Sporting CP – Tottenham Hotspur: Sporting Stun Spurs In Stoppage Time (2-0)

The second round of fixtures in the Champions League began with an evening kick-off on Tuesday between the early pacesetters in Group D. Lisbon hosted Sporting’s clash against Tottenham Hotspur, with the winner set to place themselves in a prime position to go on and win the group. It was the home side that kept the three points as they scored a couple of late goals after an impressive performance.

Tactical analysis and match report by Neel Shelat.

The start of the 2022/23 season saw Rúben Amorim going through what could well be the toughest month in his time as the head coach of Sporting so far, as his side won just one of their four fixtures in August. They had appeared to turn a corner in September, though, winning all three of their games leading up this one by scoring nine goals altogether and keeping three clean sheets, including one in their visit to Frankfurt for their Champions League opener. Tottenham Hotspur would prove to be their toughest test of the month by far, so this was a chance to see how much they had actually improved.

Tottenham’s league campaign had gotten off to a significantly better start, as they are unbeaten after six matches and just one point away from the top of the table behind Arsenal. Whilst Sporting cruised to a three-goal win against Frankfurt, Spurs made much tougher work of getting the better of Olympique Marseille, but they ultimately got the job done thanks to a sending off and a couple of late goals from Richarlison.

Sporting lined up in their usual 3-4-3 formation, with Antonio Adán in goal behind a . . .