Lions beat the Greeks 8-3
With sharp claws waiting for Benfica! Sporting confirmed their qualification for the ‘quarters’ of the Futsal Champions League by beating AEK (8-3) at home and, if the Eagles overcome Araz, we will have a derby in the next phase of the competition.
The comfortable baggage brought from the 1st leg – lions thrashed (11-0) – suggested that this game would be a mere formality, however, Nuno Dias’ team did not want to take their foot off the accelerator and had Bruno Pinto as the star player. The winger scored a hat trick, reached 21 goals in the season and once again showed why Sporting went to get him from Saudi Arabia.
The green and whites couldn’t have asked for a better start and after 20 seconds, Bruno Pinto opened the scoring, immediately increasing the lead, before Allan Guilherme made it 3-0. There were so many facilities that the lion fell asleep and saw AEK score through Ntatis (13′) and Vitinho (23′). Nuno Dias led the team, which led to a devastating second half. Tomás Paçó and Felipe Valério scored, Pauleta scored twice, before Felipinho reduced for the Greeks.
Mission accomplished on a special night for two lions – captain João Matos played his 800th game with Sporting, while Nuno Dias equaled Jesús Velasco at the top of the list of coaches with the most games in the Champions League (80).
By Record
