Sporting CP: Welcome to the Jungle

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(A) 0-0 Rio Ave - Primeira Liga, Round 15

(H) 3-2 Marítimo - Primeira Liga, Round 16

(A) 3-3 Estoril - Primeira Liga, Round 17

(A) 1-0 Vitória FC - Primeira Liga, Round 18

(A) 2-0 Paços de Ferreira - Taça da Liga, Group Stage

(H) 5-1 Tondela - Primeira Liga, Round 19

(H) 3-0 Oliveirense - Taça da Liga, Group Stage

(H) 3-0 Arouca - Primeira Liga, Round 20

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Jorge Jesus was second in the Primeira Liga - Coach of the Month Award. Sporting's coach made 14 points out of 18 possible, after 4 wins (Marítimo, Vitória FC, Tondela and Arouca) and 2 draws (Rio Ave and Estoril).

2 - Benfica, 45 Points
3 - Vitória SC, 40 Points
4 - Porto, 38 Points
5 - Nacional, 34 Points
6 - Marítimo, 32 Points

2- Paços de Ferreira, 4 Points
3- Oliveirense, 4 Points
4- Académica, 0 Points

Sporting will face Marítimo, in Alvalade, for the Taça da Liga - Semi finals.
The winner of this match will proceed for the Final that will be played in Coimbra.

(A) vs Benfica - Primeira Liga
(H) vs Marítimo - Taça da Liga
(A) vs Académica - Primeira Liga
(H) vs Belenenses - Primeira Liga
(A) vs Dynamo Kyiv - Champions League
(H) vs União da Madeira - Primeira Liga

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Qualified for the Cup of Winner's Cup, because of the last season's Taça de Portugal win, the Lions started their campaign in Italy, to face Atalanta in September 4, 1963.
Atalanta that had won the Italian Cup last season, would have a fantastic start in this competition. Winning by 2-0, against the Lions, with goals by Calavanese, 74', and Domenghini, 86'.

The second leg was played in Estádio de Alvalade a month later, with almost 38,000 fans in the stadium.
At the sixth minute, Figueiredo made the first for the Lions. And right after that, Atalanta's goalkeeper, Pizzaballa, was injuried and had to leave the pitch. After that, Atalanta would play with only 10 men for the rest of the match, for over 80 minutes.

Even down to 10, the italians got the draw. At the 17', Christensen scored for Atalanta and made the italians go with a two goal advantage for the interval.
In the second half, Sporting's players were ready to win this game.
Mascarenhas at the 63' scored for Sporting, putting the Lions in the front, but still one goal behind to take the match to a draw in the aggregate.

But, 13' to the end, Bé made the third for the green-and-white, and made obligatory a third game to decide who would get through to the Second Eliminatory.

The third match was played in October 14, 1963. Just five days after the Lisbon game. And it was played in Barcelona.
Enrico Nova, at the 20th minute, made the first for the italians, that were, once again, in the front. But only 3 minuted later, Mascarenhas, would make the equalizer.

And then the game reached the end. After three matches, in three different countries, in three different stadiums, the draw persisted. There was only one way out - an extra-time.
At this point was inevitable that this eliminatory would have 300 minutes of play, but now there was only 30 more for the Lions to score and made their path forward.

In the photo, Mascarenhas scoring the goal for the Lions that made the 1-1 in the Barcelona match.

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And Lúcio was the man to score the first in the extra-time. At the 98', the man that had already scored in the last year's Taça de Portugal final, had made a very important goal.
5 minutes to the end, was time for Mascarenhas to score his second goal of the night and confirm that Sporting would go through to the next stage.

The Lions had just eliminated Atalanta, and now they would play against APOEL, who was making their European debut season.

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Rui Patrício, João Pereira, Vlaar, Ewerton, Jefferson, William, João Mário ( Adrien 69'), Aquilani, Zivkovic ( Gelson 81'), Bryan Ruiz ( Mané 55'), Slimani

Goals

Slimani 60', Jefferson 63', Mané 83'

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Zivkovic, João Pereira

Man of the Match

João Pereira

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Rui Patrício, Esgaio, Vlaar, Naldo, Jonathan, Paulista ( Adrien 27'), Aquilani, Gelson, Bryan Ruiz, Matheus, Teo ( Montero 67')

Goals

Adrien 33'

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Aquilani

Man of the Match

Adrien

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Rui Patrício, Esgaio, Vlaar, Naldo, Jonathan, Adrien, João Mário, Gelson, Mané ( Matheus 82'),
Teo ( Montero 82'), Slimani ( Aquilani 62')

Goals

Teo 10', Matheus 84'

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Jonathan, Montero

Man of the Match

Jonathan

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William Carvalho suffered an injury in the match against Benfica at Estádio da Luz.
The defensive midfielder's injury is expected to go from 4 to 5 weeks, and his return might happen in the second leg match of the Champions League Round of 16, at Alvalade against Dynamo Kyiv.
William sees himself out of the fields for atleast another month, after have started his season 2 months later also because of injury.
He recently renewed his contract with the Lions, until 2021.

Bruno Paulista suffered a small injury in the following match, against Marítimo, and was out for a week after that.
Paulista is still trying to win his place in the team, a task that doesn't seem easy, with a midfield with players as the likes of William, Adrien João Mário or Aquilani.
The young brazilian is trying and will need to enjoy every little oportunity he has, to become an important piece in Jesus's plans.

Follows a little video with some highlights of one of many great performances by William Carvalho, this time in a match against Porto 2 years ago, with a scene of the Sporting fans chanting his name.

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One of Sporting's captains, Adrien Silva, have signed a new deal to stay at Sporting until 2020.
Adrien Silva was born in France, and arrived at Sporting with 12 years old.
He was champion in all the youth teams at Sporting, and reached the first team in 2007, with 18 years old.
In his first season at the first team, he won the Taça de Portugal, and played 15 matches.
In the next two season he played 33 matches and scored once. After that, the crisis at Sporting meant that had to be scapegoats, and Adrien was one of them.
He leaved to Maccabi Haifa, in 2010, on a loan, and in the same season he made the second part at Académica.
The next season, Adrien was again loaned to Académica, where he beat a fragile Sporting in the Taça de Portugal final.
But in 2012 he returned to his home, Alvalade, where he've been for the last 3 and half seasons, scoring more than 20 goals and playing more than 100 matches in this time.
Last season, he won, again, the Taça de Portugal, and this season he have already won the Supertaça against Benfica.
Today he signed a new deal with the Lions, and will be earning 240,000€ per month, making him the second best paid player on the team.
Adrien Silva already shared his happiness in his facebook page, "I'm very happy with my new contract. All I want is to be champion with Sporting. I'm very pround to be a captain in this great club. Go Sporting!".
After the sad news for the Lions fans about William's injury, they have now a good new about another nuclear piece of their midfield.

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