Sporting hold tight in 0-0 Porto draw to remain ten clear at the top

FC Porto 0-0 Sporting

Sporting have protected their ten-point-advantage at the top of the Primeira Liga after drawing 0-0 at the Estádio do Dragão with second-placed FC Porto, this Saturday.

The Dragons were hopeful of handing the league leaders their first defeat of the campaign and cutting the Lions’ advantage down to seven points, in their bid to open the title race back up.

Two good opportunities for Mehdi Taremi moved Porto closer to their aims on the night but failed to fully force through a resilient Sporting outfit, holding onto a crucial 0-0 draw away from home.

Both managers presented no changes coming into the hotly-contested encounter, as Otávio held off calls for Francisco Conceição to start, meanwhile Rúben Amorim once again backed Tiago Tomás, in Paulinho’s absence, to complete Sporting’s forward line.

The two teams proved to be super well-matched in the early exchanges, trading spells of combative play before Wilson Manafá, as late as the 27th minute, produced the first half-chance of the game with a shot across goal, palmed away by Antonio Adan in the Sporting goal.

Atlético Madrid’s former goalkeeper looked to be in bigger trouble in the 33rd minute when Taremi, after a high recovery of possession from Porto, took aim at Sporting’s goal via Gonçalo Inácio’s deflection, but the latter would get enough behind his block to fully divert the ball away from danger.

Little else came between the two sides fighting tooth and nail for their fair share of possession, leading us into the break with the game locked at 0-0.

The Dragons pressed on in search of the opener a lot earlier in the second half, causing danger through Zaidu Sanusi and his left-footed strike across goal, skipping just wide of the mark in the 48th minute.

Porto edged themselves even closer to making it 1-0 in the 57th minute as Jesús Corona was picked out at the back-post before volleying the ball back into the box, only for Taremi to fluff his effort and volley wide with a miss-hit.

Sporting posed a threat on the counter with a huge investing run from Matheus Nunes, beating Otávio to the ball down the right channel before failing to get his effort on target in the 73rd minute.

Taremi continued to run into the same issues in the 76th minute, being fed this time by a cutback from Manafá before, much to the frustration of those in the home dugout, sending his shot comfortably over Adan’s goal.

A pair of wasted chances from the Iranian striker was as good as it got in the key title clash, securing a point apiece for the two outfits that keeps Sporting ten points clear at the top of the table

By Patrick Ribeiro

FC Porto XI: Augustin Marchesín - Zaidu Sanusi (Francisco Conceição, 78’), Pepe, Chancel Mbemba, Wilson Manafá - Jesús Corona, Sérgio Oliveira (Luis Diaz, 78’), Matheus Uribe, Otávio - Mehdi Taremi, Moussa Marega (Evanilson, 72’)

Sporting XI: Antonio Adan - Zouhair Feddal, Sebastian Coates, Gonçalo Inácio - Nuno Mendes (Matheus Reis, 86’), João Palhinha, João Mário (Jovane Cabral, 86’), Pedro Porro - Nuno Santos (Matheus Nunes, 64’), Pedro Gonçalves, Tiago Tomás (Bruno Tabata, 70’)