the net early in the second half.

    But his clever finish was ruled out for offside after a VAR review.

    Paulinho almost earned Sporting Lisbon victory late on, but it was not to be as Manchester City held on in cruise control to progress.

  • UCL: City expect to cruise pass Sporting as Real Madrid face uphill task with PSG

    UCL: City expect to cruise pass Sporting as Real Madrid face uphill task with PSG

    With five (5) goals advantage, Manchester City expect to cruise past Sporting CP in their Wednesday UEFA Champions League encounter.

    The Premier League champions have a tremendous lead from the first leg and will be confident of another win in Manchester.

    Manchester City are all set to sail into the quarter-finals of the Champions League when they host Sporting CP in the second-leg of their last-16 tie later today.

    Pep Guardiola’s team thrashed the Portuguese side 5-0 in Lisbon last month to all but confirm their spot in the next round.

    Real Madrid on the other hand, have a daunting task in their hands this evening as Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) look set to seal their place in the UCL quarter-finals.

    The La Liga side suffered a one (1) goal defeat in the hands of the French side in February with the only goal of the game coming from Kylian Mbappe.

    Real Madrid have been eliminated from nine of their last 10 knockout ties in the UEFA Champions League when losing the first leg, with the exception being a 3-2 aggregate victory over VfL Wolfsburg in the 2015-16 quarter-final.

    Paris Saint-Germain have been eliminated from three of their eight UEFA Champions League knockout ties when winning the first leg – only Barcelona (4) and Real Madrid (6) have been eliminated in this fashion more often.