Sporting beat Alverca 3:1 at Estádio José Alvalade on Friday evening in the third match of the Primeira Liga regular season. The hosts took an early lead through M. Araujo in the second minute, then rode their luck with a second-half own goal before L. Suarez restored their advantage.
Araujo struck almost immediately, giving Sporting a foothold that never really wavered. Alverca responded with physicality — Yaya Bojang picked up a yellow card by the sixteenth minute, and Davy Gui followed suit before half-time.
And here's the thing about the own goal. Matheus Mendes bundled it home in the fifty-fifth minute, and Sporting pulled back to 2:0 after L. Suarez tapped in from close range four minutes later. The visitors had been told they were done for.
Then Alverca sensed blood. Figueiredo pulled one back in the eighty-eighth minute and added another ninety seconds later. By then the match had turned into something else entirely — not a comfortable win for Sporting, but certainly enough.
Sporting dominated possession at 59 per cent and registered an expected goals figure of 2.12 compared to Alverca's 0.41. They took seven shots on target with five off target, while the visitors managed three shots on target and five wide. The statistics tell the story of a team that created more and converted more.
Sporting move up to second place with ten points from four games — three wins and a draw. Alverca remain rooted to sixteenth with just two points from two draws and two defeats. The gap between them is beginning to look like more than just numbers on a table.