Sporting Lisbon women faced Brøndby in the first qualifying round of the UEFA Women's Champions League on Tuesday evening, and the match ended 2:2 after a late equaliser from Rakel Engesvik. We had backed the home side for victory, but the game went another way entirely.
Carla Armengol opened the scoring in the twentieth minute, working the ball into the net after a period of sustained pressure. Brøndby responded through Mila Bischoff just before the half-hour mark, and Telma Encarnacao picked up a booking for Sporting in the thirty-first. To be fair, the Danish side looked dangerous on the break even when Sporting controlled possession.
Emma Ramírez restored Sporting's lead in the sixty-first minute, but Brøndby refused to let the tie slip. They threw bodies in the way and worked their way back into the contest, with Rakel Engesvik finding the net in the eighty-fourth minute after a period of sustained pressure from the visitors.
There were substitutions on both sides as the match progressed. Mathilde Rasmussen and Hanna Andersson came on for Brøndby in the sixty-second minute, while Andreia Bravo and Filipinha replaced Sporting players in the sixty-fifth and seventy-third minutes. Carla Armengol herself was substituted in the seventy-third, replaced by someone who could offer fresh legs.
The statistics told their own story. Sporting enjoyed 58 per cent possession but managed only five shots on target, while Brøndby's seven shots on target came from less possession. The visitors had eight shots off target, which suggests they found space but not always the right angle.
What matters here is not the possession figure but the moment that decided the match. One mistake ends it, and Brøndby made Sporting pay for theirs in the eighty-fourth minute. The result means Sporting must now look at what went wrong when they had the advantage.
