Sporting defeated Rio Ave 4:0 at Estádio dos Arcos in the fourth round of the Primeira Liga on Friday evening. The visitors made it three wins and a draw from four matches, moving to 10 points in second place. Rio Ave dropped to 13th on 3 points after their win over Estoril earlier in the campaign.
The opening goal came after five minutes when F. Goncalves found the net. To be fair, Sporting were already pushing ahead of their hosts, and the break came soon after when Catamo added a second at the 19th minute. By then Rio Ave had barely threatened, their shots landing off target with no accuracy to show.
Luis Suarez doubled his tally from the spot at 26 minutes before adding another at 37. He collected a yellow card himself later on, at 51 minutes, while Tamás Nikitscher went off for a booking of his own at the 60th minute. The scoreline told the story of a comfortable evening for the visitors.
Six substitutions were made around the hour mark. I. Doumbia and G. Catamo came on for Sporting at 65 minutes, with F. Goncalves also replaced. Diogo Bezerra followed for Rio Ave at 66, and T. Nikitscher and D. Spikic went off together at 74. R. Zalazar was withdrawn at 81, and J. Blesa and M. Vrousai came off for L. Suarez at the 86th minute.
The statistics confirmed the dominance. Sporting held 61 per cent possession and registered 7 shots on target compared to zero for Rio Ave. Their expected goals stood at 1.66 against 0.47 for the hosts, who managed no big chances and made 177 passes in the opposition half. And here's the thing — five shots off target with none on target tells you everything about a match that never really got started.
The result leaves Sporting on 10 points in second place, one behind the leaders after four rounds. Rio Ave sit 13th with just 3 points from 4 games, and a clean-sheet run came to an end after their victory over Estoril.
