Soccer

Spurs left stunned as late goals from Paulinho and Arthur win it for Sporting Lisbon

The game was goalless until the 90th minute before substitutes win it for the home side

Paulinho celebrates after scoring Sporting Lisbon's first goal in the Champions League match at Estadio Jose Alvalade. Photograph: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
Paulinho celebrates after scoring Sporting Lisbon's first goal in the Champions League match at Estadio Jose Alvalade. Photograph: Octavio Passos/Getty Images
Sid Lowe at Estádio José Alvalade
Tue Sept 13 2022 - 20:21

Sporting Lisbon 2 Tottenham Hotspur 0

Suddenly, this place exploded, green and white going wild and why not? They had never experienced this before and what a way to do it. Sporting Lisbon have won their opening two Champions League games for the first time, two goals in added time giving them a victory over Tottenham and leaving Antonio Conte standing there wondering what had just happened and how.

He had talked about the importance of a strong squad, how substitutes can change games, and he was right but it was Paulinho and Arthur who came from the bench to do so.

Spurs had opportunities, but rather than the forwards they had mostly fallen to a full back, Emerson Royal getting three of them. There was also one each for Harry Kane and Richarlison, but none for Son Heung-min.

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The visit to Lisbon looked like it would end goalless until the 90th minute, when Pedro Porro brilliantly killed a long, long ball out to the right, turned inside and struck a lovely curling shot towards the far post. Hugo Lloris saved that but from the corner, Paulinho leapt above Emerson to head into the net.

Remarkably, it wasn’t over. Arthur coming on to waste a little time and instead cutting inside to score a sensational second in the third minute of added-time. It left Spurs to lament the ones that slipped away from them, particularly early in each half, a succession of crosses causing Sporting problems but not ultimately producing the breakthrough.

Ivan Perisic’s delivery found Richarlison, but his header at the far post went down into the turf, taking the venom from it. A vicious Emerson cross then flashed right through the six-yard box, past five men. From a throw the ball fell to Emerson close to goal. Falling backwards, unable to tame it entirely, he could only put it over the bar.

There were other, more subtle incisive routes to goal that were seen by Harry Kane, playmaker and striker in one. Twice he dropped to receive and slip his attacking team-mates through, but the flag went up both times.

The second of them, superbly made, saw Richarlison dribble beyond Antonio Adan and finish smoothly into a now empty net. He knew, though, his run had begun beyond the final defender, pulling his shirt over his face. There was also a sharp exchange with Son that momentarily opened Sporting up.

It had not been all Spurs, far from it. Marcus Edwards, the former Spurs player, had set up the game’s first chance at the other end, scurrying through to find Francisco Trincão, whose shot was pushed past the post by Lloris.

Twenty minutes after that, Trincão had another effort after Sporting sprang swiftly from the back, Gonçalo Inácio setting him running though to shoot wide, and Edwards sliced a shot high over the bar.

There was a directness about Sporting when they found the chance to get up and running, and a mobility to their front three, Edwards starting centrally but appearing to the right, the left and deeper at times too.

Touch too: a big roar greeted a spin and neat footwork from Edwards in the middle of the pitch, and then defender Matheu Reis produced a back-heel nutmeg on Kane, the world upside down. That got a cheer. But the moment that left the Sporting fans on their feet, applauding, a standing ovation ringing around this arena, came just before half-time.

Mini Messi? This was more like Maradona. Edwards picked the ball up in the middle of the pitch, turned and beat Eric Dier, not once but twice, away from Perisic and raced towards the Tottenham area, slotting the ball to Trincão to his right. The ball came back, Edwards swivelled a hip, evaded Cristian Romero and then jabbed at the ball with the point of his boot. It deflected off Lloris twice, somehow squirming under him and past the post.

The match shifted with the restart, two more clear chances came to Emerson early on. Both were made by Kane – a superb deep cross and a clever, quickly taken clipped free-kick – and both were saved by Adan. Neither save – from a header clawed away and a shot on the bounce that he blocked with his knees – were orthodox but both were effective, as was a diving stop from Kane’s effort soon after.

On 70 minutes Perisic was left unable to believe that another apparently perfect delivery across the face of goal had not found a finishing touch, Kane tumbling at the far post and just unable to make contact.

Spurs had ceded a little possession, presumably to prevent Sporting getting up and running into space but the threat remained. Just before that Perisic ball Edwards and Goncalves combined, the Portuguese suddenly sprinting into space and under-hitting a shot Lloris saved. Then Edwards bundled over Ben Davies and reached deep into the area.

As the final minutes played out, though, it was Sporting applying the pressure, the noise levels rising. Soon, they were off the scale. – Guardian