Soccer-Rejuvenated Sporting on brink of Portuguese title

Sporting Clube De Portugal Futebol SAD

04/05/2021 19:04

May 4 (Reuters) - Three years after fans attacked players at
their training ground on one of their darkest ever days,
Portuguese club Sporting are on the verge of winning a first
title in 19 years following a dramatic transformation.
    Ruben Amorim's side are still unbeaten after 30 games and
victory at Rio Ave on Wednesday would take them nine points
clear of nearest challengers Porto with three games left.
    Sporting's relentless campaign was hard to envisage when the
club finished fourth last season, 22 points behind champions
Porto, and were struggling to fill the hole left after
talismanic captain Bruno Fernandes joined Manchester United. 
    Fernandes was one of the few players left at the club who
witnessed the shocking training ground assault in May 2018, when
a group of hooded fans attacked players with belts and sticks.
    The assault, which eventually saw nine people jailed for
five years, led to a number of players and then coach Jorge
Jesus ripping up their contracts. President Bruno de Carvalho
was removed by his fellow board members a month later.
    Things did not immediately improve for the team, however,
until they hired fledgling coach Amorim in March 2020.
    A former midfielder for city rivals Benfica, Amorim, 36, had
been a top-flight coach for less then a year when Sporting paid
10 million euros ($12.02 million) to release him from his
contract with Braga.
    Their bold investment has certainly paid off.
    Amorim overhauled a disjointed side by looking to promising
Portuguese players who knew the league well while also digging
into the club's academy, which has produced its share of world
stars such as Luis Figo and Cristiano Ronaldo.
    Three homegrown players in particular have stood out:
18-year-old left back Nuno Mendes, 22-year-old winger Jovane
Cabral and 18-year-old forward Tiago Tomas. 
    Forward Pedro Goncalves, 22, a low-cost recruit from
Famalicao last summer, is their runaway top scorer with 17
goals.
    
    YOUTHFUL SPIRIT
    The team's youthful spirit has been supplemented by more
experienced players such as Euro 2016 winner Joao Mario, who
returned to the club last year on loan, plus veterans Vitorino
Antunes and Joao Pereira.
    "This mix between homegrown players and experienced ones has
been a huge success for us," Amorim said on Tuesday.
    "Sometimes they don't play much, but they are just as
important as those who participate more."
    Amorim has also engendered a never-say-die attitude, leading
the team to earn 22 points thanks to goals scored in the final
10 minutes of matches.
    In their last three games alone they have scored five goals
in the final 10 minutes, netting twice to draw 2-2 with
Belenenses, winning 1-0 at Braga after having a man sent off
early on and then beating Nacional 2-0.
    "The biggest success of the coaching staff and these players
was changing the dynamic of the club," Amorim said after
Saturday's win over Nacional.
    "It is very difficult to do this in one year, and I'm lucky
to have a group of players who are at the level this club
requires. We're almost there, although we still have a lot to
do."


($1 = 0.8323 euros)

 (Reporting by Richard Martin
Editing by Toby Davis)
 ((r.pmartin87@gmail.com;))